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Drag Me To Hell
.....drag everyone to the cinema!
For horror fans, the name Raimi is synonomous with controversial, classic, intuitive Evil Dead series. The films are taken past their genre and budget confines in part to Raimi's distinctive direction. Now for other film fans, the name my raise a few 'ahhs' when put against his more commercial offerings of the blockbusting Spiderman franchise. Funnily enough, both trilogies are addressed in the trailer, a great juxtaposition to draw in both audiences. The film itself is relatively straightforward, our leading lady Christine doesn't grant an old gypsy lady a mortgage extenstion and in turn the old lady curses her with a demon that will literally drag her to hell in 3 days.
This a starts a stream of constant torment upon our lovely Christine, slowly become more physical and outlandish as the curse progress and the demon begins to take form. The film essentially relies on 'jump' scares opposed to brutality or torture like many horror films of late have gone for. While this tactic might appear cheap at points, Raimi's talent behind the camera keeps the frights taut and genuinely tense at points. It also helps that Raimi has a talent for injecting black humour into everything, which i've never seen handled in such a sublime manner before. It lavishes in it's own disgust while managing to make us laugh, part nervous, part because some of it is so outrageous you have to. The atmosphere in the cinema was certainly an odd mixture of the two.
The performances are all strong from the cast, Justin Long perhaps mostly known for being more comedic roles is a bit of an odd one but as the film goes on he settles nicely into it. The real standout as the old gypsy woman and her multiple appearances as she gets more and more grotesque. The only real complaint is the CGI; there's a happy mixture with real makeup and effects but that only really shows up the CGI. Of the many references to Evil Dead throughout, there's one that has an eyeball fly into Christine's mouth which is heavily computer generated. Which could just be Raimi messing around (the wire moving the eyeball in Evil Dead 2 is comically obvious) or a worrying sign of what we may expect in whatever remake/sequel comes to Evil Dead.
It's a minor complaint for one of the most complete horror films since The Hills Have Eyes, and also vastly different to that. There's plenty of jumps combined with some edge of the seat tension and moments that are likely to turn most stomachs- if you don't end up laughing too hard. You can tell Raimi is having a lot of fun returning to the genre; the punishment put upon young actress Alison Lohman (Christine) is very reminscent of what Bruce Campbell suffered (though obviously not as physical with the CGI). Raimi's learnt a lot from Hollywood, the production values are high and it's accompanied with a ridiculously effective score yet the still feels very much like a b-movie. There's plenty of references for Evil Dead fans, even if a certain cameo was missing and there's some great frights. It's a strong entry into the horror franchise in a time that's far too pre-occupied with 'gorno'; it shows that spurting bodily liquids and shadows can be far more effective, even with a 15 rating. But most of all the fluid nature (pun intended) is the star, the blending of humour and horror without ever compromising the other is fantastic. Definite recommend.
.....drag everyone to the cinema!
For horror fans, the name Raimi is synonomous with controversial, classic, intuitive Evil Dead series. The films are taken past their genre and budget confines in part to Raimi's distinctive direction. Now for other film fans, the name my raise a few 'ahhs' when put against his more commercial offerings of the blockbusting Spiderman franchise. Funnily enough, both trilogies are addressed in the trailer, a great juxtaposition to draw in both audiences. The film itself is relatively straightforward, our leading lady Christine doesn't grant an old gypsy lady a mortgage extenstion and in turn the old lady curses her with a demon that will literally drag her to hell in 3 days.
This a starts a stream of constant torment upon our lovely Christine, slowly become more physical and outlandish as the curse progress and the demon begins to take form. The film essentially relies on 'jump' scares opposed to brutality or torture like many horror films of late have gone for. While this tactic might appear cheap at points, Raimi's talent behind the camera keeps the frights taut and genuinely tense at points. It also helps that Raimi has a talent for injecting black humour into everything, which i've never seen handled in such a sublime manner before. It lavishes in it's own disgust while managing to make us laugh, part nervous, part because some of it is so outrageous you have to. The atmosphere in the cinema was certainly an odd mixture of the two.
The performances are all strong from the cast, Justin Long perhaps mostly known for being more comedic roles is a bit of an odd one but as the film goes on he settles nicely into it. The real standout as the old gypsy woman and her multiple appearances as she gets more and more grotesque. The only real complaint is the CGI; there's a happy mixture with real makeup and effects but that only really shows up the CGI. Of the many references to Evil Dead throughout, there's one that has an eyeball fly into Christine's mouth which is heavily computer generated. Which could just be Raimi messing around (the wire moving the eyeball in Evil Dead 2 is comically obvious) or a worrying sign of what we may expect in whatever remake/sequel comes to Evil Dead.
It's a minor complaint for one of the most complete horror films since The Hills Have Eyes, and also vastly different to that. There's plenty of jumps combined with some edge of the seat tension and moments that are likely to turn most stomachs- if you don't end up laughing too hard. You can tell Raimi is having a lot of fun returning to the genre; the punishment put upon young actress Alison Lohman (Christine) is very reminscent of what Bruce Campbell suffered (though obviously not as physical with the CGI). Raimi's learnt a lot from Hollywood, the production values are high and it's accompanied with a ridiculously effective score yet the still feels very much like a b-movie. There's plenty of references for Evil Dead fans, even if a certain cameo was missing and there's some great frights. It's a strong entry into the horror franchise in a time that's far too pre-occupied with 'gorno'; it shows that spurting bodily liquids and shadows can be far more effective, even with a 15 rating. But most of all the fluid nature (pun intended) is the star, the blending of humour and horror without ever compromising the other is fantastic. Definite recommend.