Director: Sam Raimi
Starring: Alison Lohman, Justin Long & Lorna Raver
Sam Raimi returns to the horror genre where he made his name with Drag Me to Hell, a highly enjoyable horror film filled with Raimi’s trademark humour and moments of gross-out gore.
Despite becoming an established name in Hollywood thank to the cult-success of the Evil Dead trilogy of films throughout the 1980s and early 90s, Sam Raimi has become even better known to audiences thanks to another trilogy of films that has seen far greater success, especially in Box Office takings, with the Spider-Man films. After Spider-Man 3 in 2007, the biggest film project of Raimi’s career, and spending six years on directing and producing the Spider-Man trilogy, Raimi has taken a much deserved break and has returned to the genre he loves and to a more comfortable production scale and budget with Drag Me to Hell. There is an almost palpable sense of relief throughout the film too as Raimi throws himself, and especially his lead actress, into the level of gore, scares and gags that Raimi has been unable to truly engage in for years. Whilst also managing to scare when needed, Drag Me to Hell is the most fun and funny horror film in years.
The story, which is fortunately timed in the midst of a global financial crisis, deals with a young loan officer Christine (Lohman). With ambitions to become the assistant manager at her bank, her momentary greed gets the better of her when Mrs Ganush (Raver), an elderly Gypsy woman who is looking for an extension on her mortgage is turned down by Christine with an eye to impressing her boss. With Mrs Ganush embarrassed by the incident after begging to Christine and being forcibly removed Mrs Ganush later attacks Christine and places a curse upon her. A demon will now taunt Christine for three days before taking her to hell as punishment for her sins. With the help of her supportive, yet highly sceptical, boyfriend Clay (Long) and of a local psychic Rham Jas (Dileep Rao), Christine tries to seek ways to rid herself of the curse before the demon finally takes her.
With this plot, Raimi allows himself to engage in all manner of scares. Many are cheap but effective (eerie shadows, slamming doors), some slightly too absurd to scare or amuse (a possessed handkerchief is perhaps too much) whilst the rest are expertly designed to illicit big laughs but also gruesome enough to make audience squirm and avert their eyes. Animal sacrifices, flying bodies, eyes and all manners of bodily fluids are inflicted upon, or by, Christine throughout the film. Raimi’s oral fixation in particular in the film is a source of much amusement and scares as things end up upon faces, in mouths or coming out of them yet, in between some of the funnier moments are also some genuine jumps and scares with a séance in particular managing to shock, amuse and then shock again with effective regularity. Whilst the occasional use of obvious CGI makes some scares less effective, the more old fashioned make up effects are more rewarding.
Raimi also enjoys a strong cast with Drag Me to Hell. As with his previous films whether they be Spider-Man or Evil Dead, Raimi likes to put his lead characters and actors through a lot of punishment and in Alison Lohman, like with Tobey Maguire or Bruce Campbell, she can take the punishment Raimi has to offer and give plenty back to her antagonists. Faced with the prospect of a horrible death and facing several vicious and gruesome attacks both by Mrs Ganush and by the demon stalking her, Christine who starts the film quite timid, reveals true stamina and strength when backed into a corner and Lohman’s transformation from a quiet and unassuming loan officer to a woman willing to kill and to even dig up graves is an effective and enjoyable one even though it is a transformation that, perhaps, make Christine somewhat more deserving of the fate awaiting her. With a supporting cast including Justin Long as Christine’s, almost unbelievably, supportive boyfriend; Lorna Raver as he initially sympathetic yet later frightening Mrs Ganush; Dileep Rao as a psychic trying to aid Christine and Reggie Lee as Christine’s slimy competition at the bank, Drag Me to Hell features several enjoyable, if undeveloped, characters and performances.
Overall, while possessing enough gore and enough jumps to qualify itself as a horror, Drag Me to Hell isn’t the scariest of horror films. What the film is though is much better; it’s an often hilarious and squeamishly enjoyable return to the horror genre by one of its legends. Raimi fans should love the film and horror fans whilst not getting the scares they may have expected should still find themselves entertained.
Rating: 4/5
