[This review may contain a slight spoiler.]
Yesterday I said on Twitter that I loved the movie. Thinking of it now, I’m not sure if I did love it. I definitely liked it a lot, no question about that. But not too sure about loving it. I’ve never seen any of Sam Raimi’s pre-Spiderman work but I have read that Drag Me To Hell is a return to the genre that got his career off the ground. So I was excited to see a movie that director Sam Raimi was famed for.
Drag Me To Hell, as you have probably seen in the trailer, is about a bank loan officer, Christine Brown, who is up for a promotion to assistant manager of the bank. Her boss tells her that she has a better shot at the promotion if she made more tough decisions on her own. When an old lady comes into the bank asking Christine for an extension on her home loan, she denies it and rejects the old lady. Later on, the old lady, Mrs. Ganush attacks Christine in the underground parking garage and puts a curse on her. The curse brings upon an evil spirit that haunts Christine and looks to eventually drag her to hell.
There is something about some of the films released so far this year. Quite a few of them have had very strong, hard-hitting and emotional opening sequences. Watchmen and Star Trek to name a couple. Drag Me To Hell is no different. Right off the bat, the audience is thrown straight into a movie that is truly terrifying. It got a couple of jumps out of me. I’m not even going to lie. Believe me when I say that this is not like any other horror movie you’ve seen, unless you’ve seen some of Sam Raimi’s early works, of course. Its frightening, suspense-filled, unpredictable and also, wait for it…funny and enjoyable. Wait. What? Yes, this horror movie has a slight pinch of slapstick comedy thrown into it.
I have a feeling many people would find this off-putting, which is a shame, because I thought what Raimi did was close to genius. The humor was incorporated into the movie very well and each gag was timed quite appropriately. But again, when it mattered, the movie was horrifying. I am just afraid many people will think the movie is a joke and will not appreciate it. This might be the reason why the US box office numbers were pretty low for this movie, although it was very well reviewed all-round.
The only problems I have with this film is that towards the end, certain aspects of the movie start to get a little fake. The effects aren’t exactly mind-blowing but decent. The colors of the movie really did engulf me and gave me a much better experience. It makes the movie seem very dark and scary but in a strange way, light on the eyes.
All in all, Sam Raimi’s Drag Me To Hell is a genuinely scary movie but it will also get a couple chuckles out of you. It has a very straightforward plot that isn’t too heavy, if you will. This movie is a good horror flick that is ultimately quite a lot of fun. I strongly recommend it if you wan to get a few screams and laughs in.
I give Drag Me To Hell 7 out of 10 Popcorns.
