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Harry begs, 'DRAG ME TO HELL again Mr Raimi... PLEASE! PLEASE!'
If your soul was aching tonight... if you felt an emptiness and a sad sad feeling of missing out terribly on life... It was because you were not among the 1200 screaming, shrieking, horror crazed SXSW victims of Sam Raimi's Horror Master Class called DRAG ME TO HELL at the Paramount Theater in Austin, Tx.
I. Wow. I had a day of wonderful film today. I met directors. I think I spent an hour just shooting the shit with Raimi at some point today. But that's all gone now. In the birthing hours of Monday, March 16th, 2009 Sam Raimi was backstage... so nervous looking that I thought he was going to vomit. He positively looked sick. He was pacing back and forth - his brother, Ivan was reassuring him that it'd be fine. His agent, producing partners and least importantly me. I was backstage behind the Paramount's silver screen looking out at an audience hoping and praying that the would not go softly into the night. They all wanted Sam Raimi to drag them to hell.
This was the first time that Austin has brought Sam Raimi to town - and the city was out in force. There were people that drove great distances, flew vast distances, just in the hopes of seeing a new Sam Raimi horror film. Quint's review dared to give us all hope. Dared to conjure the trembling prayers from our lips to deadite demons from a tome wrapped in human flesh - that we... the 1200 souls in the Paramount Theater. A theater that screened a green tinted print of FRANKENSTIEN in 1931. A theater that the Marx Brothers performed live vaudville to a hopelessly hick town over 7 decades ago.
But backstage - everyone, myself included, were trying to calm Sam's nerves. I told him, "Hey - at least you're not a fat cripple in a wheelchair about to be upstaged by a legend!" Sam laughed.
Right now... as I sit here at home - it is inconceivable that Sam had even the slightest of doubts about the portal that he was about to open up at the Paramount Theater.
This isn't a debatable film experience. There is no question about what happened tonight. This wasn't a nostalgic affair. There's no shrugged shoulders or indifferent souls that exited that theater tonight. What we all experienced was a resounding thunderous splitting of the Earth around us experience tonight. There was no spattering of applause, no isolated screams... this wasn't just me acting like a ninny, but 1200 hundred people screaming, shrieking and being shown for the namby pamby bitches that we were in the face of DRAG ME TO HELL!
Sam told me that the tone he was aiming for was a mixture of EVIL DEAD 1 and EVIL DEAD 2. Hell Yeah! That's a bold thing to claim.
What we saw tonight was a masterpiece of American Horror to the Planet Earth!
There was a sign, early in the film that the powers of darkness were lining up behind Sam Raimi and his demon curse to entertain the audience. After our heroine rejects the old gypsy woman's pleas to save her home. After she's been on her knees, humiliating herself, pleading endlessly with Alison Lohman to take pity... a look enters the pleading woman's eyes. It is the moment where she will beg no more. At this moment, the dark spirits that live in the inky top corners of this legendary venue... they sent a winged terror as a sign. A single BAT flew two passes in front of the screen - and then vanished. Immediately replaced by onscreen scary crazy fucked up awesome brilliantly insane terrors.
As we were leaving - People throughout the PARAMOUNT were exclaiming phrases like, "I've never screamed in terror at a movie in my life until tonight!" And these exclamations were legion. As the final moment of the film concluded - It was a sonic assault of cheers, screams, hoots & hollars and there was this swoop of wind as people leapt from their seats to signal approval of the highest degree. THIS WAS SAM RAIMI and we were all his bitches tonight!
And the film isn't even done. The awesome sound mix that I can only pretend to experience - was not in play. There's CG effects no where near completion in the film... but even at their roughest - they caused women and Massawyrm to piss themselves in panic!
This was an unveiling of a juggernaut of entertainment. This film has to be the single most satisfying film experience I've had - maybe ever. First - I got to introduce Sam Raimi to 1200 people screaming to be satisfied. But most importantly - Sam delivered with every trick he has to play.
This is Sam Raimi distilling the joyous satisfaction and thrills from his own first two EVIL DEAD films - and applying it to aspects from films like CURSE OF THE DEMON & THE WOLFMAN delivered with the awesome power and force of a modern Raimi. There's shit in this movie that would make Satan take notes! That the Marquis De Sade would admire. Sam violates sacred ground with glee and unapologetic happiness. This is the fucking dream of what anyone could possibly hope a new Sam Raimi film would be like.
This was... my happy place. Watching hardened horror cynics peeking through fingers. Yoko cowering beneath my jacket - as if that leather coat would give even a second's delay to the dark ones this film was unleashing.
Sam is making SPIDER-MAN 4 next. But if I may. Sam - Please - Please - Please - Please MORE HORROR LIKE YOU DO!
When you see this film - take EVERYONE YOU'VE EVER ENJOYED A HORROR FILM WITH - WITH YOU! This is not a film to see alone. This is a film that needs a support group. That cries for your friends to share.
This was FILM GEEK HEAVEN, which was Raimi's vision of HELL!
A more coherent review when I'm capable will be appearing
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Booooooooo-yyaaaaaaa
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Make more horror movies and stay the fuck away from Spiderman 4.
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I mean, seriously? Bit much, innit?I saw the trailer the other day thinking, meh, can't be as Spider-man 3.
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He's still milking the effects he did for Raimi over 20 years ago, the art he's done and the little bit of work he did for EVIL DEAD 2. I'll see this sad sad man in a few weeks at Cinema Wasteland and laugh.
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Really genuinely want a rollercoaster horror ride after the continual influx of weak teen slasher remakes and style-less torture porn antics. My question is what is the protagonist like - any good?
Sure the thrills and spills in the Evil Dead series were a riot but it was because the character of Ash was so well portrayed as a likeable charasmatic bonehead, he could sell scenes like having his hand possessed etc - even if Campbell has got an ego the size of Texas, he sold the hell out of the role.
Fingers crossed for this and Spidey 4. Spidey 2 is amongst my favourite non-serious flicks yet Spidey 3 the worst (and I'm not really a comic book purest) but in listening to interviews with Raimi I haven't lost the faith -
Mar 16, 2009 4:40:55 AM CDT
"single most satisfying film experience I've had - maybe ever"
by tomdolan04
Virgin Witch, hands down...pants
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Okay, it shares its first place with The Wolf Man, but dammit, I so wanna see it.
Oh, and are angry fanboys still crying over Spidey 3? Sheesh. -
Welcome home Sam.
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so bummed that I had to work tonight? was there a q&a and were there any good nuggets? really looking forward to this after the horror teases in Spidey 2 and 3!
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Cause my mind to this day still boggles over who thought the black suit should turn peter parker into a dancer......as opposed to say, an over-confident spider-man?
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Actually, no thanks. I don't think I could eat a whole Raimi's cock.
Seriously, though. I'm stoked to see this. I hope it's as good as Harry says. -
and why the fuck is god not in this production? i mean seriously, how the fuck can there be a raimi horror film without bruce???? makes me sick oh, and no matter how good jdm was in watchmen...bruce shoulda been the comedian
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Hard to believe one of the best horror films of the decade (according to what I've read) is PG-13. Anyhoo, the best horror film of the decade is, without a doubt, The Descent. No competition there.
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I did squirm and writhe and flail my arms like a little girl. I doubt I will be able to wield a stapler without cringing for at least a month. That movie rocked 10 different kinds of ass.
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Step AWAY from the KomPooter. ETC. This sounds verrrrrrrry much like your raves for both Jurassic_Kong and Watchmen. Ummmmmm, no. Thou ravest too much me thinks. But if you can manage to get him to put some (more) Giant Robots into this, maybe I'll rent it-for free-down the road.
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Because i never, i repeat, I NEVER see any horror movie made in Hollywood that is scary. Yes, that includes Exorcist. The scariest horror movies are made by asian filmmakers
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Mar 16, 2009 6:41:34 AM CDT
SAM AND IVAN RAIMI WROTE ARMY OF DARKNESS AND SPIDER-MAN 3.....
by 1978creepythinman
Those movies were shit and I have little doubt that Drag Me To Hell will be shit as well. Unfortunately we are going to have to endure dozens of EVIL DEAD geekboys creaming over Sam Raimi returning to the Horror genre after the monumental fuckup that was Spider-man 3. SM3 was the worst of the series, so far, and such a let down after the first movie turned out to be soo good while SM2 was Sam's second masterpiece only after Evil Dead 2. That made SM3's failure all the more crushing. Of course people are going to say "Sam and Ivan worked on both SM1 and SM2's script blah blah blah", well then maybe Sam should have hired one or two GOOD writers to balance out the shit that the Raimi brothers spew out on their own. Oh and I should mention that Evil Dead 1 was scripted by Sam himself and on ED2 he had Scott Spiegal working with him so if Raimi had teamed up with Spiegal again and if this was R-RATED then MAYBE I'd be excited but I'm guessing “Gregg Clark” and Harry are just polishing Raimi’s knob over the fact that they got to see this movie over everyone else. I’M GLAD TO SAVE YOU GWEN STACEY, NOW I’LL SWING AWAY WHILE IGNORING THE GIANT FUCKING CRANE THAT WAS SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL A FEW MOMENTS AGO…….SIR, I COULD HAVE SAVED YOU FROM YOU QUEST FOR REVENGE BACK IN SPIDER-MAN 2 AND SAVED YOU FROM HAVING HALF YOUR FUCKING FACE BLOWN OFF IN SPIDER-MAN 3 IF I HAD JUST TOLD YOU THAT YOUR FATHER WAS KILLED BY HIS OWN GLIDER…….UH….BERNARD…….WHY THE FUCK DIDN’T YOU TELL ME THIS AT THE END OF SPIDER-MAN 1 YOU FUCKING CUNT!?! YOUR FUCKING FIRED, YOUR FUCKING FIRED BERNARD, CLEAN OUT YOUR FUCKING LOCKER YOU COCKSUCKER YOU ARE SOO FUCKING FIRED MOTHERFUCKER!!! INSTEAD OF HANGING AROUND THIS FUCKING PENTHOUSE, WHINING ABOUT MY DADDY LIKE A FUCKING BITCH, I COULD HAVE SPENT THE LAST TWO MOVIES FUCKING SUPERMODELS AND SNORTING COCAINE OFF THE LABIA’S OF TEENAGE GIRLS!!!
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We shall see, we shall see.
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Then Tree of Life. Then Public Enemies.
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Mar 16, 2009 7:30:34 AM CDT
What we saw tonight was a masterpiece of American Horror to the
by monkey butler
Fuck me that's a bad line.
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It's even worse when you can actually read the whole thing
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I didn't like Spiderman3 and, if I may, THAT review is just so over the top that it's doing this movie no favours. I think harry was more excited about being in the presence of Raimi and the experience was just a little better than what the actual movie 'probably' is. That is totally Understandable though.
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Mar 16, 2009 7:35:57 AM CDT
SORRY BUT AMERICAN PSYCHO WAS THE LAST AMERICAN HORROR MASTERPIE
by 1978creepythinman
That came out almost 9 years ago.
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Does Knowles only see movies with theaters full of hyper-sensitive retards? It sounds like every screening people are in throes of ectasy.
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TELL US!
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but hey its sam raimi so my ass will be in seat when it hits but that pg-13 trailer looked all kids of balls and lets face it, you yanks havent made a scary movie in fecking ages for proper horror i like me my asian and euro flicks and if i want some cool funny as fuck horror you can beat the brits, but if you like teens, slashers and generic shit, you cant beat hollywood!
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Are we living in the 40's again, jesus with all this miserable hate...
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Really.
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... and that review was born.
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...but I'm still not anything but lukewarm to cold regarding this film. It's not just Harry's dripping endorsement of the film which has failed to excite me (and not for the first time, either), but rather the triumvirate of:
1) Spidey 3
2) The phrase "The Return of True Horror" in the trailer which just seems desperate and too self-aware.
3) The phrase "spookablast". That's even worse than Arachnophobia's "thrillomedy".
I want to be wrong. Drag me to Hell, Sam! -
Venom was done wrong. But Sandman was done right. Raimi still ended his trilogy by staying true to the characters and they all had a satisfying end. Sure you have to forget the "dark suit" emo dance stuff. But to me thats not a deal breaker. Not when parts of it are fun to watch and the story still held true to what Raimi was doing with the series up to that point. Maybe people are just upset that Venom was done so poorly. Maybe Venom is stupid to begin with and would always be stupid on screen? Raimi's heart wasn't into Venom and it shows. He goes out like a punk where Sandman gets the Doc Ock "I'm not a monster" treatment. Its not perfect but its far from terrible.
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I hope the movie is better than that uninspired trailer...
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It's the inside that counts....
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Instead of remaking Evil Dead or doing just another Evil Dead movie. He made a new story instead. Horror fans this is the answer to your "Evil Dead 4" prayers. Now lets hope Peter Jackson makes another horror flick as well and the two masters of horror comedy can once again take their seats at the head of that table.
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Or not. I'm really looking forward to this. Sure my hopes have been dashed before while hoping for the next great horror movie but some day it will come.
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Mar 16, 2009 8:35:57 AM CDT
I agree - the trailer brought my interest level to ZERO
by shiftyeyeddog2
I was interested to see Sam Raimi's return to horror, but that trailer makes it look boring, lame, and easily a "wait for rental" at best. I hope it's just bad marketing.
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This movie looks like The Boogeyman directed by Sam Raimi.
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That fucked the character of sandman and fucked up spidey's origin story. As did "letting him go" at the end. Look Spidey I don't care if you feel like you've been able to forgive him for what happend to your uncle, he's still an escaped convict! You can't just let him go ffs!
And how much crying was there?
Anyway, look harry I love that you're so enthusiastic about films in your reviews but...I have no idea what this film is about or why it's scart from this review. Shouting that it's amazing and a return of true horror, but then not giving me reasons why makes it no different from some advert telling me to go see it. -
I want to see this movie soooo bad!!! It was "Evil Dead I" which made me a horror fan in the first damn place. I saw it for the first time on "Night Flight" when I was 13.
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..We all just skip the first few paragraphs of all of Harry's reviews? I can't remember the last time I actually read an entire review of his. So damn boring. I just skip to the end and surprise surprise its a gushing glowing review.
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Show me one comic where sandman was any deeper or more interesting? As far as involving him in Bens killing. It worked for the movie. It doesn't ruin anything about Spidermans origin. But fanboys will be fanboys. Considering how often spidermans story has been retold in the comics I think its safe to assume that much like Batman theirs nothing wrong with taking some artistic license when retelling the same old story over and over again.
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...sounds like someone got some "pwesents" yesterday, huh?
hope i'm wrong, tho. -
I think Spider-Man 3 gets too much undeserved hate while the Evil Dead movies get too much love. I don't know why you all are still spewing venom all over Spider-Man 3 at this time. It wasn't nearly as bad as some of you make it out, yet you'd think the movie was the worst sequel in the history of sequels. At the same time, you love Evil Dead, which is a pretty bad low budget horror that show that Raimi had promise back then, but was not yet ready for the big time.I feel pretty "meh" about this next movie and will wait to see how its received before I decide whether to see it or not. I think its a mistake releasing it at the end of May. It really feels like a late July release at the most, but really September-October. I think it could really get lost sandwiched between "Terminator 4" and "Land of the Lost".
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Evil Dead is genius. This looks meh.
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This blowjob isn't one of them.
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Oh wait, I mean SELL OUT
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PLEASE skip Spidey 4, Raimi sucks with big budget flicks. Go back to your roots and do ED4, on a cheap budget. Then after ED4 just create original stuff from now on. Stick with the horror.
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I understand that you can't fully judge a film by its trailer, but count me convinced. I refuse to believe that this film is anything other than absolute cunt-steam. I've rarely seen a trailer that convinced me so thoroughly of an awful horror film. I'll even include PROM NIGHT.
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But at least he used his powers, unlike say Part 2 where Whisky-Dick Web, threw away his suit and whined a lot.
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does anyone else picture ol' harry arriving at home this morning, wiping the raimi juice from the corners of his mouth with his brand new "Drag Me To Hell" towel, then climing into his "Drag Me To Hell" muu-muu, snuggling up with his Raimi doll, and gently falling into a much needed slumber?
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just read further.
lesson to any future authors: climbing up into Sam Raimi's ass is not going to make you a better writer. I suspect that there is a problem with the lighting in there. -
i suspect that heavy alcohol intake took place prior to writing this review (at least i HOPE that had something to do with it). but really, isn't the third-grade-level writing style half of the charm of this joint?
i'm assuming Yoko was piloting the flatbed last evening. -
Harry is one enthusiastic guy, and I give him credit for trying, but he DOES get carried away by the film experience. Those who call him out for "selling out" are wrong, IMO. I think he just gets wrapped up in the "theater experience"
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Gets overly-excited for movies that are either decent to great. Look at his Indy 4 review, he actually fucking CRIED during that movie. Sometimes I think Harry's enthusiasm for flicks doesn't stem from his passion, but more from extreme emotional imbalances.
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Mar 16, 2009 10:16:58 AM CDT
A woman is cursed after refusing a mortgage extension to an old
by elwood_p_dud
I think that pretty much sums up, yet another "WTF?" review by this site. Jesus, this looks worse than that shitastic Spidey 3 he vomited out. Drag Me To Hell- flopping like a flaccid donkey dick at a theater near you!
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The Greatest Most Thrilling Awe Inspiring Life Changing Experience I've Had Outside Of My First Orgasm - And Maybe Better Than That!!Sam Raimi gave us not only The Evil Deads, and Spidey 1 and 2, two superhero movies better than anyone anticipated, but also the over-the-top joys of Darkman. The very underrated A Simple Plan and The Gift. And damn if The Quick And The Dead doesn't grab me everytime its on TNT or TBS every other weekend. A director doesn't hit a grand slam everytime up to bat, and there is more good in Spiderman 3 than bad. What worries me is Sam's record with Ghost House ain't the greatest. Boogeyman, the Grudges The Messengers, etc. 30 Days Of Night wasn't bad, though. And the PG13 rating is a concern. But shock and scares are not dependent on an R rating, so I can live with that. So I take Harry's fluid-dripping review for what it's worth, and hope Sam gives us a good ride which is all we can hope for.
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...see Thinner...
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Not a good sign.
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sucked the shit out of my ass with a Krazy Straw. They were fucking terrible. Anyone that makes a masked super-hero movie and then has the hero unmasked for 99% of it, can't be right in the head. Either that or that cunt Tobey was feeling forgotten under the costume.
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Seriously, there's only ONE movie left in 2009 that is worth seeing...A V A T A RDecembernothing else matters
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Can't something have its good points AND bad points? Its either SHIT or GODLY with you people why can't it be inbetween? Its the way reasonable human beings think and react to things, you might want to give it a try. Spiderman 3 is in no way "shit". I mean even compared to movies like Elektra and Catwoman Spiderman3 still stands as one of the best comic films this generation. Especially after seeing X-Men 3 left to Ratner. Its nice to see Raimi hold onto Spidey and keep the integrity of the character going for another film. And I remember when he made spiderman 1 and 2..people loved him for this series. Now you hate him? You are the worst human beings. Truly you are.
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And there's no toilet ever contructed large enough to flush away the anger. Sam Raimi, you seemed to learn the lesson of what not do to as taught by Batman and Robin. Then, you essentially made the Marvel comics version of Batman and Robin. A stupid, noisy, kind of gay, non-sensical romp through superhero town which feeds a diaper sandwich to logic, good screen-writing and fans of the first two films and Spider-Man in general. One villain. No Deus Ex Butler bullshit. Make us give a shit about the characters. Make the story make sense. And ONE VILLAIN. Do a better job. I remain, The Warrior. See you in Hell.
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Worst talkbacker ever.
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You're a deluded cunt if you've seen Spidey 3 and can still talk about "integrity". That was a vapid confused lump of floating shit.
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It just not. At all. This is another sign of the pandering going on in hollywood. I hope this film fails because this film will determine what direction Universal will take The Wolf-Man. This is fucking horrible news and for horror fans. PG-13 will rule forever if the film succeeds!
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Thank you for proving me right.
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I'm one of the few who really enjoyed Spider-Man 3. People act like the thing went completely off the rails compared to the first 2, but it really keeps the tone and feel of them. I agree that it isn't as good as the first 2, but it is NO WAY one of the worst comic book movies made.People also want to crap on Raimi for how Venom was handled, yet he never wanted Venom in the movie. Venom was a last minute addition by his higher ups that threw the entire production into anarchy. Raimi basically had to go with what he had, and I thought he handled it about as well as he could.
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Very underrated. Nice to see her in a starring role.
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Gee, its too bad Hitchcock would never be able to find work nowadays...
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The trailer for this blew me away. Talk about timely! Until I saw it, I didn't know what to expect. I was nervous seeing the first "Spider-man" too (would Raimi be able to deliver under the restraints of a huge budget Hollywood product?) until I could see that Stan Lee's creation was in good hands. All of you TalkBack assholes that suddenly turned on Raimi because of "Spider-man 3" can kiss my butt. Sure, it's my least favorite of the three films too. Raimi was strapped with the Venom story via studio demand(which he DID NOT grow up with and didn't particularly have a feel for) and this led to some problems. But to shit on a director's entire career just because you didn't like one film is crazy. I would argue that "Spider-man 3" is Raimi's only truely unsuccessful film, and "Spider-man 2" is one of the best comic book movies ever made! It's up there with Donner's "Superman," "Iron Man" and "The Dark Knight." So bitch on if you must, and grow the hell up while you're at it.
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OK, let's get this motherfucker goin': Let's post Harry's "Inglorious Basterds" review FOR him. I'll be working on mine throughout the day, but i want to see what you comedians out there can come up with.
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But has he EVER written a negative review? I mean, the guy like The Spirit and Twilight! He even like My Bloody Valentine! Where's the balance? Where's the reviews of movies that WEREN'T good?
At least Capone, Massawyrm, and Quint all have varying tastes... -
New director, new stars, etc. Not a "reboot", mind you. I still want it to be an official sequel, but a new direction for the franchise would be nice. And for the love of God, please give us The Lizard.
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Mar 16, 2009 12:19:37 PM CDT
See "Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D"
by the reluctant austinite
See "Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D" for a review of a film Harry hated. Of course he dislikes films too! He usually just doesn't write about films that don't move him in some way. It's boring to write "meh" reviews for someone with Harry's passion for film. And "The Spirit" review wasn't a good review, just a sad realization that something he hoped would work didn't work. As far as "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" goes, I'll admit that I enjoyed it too. "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is my favorite film, but I knew there was no way this belated sequel was going to compare in any way to that classic. However, it does belong in the same class as "Temple of Doom" and "The Last Crusade." Neither of those two films is a pimple on the ass of "Raiders" but I enjoy both of them. We can argue ourselves blue in the face as to which one we like better, but I think "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" fits in with those two just fine. It's better than any of "The Mummy" movies or "Tomb Raider" movies or any of the knock-offs. It's just not the "raped my childhood" film that was "The Phantom Menace." Okay, I just put my head on the TalkBack chopping block!
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1. Completely agree about the "it's shit/it's awesome!" opinions that have filled the internet. I've noticed it seems to have got worse over the years, it's like no one has time for a full opinion any more that they just slump into polarised views. It annoys me a lot and I try my best to avoid it.
2. I think there are a hell of a lot of problems with Spidey 3 that are mainly down to the script, too many that I can't be bothered to go into them. But to address your point: -
Spiderman's origin story is one of the few superhero origin tales that has not been changed over thet years. Location and timing may be different but the basics; that his uncle was killed by a criminal that Peter Parker refused to stop. It's incredibly important to his character because it leads to the realisation of power/responsibilty through this sense of guilt. Peter needed that shock to the system. For S3 to ret-con this and say "oh hey actually it doesn't matter if you stopped teh criminal, your uncle would still be dead!" completely betrays this. It ignores the "one man can make a difference" belief that Spidey has (and Stan Lee also says at the start of the film) and goes with this "actually you can't really do shit". It added nothing good at all other than a poor attempt at giving Spidey some anger at sandman.
As for artistic license, I have nothing against it: as long as it works for the character and the film. The majority of the choices in Spidey 3 do not work in the films favour. In fact the 90s cartoon series did the sdymbiote suit better than the comic ever did. So I'm not asking for fidelity to the comics, but I am asking for a good film.
As for Sandman, yep he was never a deep character. But the sub-plot "oh my poor daughter" was horrendously under developed in the film, with no conclusion at all and poorly executed. Not only that but we already had a sympathetic villian with green goblin jr. Along with venom the whole thing got bloated with unfinished character arcs and storylines. Why have a sympathetic villian with a dying daughter if we never see her again or find out what happened?
Now we can do the "oh it's not Raimi's fault, he had to use venom blah blah" but that doesn't excuse the film.
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sounds good though the trailer sucked much ass!
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...when I saw Spider-man 3.
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The 90's Spidey cartoon had a great way of introducing the Venom symbiote (it was a sample that Jameson's son brought back from Mars). Obviously they couldn't go with the original comic origin, so to me that was a pretty good solution and one that would have worked perfectly for the film (especially considering that Jameson's son and his trip to Mars was already established in Spidey 2). But what do they come up with in Spider-man 3? It just happens to crash land in the park where Peter and MJ are having a picnic! What a coincidence. Wow. Lame.
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"How can this be ANY good? Its got Justin "annoying MAC dude" Long in it..."Alison Lohman fans..check out Where The Truth Lies with Colin Firth and Kevin "Dr Manhattan" Bacon.
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I think they thought that would be too similar to that god awful Species 2.
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Mar 16, 2009 12:43:02 PM CDT
I'm still waiting for someone to explain to me how the EVIL DEAD
by mr. nice gaius
...are any good. Don't get me wrong; I love ARMY OF DARKNESS. But the other ones are fucking overrated city. Not to mention they're un-scary. Which seems to be the case for most "horror" films these days.As for DRAG ME TO HELL, I have very little interest as I don't believe Raimi delivers genuine scares. I always get the sense that there is a lot of winking going on behind the camera. I'd love to be proven wrong but this sounds too much like a lame carnival ride.
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Cheers. Ah you reminded me of more stuff now of how awesomely they handled the story in the cartoon!
As you point out Spidey 3 is filled with painfully embarressing "coincidences" to move the story along - symbiote falls next to peter, Eddie is in the same church peter is when he takes off the suit, venom and sandman bump into each other in a back alley.
In the cartoon it works much more sensically - eddie is in the church because he's been following spidey to get pics of him to try adn get his job back. Which makes sense and doesn't mean we're stuck with silly coincidences.
And then we have how they handle the suit and anger issues. Peter becomes a jerk and nearly kills Rhino, that's when he realises he has to take it off because of how much he's changed. But with the film, Spidey happily drowns sandman (he must think he's dead at that point) and has no issue with that. But it's when he slaps MJ that he realises it's too much? Wtf?
Everyone just go download the old 90s Spiderman series, it does so many of the comics plots really well. -
That's the one where that chick gets her face covered with Alison Lohman's girl-cum, right? Good times.
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...Actually, no, I don't care that much but you do make me laugh. You refuse to believe - despite Harry's review and all the other extremely positive word of mouth - that this movie will be any good because you disliked the director's last film. Even though you liked (or loved) most of the director's previous work. Whatever.
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And that cartoon storyline juggles three bad guys (Venom, Rhino and Black Cat), and does it perfectly.
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Did you SEE Spider-man 3?
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Its 90 minutes of Bruce Campbell getting the shit kicked out of him six ways from Sunday, and funny as hell.
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it's not that i've written him off as a director, at all. it's that i've written Harry off as a film critic (an ETHICAL one, anyway).
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So it's really gay?
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"immediately replaced by onscreen scary crazy fucked up awesome brilliantly insane terrors..."
harry is a nice guy i spose. but his writing...yikes. his sanctimonious stories about what a film did for his life and his exuberant gushing both often make for a cringe-worthy read.
i mean, SIX consecutive adjectives harry? -
And I cannot believe we have to have the way too old Wooden Tobey, the way too lame Dunst, and Sam "The Law of Diminishing Returns" Raimi back for SMIV.
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Would y'all quit bitching about ratings?? About a PG-13 DRAG ME TO HELL or THE WOLFMAN? What does it matter? Who the hell cares? There's no direct correlation between a horror film's MPAA rating and its scare quotient. Ratings address issues like violence and sexuality, not content or effect. Fer chrisssakes, one of the scariest movies ever made, Robert Wise's THE HAUNTING, is rated G! -
Mar 16, 2009 1:32:50 PM CDT
Spidey 3 was a clusterfucked trainwreck of epic proportions.
by motoko kusanagi
Who the hell even dares to defend this steaming pile of ape dung? Yeah, only chest-bumping kids like knowthyself and Jax...
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Mar 16, 2009 1:35:16 PM CDT
Yoko cowering beneath my jacket - as if that leather coat..
by fullbloodedscot
was a mammoth tent that could sleep 5 comfortably.
People need to stop defending SM3 because Venom was forced on Raimi. Raimi sold out by not fighting that harder. -
..wasn't that awful. It was the Godfather 3 of superhero films I suppose, but doesn't deserve the hate.
I do worry about Harry's excitement over this. Ever since Indy 4 I've been worried. -
three-quels of 2007 between Spiderman 3, Pirates 3, and Shrek 3, Spiderman would be the only one I'd be willing to sit through again. Damning it with faint praise, but still.
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Wonder if JJJ will be a ninja- fighting God?
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Word.
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I actually think BOOGEYMAN gets a bad rep. I don't know if it was intentional on the part of the writer, but if you do two things, the movie becomes actually kind of incredible. All you need to do is 1) watch the original ending and 2) think of that movie as if the whole thing is inside the guy's head. It seems much more overt of a statement in the original ending than the first - but NOTHING THAT HAPPENS is literal, to me, in that flick. It's about a guy who's had a hard time of it (played well by Barry Watson) trying to get over the disappearance of his dad (who abandoned him.
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THAT, my friends, is how you properly describe a film that you really enjoyed. "It's awesome!" is for ADD-riddled 3-year-olds.
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Why the fuck do most of you even come here?
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Awesome flick and an interesting window into what could have been for him should he have taken that role in more traditional genres.
The Spidey 3 hate, I don't hate Venom nor Sandman - I find it the bigger shame that his and MJ's relationship was portrayed with no hint of emotional truth and was shoehorned to fit the story, the actors looked bored and the Symibiote Story - which mimics the true timeless fables about the corrupting nature of power on man and how a lesser man with superpowers would turn on the world - was ridiculously low key and abrupt.
I hope Drag Me To Hell evokes the best of Raimis quirkiness. -
I just watched the trailer for DMTH. The story is just like thinner, getting curst by a gypsy, being able to pass the curse to someone else, etc etc, this better be good.
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So i have no hope for this. Sam is too much if a swell guy now.
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Indy4
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wow. that sucked.
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i will be first in line to see this movie! i cannot wait for my chance. Raimi is and always will be my hero!
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Mar 16, 2009 2:57:02 PM CDT
RAIMI ALREADY DRAGGED ME TO HELL WITH SPIDER-MAN 3
by supercowbell4therequestformorecowbell
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Since when has Raimi ever been known for his horror films? The Evil Dead series became more comical as it progressed. ED1 was his closest, but slapstick horror, really isn't horror. That's like saying that the Three Stooges in "The Ghost Talks" was one of the scariest shorts of all time. From the looks of it, this just seems like a strait horror movie, and Raimi's horror projects have been a let down thus far: The Grudge 1 and 2 (3 later this year, I believe), and Boogeyman? I hope this turns out to be a great/good/solid film because America's imagination in horror cinema seems to be going banckrupt, but from the outside, this movie looks a bit run-of-the-mill'ish. Please, no shitty remakes, no more foreign adaptations. I can't even remember the last (truly) scary movie I saw.
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Spider-man 3 is not the worst movie ever. However, it had so many opportunities to be one of the great part threes ever. Venom should never have been in it. Gwen Stacy or Mary Jane should have died. Goblin Jr. and Spidey should not have become a buddy team at the end. The Sandman stuff is good. The Mary Jane and Peter stuff is good. It just had so much potential and blew most of it. Oh, and Boogeyman is God awful.
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Raimi helped produce a lot of stuff: Xena, Hercules, M.A.N.T.I.S., the American Grudge flicks, Boogeyman, etc. He didn't actually direct any of that stuff. If you want to look at a fairly recent horror film Raimi has directed, look no further than the Southern Gothic ghostly "The Gift".
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really fucking amateur man (and thats not a Bale joke)
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anybody else catch a whiff of cash while reading this?
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But I didn't see it as a horror movie. It had horror elements laced throughtout, but as a whole I thought it was more of a murder mystery/supernatural thriller, which never warrented an automatic "horror" label from me. It did have a great cast (even with Ted "Theadore" Logan in it), and great a great story. I see stronger connections between the Gift and A Simple Plan, than between The Gift and Drag Me to Hell(at least on the outside as I haven't seen it yet).
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but who gives a fuck.
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So im up for Hell.
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Spider-man 3 with it's not one but TWO songs(?!) from snaggletooth, tuneless Dunst, all the fucking crying scenes, the miscast fat-ass Bryce Howard as Gwen Stacy the model, the Saturday Night Fever Emo Parker, the lame ass hobgoblin, the lame ass Venom (oh look the meteor(?) just happens to land right next to the only guy in the whole world who has been bitten by a radioactive spider and given powers, what are the odds?!! Just stupid, stupid bullshit. Plus, I remember Dunst and Maguire being total assholes to the fans after III because none of them thought they would be coming back for IV. Dunst even responded to one fan's question with the old, tired, "Don't you have a life?" line or something similar, but since NONE of them-Maguire, Dunst or Raimi has had a hit since, tada! look who's back! Raimi, can take his right-wing, flag waving, suit and tie wearing to the set everyday, pretentious ass and go fuck off. I'm as big an Evil Dead fan as everybody else but I didn't even buy Spiderman II and III on dvd nor will I watch it on cable because they both just suck sooo bad. I'll catch "Drag Me to Hell" because I have a nostalgia for Raimi's horror work but I want a fresh blood re-boot for the Spiderman series. Maguire will be 35 years old for Christ sake! Middle aged Spiderman? I mean, c'mon!! Fresh blood!! Re-boot!!
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Mar 16, 2009 3:48:02 PM CDT
What happened to the David Hayter Letter Watchmen thread?
by balzacs_ballsac
D'oh!
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out of respect of the profession, and because Hitchcock wore one everyday. Raimi is of that baby boomer age that holds Hitchcock as a great influence.
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pretentious?
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AMEN BROTHER
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...just defend Boogeyman? Holy God what a baked pony loaf that movie was. It's people like that who ensure that the millions keep rolling in to companies like Platinum Dunes.
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Listen, if Scorcese doesn't find it "disrespectful to the profession" to not a wear a suit and tie everyday then who the fuck is Raimi? Are Scorcese, Spielberg, Scott, Lucas all by Raimi's rationale thus "disrespectful" to the profession just for wearing comfortable clothing to a 20+ hour a day, most uncomfortably hot set like a regualar human being would? Whenever asked about it Raimi gives the exact quote that you just regurgitated, he likens himself to Hitchcock, and THAT is pretentious as Raimi is NO Hitchcock, suit or no.
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Stop being such a mellow dramatic emo twat. You're already shitty life will be much more enjoyable when you don't live life according to your dirty minge.
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Mar 16, 2009 4:28:32 PM CDT
we call for a moritorium on Harry's reviews of Raimi and Toro
by bmacsmith
Raimi and del Toro reviews shouldn't even be called reviews. just call them adds or something.
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either way, they are awesome. i just never really considered them horrors. more like comedies.
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They reviewed this script a year ago and absolutely trashed it, which I knew was b.s. because I read the script years ago and it rocked. Don't trust anything Latino Review puts out. [http://tinyurl.com/c2z7fk]
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in Spidey 3. Never forget.
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http://www.latinoreview.com/news/el-guapo-lets-sam-raimi-drag-him-into-hell-6062
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unfortunately, this site has gone from being a parody of itself to something far darker and more disturbing. talkbackers, quit enabling this garbage.
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Because your geek emotion has spilled out big time on this review?
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Which I read and can tell you is great and you'd say the same thing, too, because you probably know how to read a script and imagine the movie it describes. Just the fact that El Guapo's review of the film is SO positive is evidence that the script Reader was no doubt wrong. Do you really think the script could have been that bad but Raimi turned it into an amazing film?
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I actually think BOOGEYMAN gets a bad rep. I don't know if it was intentional on the part of the writer, but if you do two things, the movie becomes actually kind of incredible. All you need to do is 1) watch the original ending and 2) think of that movie as if the whole thing is inside the guy's head. It seems much more overt of a statement in the original ending than the first - but NOTHING THAT HAPPENS is literal, to me, in that flick. It's about a guy who's had a hard time of it (played well by Barry Watson) trying to get over the disappearance of his dad (who abandoned him.
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If he stated he LIKENS himself to Hitchcock, I stand corrected.
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Are you joking? You don't have to pay fanboys in CASH. They're already spilling out their disposable income out their asses in the form of the "energy drinks" they use to stay up all night for marathon X-Box sessions. No - all you need to do is promise you'll smile at them the next time you see tem, so they can feel less-than-awful about themselves through the success of another by osmosis.
Harry is not, in my opinion, one of these people consciously, but I think he does get carried away with being a "part" of the genre community. Truth be told? Harry is as much a part of the sci/fi/fantasy/genre community as Forrest J. Ackerman, probably one of the most overrated "personalities" in the history of the business. What did Forrest J. Ackerman ever truly create? Nothing, but he was the ultimate fanboy and he gave birth to the legions of horror "creators" today who do nothing more than recycle the materials of the past in hopes of hitting the magic formulas of their legitimately-creative forefathers. Thanks, Forry. -
I'm sure it's good, but not a cinematic ejaculation.
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I generally get bored with horror movies anymore, but mostly Hollywood has been handing us shit and telling it it was gold for a while now. Raimi has the chops, so I'm hopefull.
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I was nonplussed. It looked completely like THIRONETHREETEEN GHOSTS in terms of sets, production quality, etc. Remember when horror movies LOOKED BETTER than old TALES FROM THE CRYPT episodes? This is what this movie reminds me of - the supernatural TALES FROM THE CRYPT episodes on HBO that I loved in the first few seasons which got completely replaced once the studio realized people hate supernatural/fantasy material and substituted instead "Next week, on TALES FROM THE CRYPT, another murderer concocts a murder, but ends up murdered by an unexpected murderer! HEHEHEHEHEH!"
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I'm with you on the "Evil Dead" films. I will never understand the crazy appeal to those films. On top of that, I really will never understand the love for Bruce Campbell. I used to think that was just a younger person thing, but then I found out a few friends my age really dig him.
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and the way he reviews is getting fucking boring. If you can't stand the way he writes and think he's a sellout....stop reading his fucking reviews!!!
Harry's style hasn't changed over the years, yet every review theres some asshole whining about how they don't like his style or how his opinion has been bought.
Give it up assholes, you're saying nothing that hasn't been said a million times before and he shows no sign of changing....why not make your lives that bit less miserable and stop clicking on his reviews?? Or would that be too easy?
Spidey 3 is 2 years old, let it fucking go, this is a different movie with a diferent budget and a different cast, take it or leave it on it's own merits. -
I still have faith in Raimi. SM3 was a let-down. But, as a fan of B-movies, I didn't think it was completely unwatchable once you silenced that little voice in your head that kept saying, "Oh, come on!" Here's hoping he learned from SM3 and will, with a good script (apparently being written by someone else; a sign that Sony learned their lesson) make up for SM3 with a kickass SM4. Ideas: Give Ted a bigger part, and a costume! Let Peter grow a pair of balls, big shiny ones, and stop being a whiny pussy. Kill Bernard for being a dick and waiting 'til the end to remember what happened (old fuck). No more dancing. No more plot holes. Only one villain. Have a flashback where Sandman has a flashback and remembers he didn't kill Uncle Ben. And, hot lesbians. Amendment: Hot lesbians in coitus.
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you're going to hell for blaspheming the name of Bruce. Just thought I'd let you know.
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Mar 16, 2009 6:45:17 PM CDT
WOW -- Latino Review just removed all critical comments from the
by copontheedge
Their site is dead to me now and I encourage you all to boycott it, as well. There were at least 4 comments when I checked it an hour ago, now only one. http://tinyurl.com/d6ak4l
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Noooooooo, as long as Harold continutes to spew out such raving drivel as this about a movie that might be LXG I level, I think everyone here is entitled to say whatever they wanna. Including youse.
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I can dig it.
I hope that he can get his "geek" cap back on for Spidey 4/5. If Drag Me To Hell is proof he hasn't lost his touch, then, Go man, Go! -
That was surprisingly scary. I'm curious to see what he does here when he takes the gloves off.
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Write with more composure. It isn't trolling or talkbackers being "internet dicks" of the Jay and Silent Bob Variety, when nearly 90% of this talkback is people lambasting you for your review. Sure Drag Me to Hell may have been great, maybe even fantastic, but no amount of the hyperbole you serve up is just. To see you gush like this, especially when you said you CRIED at Indy 4, puts silly and weird mental images in peoples heads and frankly, I feel embarrassed for you when I read these reviews. No one takes you seriously when you write like an 8 year old who just saw his first playboy. This is odd because the rest of the writers here at AICN write with a maturity and reserve that's miles ahead of yours it seems. I think it's time for you to take back relevance in your own site. Listen, we get it, you REALLY love movies, we do too, that's why we're here on your site. But for the love of fucking God, gain some emotional reserve and please write some coherent and balanced reviews from now on.
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But surely everyone knows what to expect from a Harry review by now? It's tiresome reading the same old shit every time he reviews something and likes it. Change the fucking record people!!
Oh, and my bottle is plenty big...go check your Mom's night stand to see just how big. -
From the looks of the trailer, the movie looks like a solid, campy, solidly B-movie affair. Not sure I saw any hints of "American horror classic."
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Harry - you did a wonderful job introducing Mr. Raimi last night. It was awesome when he did the pratfall on his way to the mic. And it was even cooler when I discovered that Mr. Raimi sat directly behind me during the entire film!
Drag Me to Hell was one of the best cinematic experiences I've had in a long time. I know audiences are going to go crazy for it! -
you broke some glass and you're bleeding from the enema bag again
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This movie is certainly on the top of mine. Do some stuff to generate discussions and therefore (spoiler) drive traffic to the site.
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Well, I love Bruce Campbell but I don't love all-things-Bruce Campbell. Glad to see someone else who finds the whole EVIL DEAD thing strange.
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They were unique, well at least as unique as they could be. Evil Dead 1 was an overrated little indie flick ya, but Evil Dead 2 always holds a special place in my heart. Not that I ever really found it scary, but the movie is having so much fun with itself it's hard not to go along.
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Don't be dissing my childhood memories pal. I never looked at porch swings the same after that movie.
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...to convincingly portray an occurrence of demonic possession. That film and its first sequel are absolutely fearless in their depiction of supernatural sickness and brutality. Truly amazing horror films. Raimi is still a fine director but he has NEVER repeated that level of brilliance. As for DRAG ME TO HELL, I truly hope the movie is better than its trailer, which was merely loud and annoying. It gave me headache. Still, I'm very curious about Raimi's return to the genre.
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I saw The Exorcist after seeing The Evil Dead and somehow I felt prepared for what I was watching.
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Mar 16, 2009 10:24:08 PM CDT
i always thought Evil Dead 2 was so good because it was so bad.
by bmacsmith
i mean, bad in a good way. it hink its much beter if you watch it thinking they were trying to make a serious movie, which might be the case.
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Intended camp and general over-the-topness was what they were going for. Movies like The Evil Dead 1 & 2 and Peter Jackson's Brain Dead/Dead Alive are so awesome because they were made with creativity, on a mini budget, requiring skill and ingenuity to get the finished product on screen.
There is not one single thing about Evil Dead 2 that is bad. -
And it's been 27 years. Let it fucking die.
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and wont even add to it. I could but ill blab on so that last line will suffice as a summary.
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as Bill Hicks talked about: is there a shelf life? Coz its old is it not relevant? Its only talked about coz this is a Sam Raimi talkback, no one brings up Evil Dead much when its not necessary, but yeah.....talkback on a Sam Raimi film, why let it lie? Or die, or whatever. Its a class film.
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im bringing up Jaws. Even older. Still one of the best films ever. Older films are fun to talk about as has been said in a separate thread coz they are discussed properly now without hype."I can do anything i'm the chief of police". Jaws is class!
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Thank fucking goodness.
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larry david was asked to be vulture but since he turned it down they went an entirely different direction.
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Bam. Mac Fag. Totally ruined it for me.
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How is life in Bizarro World? With the possible exception of The Quick & The Dead, Spider-Man 3 was Raimi's worst film. Much worse than Darkman. The Evil Dead films (at least ED2 & AOD) largely depend on Campbell's charisma to entertain. The Evil Dead films are undeniably very good, as evidenced by the fact that Raimi was given the job of directing Spider-Man. No Evil Dead, no Spider-man with Raimi. Instead Roland Emmerich or Tim Burton or Chris Columbus would have directed it.
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I never looked at tree branches the same.
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of my film going life. I've never been so hyped to see it a film. I preordered tickets in 2 different towns on opening day. I still question why I ever went through w/ that 2nd viewing.
I cry when I think about SM3.
I haven't even watched SM2 since that faithless day. -
As far as want be as feeling stupid for buying a ticket.
I saw clips of DMTH at Comicon.
The gypsy reminded me of that
newspaper boy in Better Off Dead that wanted his $2 dollars. -
... has to go to the bank to beg for an extension on their mortgage?
Well, that is probably true to life as there appears to be no fear of Satan by the banking industry. -
Sam Raimi is a hack because in Spiderman 3 people danced, and i can´t dance because i´m fat and shy and it that movie wasn´t like my beloved comic strip. Just kidding. Evil Dead, Darkman, A Simple Plan, The Quick and the Dead... Raimi rules.
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Be fucking your eyeballs in December!!!!!!
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Hey, I love Raimi too but this is too silly for a psychological horror movie and not wild enough for a cult horror film. It's half-hearted. On the other hand, if someone had let a BAT loose in the theater I was in I'll sure bet people would have been screaming...
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is a fun, fun western, stop dumping on it!
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but it wasn't the biggest disappointment. TPM will forever hold that honour.
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Mar 17, 2009 1:01:38 PM CDT
The fact that most of this talkback is dedicated to Spiderman
by sick fixx
than the actual subject, Drag Me to Hell, should show Raimi that no one gives a shit about 'new projects' of his. We want Evil Dead, or Spiderman, and that's it. What the fuck does this film think it is coming out of nowhere when Bruce Campbell is sitting around collecting royalties, READY and WILLING to resume the role of Ash but having to wait around on Sam's sorry ass.
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Mar 17, 2009 1:04:37 PM CDT
Some of Sam's best work has noth to do with ED or Spiderman
by lovecraftfan
It's just said that is being ignored.
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There's nothing even discernible in this review regarding the plot. All you did was talk about the reactions of famous people to the film. I still have no idea what Drag Me to Hell is about, and I really don't care. Sam Raimi should have learned by now not to try and be different when he's already established two other franchises. I mean, there was a time when we could have had a Phantasm movie with Ash squaring off against the Tall Man. You realize that!? WHY THE FUCK DID WE HAVE TO MISS OUT ON THAT FOR THIS TEPID, MEDIOCRE BULLSHIT!? And I'm astonished Legend of the Seeker has lasted as long as it has. I read the Goodkind series and enjoyed it for what it was, but even with its Randian/Objectivist overtones, it rarely managed to climb above standard, cookie cutter fantasy. Hardly worth taking time away from Evil Dead or Spiderman for.
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I know it's kinda like, "All the kids are doin' it," but it makes no sense. The dude gives you some info and you tear him a new one for it? Geez, where's YOUR film website where you talk to Sam Raimi? Oh, that's right, you don't talk to Sam Raimi about his cool new movie. Lighten up, people. It's amazing Harry doesn't just shut this site down with all the negativity he gets.
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That was one of the worst reviews I've ever seen Harry write--and given how piss-poor a writer he is, that is saying a lot. What a big sack of crap.
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Jax, did you remember to clean your face after kissing Harry's ass? "Oh, that's right, you don't talk to Sam Raimi" Give me a break, Jax--reaching any star or director for an interview isn't difficult. There are tons and tons of websites and magazines that do it every day. You can reach any director or actor through their respective guilds, simply by dialing the guild's phone number and asking for the contact info of their agent/management. Why, then, are you so impressed that Harry met Sam Raimi? Big deal. It apparently hasn't made Harry any better a writer.
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There's nowhere near the amount of 3d theaters. Dreamworks Ani is f'd with Monsters vs. Aliens -- they had planned for there to be twice as many 3d theaters out there. Cameron has been adamant about Avatar being a 3d experience from top to bottom, so I have a sinking feeling he's going to pull it until 2010. Haven't read anything, but this seems like a natural move for the Master.
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"reaching any star or director for an interview isn't difficult." - Well then, go start your own site where you get to interview directors. Why come here and tear Harry a new one."It apparently hasn't made Harry any better a writer." - If you hate Harry's writing, then why do you read ANYTHING he writes? Skip it. Or go to a different site. No, instead, you took time to read it, then come down to the talkbacks and spew a bunch of hatred toward the man that runs the site. Seriously. How screwy do you have to be to actually take the time to read an article you know you'll hate, and then leave negative comments about how "That was one of the worst reviews I've ever seen Harry write--and given how piss-poor a writer he is, that is saying a lot. What a big sack of crap." And what a name you called him at the end. What a way to treat a fellow human being who had the audacity to write a review about a movie on his own site.
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Bruce's weight watchers if it meant ED4. C'mon, Bruce! What is a god in human form doing with so flabby a vessel? Sure, I know he could, if he wanted, just change his body with the powers of Hara Bruce, but I feel there's a deeper lesson he's trying to teach all of us about gaining weight and losing it the hard way: lipo or band. CopOnTheEdge, I kinda agree. We just got our very first IMAX in New Orleans that plays movies that don't involve the sea or dolphins, and it just played its very first 3D movie three weeks ago. Idn't that pathetic?
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if Harry shuts the site down, think what'll happen to all the PWESENTS!!!!
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Its BECAUSE he has this site, and when studios use quotes from Mr. Knowles himself to sell their product, ie. blurbs in the past month on Sex Drive and W. DVDs alone, that we take Harry to task when he flies off the handle gushing praise on a movie. I would not be suprised in the least to see a poster or TV ad with the quote "single most satisfying film experience I've had - maybe ever" attched to it.THAT'S WHY JAX.
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Then why do you come here? There are lots of other movie sites on the nets, so why come to this one? And so what if they use his blurbs? Why do you really care?I just don't understand the hatred and anger. You don't like Harry's writing. Fine. You don't like that he is quoted in blurbs. Great. Yet you still take the time to come to his site, read what he writes, and comment on it in talkbacks. Seriously, what are you guys getting out of it?
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Mar 17, 2009 2:19:26 PM CDT
HOW RONALD REAGAN, RELIGION AND HOLLYWOOD KILLED CINEMA
by 1978creepythinman
In the 1980's the Reagan Administration ushered in the widespread de-regulation and removal of anti-trust laws that were put in place after the Great Depression to prevent companies from monopolizing various industries and creating the type of TOO BIG TO FAIL companies that have now created the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression itself. In regards to the decline of North American cinema it’s like this. With the HUGE success of movies like Jaws and Star Wars various money grubbing Wall Street types moved into the Hollywood system and reshaped the major studio’s into Corporate entities where the goal was no longer to just make movies and inspire friendly competition the way that proper capitalism is supposed to work. No, Wall Street style capitalism is about increasing market share by buying out or killing off the competition so that a few people/companies control everything which is closer to communism if you think about it. So, how did they go about this? By buying off politicians they were able to first get rid of the tax shelters that allowed low budget independent filmmakers and studio’s to raise money from private investors. Without these tax shelters people like George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead/Dawn of the Dead), Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Poltergeist), Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead and Spider-man Triologies), Brain DePalma (Carrie, Scarface, The Untouchables), Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver/Raging Bull/Goodfellas), Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather 1 & 2, Apocalypse Now) etc.. wouldn’t have been able to raise the money to make their first features. Canada offered a 100% tax shelter system for investment in movie production in the 70’s and that lasted until the 80’s. Without that Ivan Reitman (Meatballs/Stripes/Ghostbuster s) and David Cronenberg (The Fly/Naked Lunch/Crash) wouldn’t have been able to make their first films Cannibal Girls and Shivers respectively. Also, in the USA, before the deregulation and removal of the anti-trust laws, studios weren’t allowed to by up movie theatres or chains to create a monopoly. So what you had were thousands of theatres and theatre chains across North America and all those companies cared about was their box office revenue. So they would book anything that made money. If you made a low budget movie you could book it into a theatre and since the Motion Picture Association of America - MPAA was a joke back in those days you could show just about anything in theatres as in evidence of Deep Throat playing not just in porn houses but even in respectable theatres all across the country not to mention the grindhouses that played an endless stream of Horror and exploitation flicks day and night. If your movie was good and made money you could use that money to make more prints and advertise across the city, state or even the whole country if your movie was a hit. This is how AIP, Roger Corman and later New Line Cinema and Troma operated for decades, that is, until the 80’s. Now the deregulation/anti-trust laws removal (from here on in referred to as DR/ARL) wasn’t the only reason for the decline of audience attendance in the 80’s. VCR’s made it possible to rent movies and watch them from the comfort of your own home. As a result thousands of theatres and a few chains went under. Mostly these were the single venue style theatres with one screen where they would play double and triple bills and alternatively use the theatres for rock shows, stage productions etc… But the second thing was that after the DR/ARL, the major studios were allowed to buy up theatre chains and individual mom and pop theatres with the intent of shutting them down. The 1980’s saw the rise of the multi-plex, most of which were built by the major studios and a few other companies that operated such as Famous Players or Odeon Cinemas as an example up here in Canada. They were built with maximum comfort and convenience but had as much personality as your average McDonalds in comparison to a family operated restaurant. Now because these chains were all owned by corporations they would only do business with each other and book only each others movies as well as their own, effectively shutting out any independent studio’s or producers. By the late 80’s most of the independents had been killed off so now it was mostly the majors with the exception of a few studios that survived because they had highly profitable franchises (New Line and the Nightmare on Elm Street series) or they distributed some low budget independent, art-house and European films (Miramax with The Crying Game, El Mariachi, Resevoir Dogs etc…) to the single art-house theatres scattered across the country and because those movies made soo much money and received soo much national critical attention from Siskel & Ebert etc.. even the corporate owned theatre chains started booking them because money is still money. So how does the MPAA tie into this and the decline of balls out American Cinema? It’s because Hollywood is always the target of right wing mouthpiece’s and various religious organizations across the country as witnessed by the ridiculous uproar by the moral majority over movies such as Dogma, Kids, Natural Born Killers etc…. in the 90’s or if you really want to go back in time you could find examples of this with almost every single successful film made during the entire history of cinema that features any sort of violent or sexual content. Look up the Hays Code and watch some pre-code movies made in the 20’s and early 30’s and you’ll notice how much more violent, sexual and lurid movies like the original Scarface and Mystery of the Wax Museum were for the time and how North American cinema went through a period of melodramatic puritanism that lasted from the 30’s (with the exception of a few underground films) and only ended with the collapse of the studio system in the late 60’s which ushered in the most fertile era in American cinema history as a result of filmmakers being allowed to realistically and unrealistically portray sex, violence and real or not-so real life like never before. During this period the political and religious freaks bitched about all the sex and violence but their complaints didn’t catch any traction especially with all the political turmoil of the era and the fact that Government violence against it’s citizens (the Kent State shootings) and the global imperialism/war mongering (Vietnam) made Government criticisms of Hollywood on behalf of religious furor a moot point. After Jimmy Carter lost the presidency because he inherited the dismal economy of the post-Vietnam era and dared to tell America the truth, the American public stuck their heads up their collective asses and voted in an ex-actor who was the straight man to a chimp as President of the United States. But Ronald Reagan only got into power because the Republican Party aligned themselves with various snake oil salesmen such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Jimmy Swaggart and their mindless followers creating the Moral Majority movement of the 80’s of which it’s existence was to paper over all of the ugliness going on in the USA and promoted the fantasy that America was a land of rainbows, puppies and sold their bullshit with all the tenacity of a used car salesman selling a rusted out shitbox with a fresh paint job. This gave the religious right more power then they had in decades and made politicians live in fear for their political lives. Once again the religious freaks put their attention onto Hollywood because all of that sex and violence was polluting their Good Christian country. So they put the screws to politicians, mostly those from the Redneck States, who then came down on Hollywood and threatened to dismantle the major studio’s monopoly by reinstating those tax shelters and the DR/ATL. It’s at this point that the religious right gained almost complete control over what got shown in theatres across North America but they couldn’t implement their control in the style of the Hays code for fear of being labeled as CENSORS so they operated in virtual anonymity under the MPAA. It’s under this system that the MPAA and the major studio’s were able to kill off independents. The scam worked like this, you’re a low budget independent Director, Producer or Studio. You make money by making the type of movies that the majors don’t such as Horror and exploitation with outrageous sex and violence. The major studios are only interested in the only two types of movies they know how and want to make, glossy big budget extravaganzas and worthy Oscar winners. They think it’s beneath them to make Horror and exploitation films with gratuitous gore and sex except for when it’s being done by a major Hollywood actor, producer or director in which case the MPAA seems to have no problem with slapping the film with a family seal of approval R-rating. They used to distribute the occasional low budget shocker or sex flick, such as the Friday the 13th series which was distributed by Paramount or Porky’s which 20th Century Fox put out, but the ire of so called “respected” critics like Siskel & Ebert along with the political pressure from the religious right forced studio’s like Paramount/Fox to stop distributing low budget gore and sex flicks which is why they sold the F13th series to New Line while Fox eventually gave up on sex comedies. Anyway, you’re an independent Director, Producer, Studio who’s made “Teenage Lesbian Orgy in the Girls Locker Room of Gore” and you’re looking to distribute it. In the 70’s if the moves was good, or at the very least had plenty of entertaining sex and violence, you could put it out on a small scale and expand statewide and nationally if the movie is successful as I previously mentioned. The problem is that because the Reagan administration removed the DR/ANL, the studio’s now own 90% of the theatres across the country and won’t distribute your movie because it doesn’t have the Siskel & Ebert types across the country slobbering over it and they don’t want the headache of enraging the religious right. So what are your options? Well, there might be some small chains, mom and pop theatres that you could distribute to but there are issues when it comes to the rating of your movie and how that effects your ability to promote your epic. The situation is this, you take your magnum opus to the MPAA to get an R-Rating, now an R-Rating in the USA and the system itself is designed to censor without the appearance of censorship. An R-Rating means that no one under the age of eighteen can enter a particular movie without someone over the age of eighteen, BUT, the catch is that if you’re over eighteen you can bring anyone of any age into the theatre with you. That means that some dipshit eighteen year old, which DO exist and they are many, can bring a ten year old child into the theatre to see “Nudist Amazonian Warrior Interracial Dyke Cannibals of Sodomy” which will no doubt turn the impressionable ten year old into a peace-loving- gay-commie-pinko-liberal-Marxi st-serial killing-rapist-transexual-who- wants-Communist-socialist-Free -Health-Care-and-less-money-sp ent-on-the-military-to-finance -better-education-and-alleviat e-poverty-to-bring-about-a-new -age-of-Universal-utopia-which -will-allow-the-human-race-to- look-towards-the-stars-and-exp and-our-spieces-across-the-gal axy-for-eternity-untill-the-en d-of-creation….and that’s bad. So in order to Protect The Children™ and receive an R-rating the MPAA tells you to cut your film BUT they wont tell you what to cut because then they could be accused of censorship. They’ll just let you know when they see it. So you cut a few frames and trip a scene here or there and they tell you to keep cutting. You go back and forth until you scream in frustration about what else you need to fucking cut and they tell you that it’s not the footage as per say but the “tone” of it and how it’s this or that. The point is to get you to water down your movie until all its commercial elements (i.e. The Fucking and Killing) no longer exist and you have a movie that has an R-rating but won’t make a penny in theaters because your flick wasn’t that good to begin with and all you had was the nudity and gore. Now you could try to release it unrated which a lot of movies did up until the 80’s and many were highly successful such as Dawn of the Dead but that was when you had those independently owned theatre chains and mom & pop theatres that would play your movie even without a rating and you could still mount an advertising campaign to let the public know about your flick. Even in the 80’s there were still a few theatres left that would play un-rated movies the only problem is that with media consolidation all of the newspapers, TV stations and magazines were controlled by a few corporations and those corporations had political ties to the religious right etc, etc… so they would refuse to run advertisements of your un-rated movie and in those pre-internet days that meant that you were shit out of luck and no one would know about your masterpiece. The only other option was to tell the MPAA to fuck off and refuse to cut your movie in which case it would be given an X-Rating which effectively put it into the category of Pornography and no theatres would play it apart from porn houses and even those were being killed off by the VRC revolution of the 80’s. So without a means of finance, distribution or publicity this is how most of the independents went out of business in the 1980’s which is why North American cinema has been sliding into the shitter for the last quarter of a century as a result of corporate greed, religious fanaticism and political scumfuckery. Today not much has changed and it seems like a miracle when a good movie gets made and released in North America but they are few and far between. The great hope is the internet, on-line distribution and digital downloading but there are two main issues. The first is that without financing most independent movies today are shot on video cheapies that offer very little in the way quality scripts, production value or even competence although occasionally you get a good cheesy film like Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, The Janitor and Blood Car. The second problem is how do you make money off something that people can get on-line for free from torrent sites? The answer is to make a good movie against the odds and hope that people like your movie enough to want to buy the DVD but those odds are against you and as long as Hollywood maintains its corporate monopoly on national theatrical distribution, North American cinema will never recover.
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he plans to hire a new director to steer a fourth, more professional looking Evil Dead instalment. And it will be a remake of his 1981 original.
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I don't take it personally or care that Harry's quotes are used as advertising blurbs. I feel that the studios are taking advantage of Harry's hyperbole, thats all. And if we are being critical, is it not common to bite the hand that feeds us?And I come here for the lively TB's that the information or reviews instigate, as much as the info itself. How many times have a TB started on one subject and veered off on a different tangent? Lets say I come for the topics and reviews and stay for the TBs.
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that he remakes his own shit? And the second most popular franchise he has? What could possibly be gained from a reboot? It won't be the same, even if he remakes it with Bruce Campbell. If he doesn't use Bruce Campbell, the future of Evil Dead is FUCKED. You know, back in the 80's and 90's, we all complained about the voracious amount of sequels that were coming out, but I'd much prefer those now to the multitudes of remakes, reboots and reimaginings we're getting on a monthly basis now. Why should I have to suffer through someone's interpretation of someone else's work? Can they not create their own material?
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JAX WROTE: "What a big sack of crap." And what a name you called him at the end. What a way to treat a fellow human being who had the audacity to write a review about a movie on his own site.Now you're just trying to stir up trouble. I was referring to the article, not Harry. I don't know Harry and have no reason to call him a big sack of crap. Stop trying to create trouble.
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Because Harry has never actually reviewed a film in his life. I have been reading his "reviews" for years and he seems to love to talk about everything other than the actual film he is reviewing. I do find his reviews interesting at times, but I have never gotten a true sense of what the movie is about, what aspects really work, and whether I will like it based on Harry's reviews.
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Well put! That is exactly the problem I have with Harry's reviews--he has no idea how to write them. He never reviews any films. He just rambles on incessantly about stuff that has nothing to do with the film. He's easily the worst writer on this site, and the least credible.
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why don't you try dragging your fat ass to a gym?
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and I find it extremely entertaining. I've been watching it everyday and of course it's shitty for all the reasons people say, but it's highly watchable. I've got news for you people, the first two are not that much better. The same shittiness from part three is just beneath the surface of the first two films and occasionally it peaks out like in the elevator scene from part 2 with Hal Sparks.
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Rob0729: exactly! I read Harry's reviews for fun and read Quint's and Massy's reviews when deciding whether or not to see a film
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That being said, I have high hopes for this. Can't wait!
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not by much, but still. they are all bad on an epic scale, and i'm prett sure Harry liked all 3.
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PG-13 can indeed be creepy. Because creepiness doesn't get R-ratings. It is sex and gore that leads to R-ratings..if properly done, PG-13 can be FAR superior to R.
Hell...Poltergeist carries a PG rating and most people my age (30-35) will tell you that movie scared the piss out of them when they first saw it. -
counting is for pussies
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Wasn't terrible. It just wasn't as great as 1 & 2. Venom should have been in another movie, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable movie. It was much better than the Batman sequels (Kilmer, Clooney) and probably would have received rave reviews if not for the superior first two films of the franchise.
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SWEET!!!!!!! :)
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Harry is a plant!!! Or more of a vegetable. Ever seen this guy try to move around?
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Sorry but he took an iconic comic book villain and turned him into a power ranger. He should never be forgiven for this atrocity. Never. The rest of his Spiderman villans were okay, sure, as was his Spidey - but his Gobliin, that, thing... still hurts all these years later.
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I thought that whole disco-dude scene was hilarious.
Okay, it shouldn't have been in a Spider-Man movie but, well, that silly, non-serious sequence IS the kind of thing that Raimi has done in other films, so it surprises me that other people were surprised when Raimi did it.
What we need is, as others have said, a decent Marvel-owned movie revamp of Spidey. -
When people complain about how Raimi supposedly made a travesty of the Green Goblin, do they really think that a version more faithful to the look of the comic - complete with purple booties and a pocketbook - would've been so much better? The Green Goblin has a look that screams 'lame'. What's more, it makes no sense for Osborne to think to dress that way. It never did in the comic and it would've been an even harder sell in the movie. All things considered, Raimi did the best he could with adapting the character.
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Y'know...from the Godzilla movies?
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Spiderman 3 was pretty average, and obviously suffered from the "too many villains" trend in blockbuster sequels.
Harry seems pretty unequivocal about this, unlike Watchmen. On a seperate note, anyone notice that both Spiderman and Watchmen displayed fine examples of Poweranger fighting? -
I absolutely think a true to comic version of The Green Goblin could have worked. He's one of the most visually appealing and iconic characters in comics to this day. I was thrilled when it was revealed that Willem DaFoe would play him because frankly he looks like The Green Goblin already, so I assumed Raimi was going the prosthetic and makeup route. Boy was I wrong. Wasted opportunity.
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I don’t know what happened to you Harry, but you are by far the weakest link in the review chain these days. I used to really look forward to your reviews as they contained such passion but were balanced with a sense of responsibility and objectivity. You also had an uncanny knack of telling me so much about the film without spoiling it in the slightest. These days your reviews read like either love letters to all your great mates in the film industry or amateur pieces written by someone who has only seen about 10 films and has just learnt English in the past five years. They really are incoherent messes that often induce headaches. I could not care less about how really really really excited everyone in the theatre was and all the other boring insider information. I just want to know about the film and get a balanced view from someone who is privileged enough to see these films long before I ever will. With great power comes great responsibility.
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I would have gone for the Alex Ross
design...medieval Green Goblin. The James Franco Goblin looked more like a skier than a villain. -
James Franco was one of the best things in Spider-Man 3. His acting was fine, I thought (though his villain costume wasn't so hot.)
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...No more misunderstood dudes altered by whacked out comic book science experiments gone wrong. Make him really, disgustingly evil. And cast Bruce Campbell in the role. If there simply must be a second villain, then make it The Vulture, another good evil, arrogant prick in the Spidey rougues gallery, though a different sort of evil, arrogant prick than Mysterio. Allan Arkin would be my pick if he can drop a few pounds.
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Well, another Raimi directed Darkman would be nice. I know you'll never get Neeson again, but at least with Raimi a new entry would kill some of the stink from those direct-to-video sequels.
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...since he got married. It's like he's in a gushing, overly long honeymoon state. Of course he doesn't really have a job, he can stay up all night and sleep until 3 PM, he gets to hang with cool people, money's probably good and Austin is a fun town. No wonder the usual marital screaming matches over money and boredom never set in. Hence, Harry has never regained any snarky cynicism not to mention the near-psychotic grimness common to most married dudes. I'm divorced, so the psychosis and cynicism is an integral part of my being, but I digress. Harry's just too goddamn happy anymore. He should leave the reviews to his compatriots and just post his usual E! Channel-esque celebrity gushes... just label them as such.
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Start writing with a clearer head. These gushing reviews as I said before are just embarrassing reads. He obviously has the intelligence since he's gotten as far as he has in life, but I think he lets his "passion" get the best of him. He is without a doubt the worst reviewer on this site, and that's sad considering this is HIS site.
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It's fuckin' Wednesday. I need to know what I should have bought yesterday, today dammit!
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I just watched the trailer and while I'm not a geekazoid for horror i do like when it is done well. But anyone who does not think that trailer looks GREAT!!! is dead already... inside.
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from above: "What we all experienced was a resounding thunderous splitting of the Earth around us experience tonight. "
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Someone nailed it earlier with the observation about a powerful demon needing a bank loan. What a terrible setup with the whole "you have to make tough decisions" bit.
Lighting looks terrible. Lohman just doesn't impress me, either.
Old witches just aren't scary in this day and age. Seances are completely overplayed as well. In fact, this looks like a Roger Corman production...only more expensive. -
"I had a day of wonderful film today. I met directors. I think I spent an hour just shooting the shit with Raimi at some point today...There's no shrugged shoulders or indifferent souls that exited that theater tonight. What we all experienced was a resounding thunderous splitting of the Earth around us experience tonight." This sort of prose invokes a juvenile's scribble ("My Day at the Circus") or typical "Fangoria" (press release) filler. Name dropping, hyperbole, kiss-ass circumvention of professional analysis. Jesus, it's like "reading" a coloring book. I've interviewed celebrities but decline the annoying (Eddie Hascal) habit of pretending they acknowledge me as one of their own. Fanboy + desperation=this review.
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Yes?
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After reading your retarded post concerning Watchmen, I just can't take anything you write seriously.
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I can't wait until you see the film and realize that it will rock your brains out. I, too, am a skeptic of PG-13 horror films, but this nailed it. It's so...well, gross, that it's hard for me to consider it PG-13, though. LOVE THE SHIT OUT OF THIS MOVIE. It's been too long...too too long.
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thegreatwhatzit wrote: "I've interviewed celebrities but decline the annoying (Eddie Hascal) habit of pretending they acknowledge me as one of their own. Fanboy + desperation=this review."
That's EXACTLY the problem with Harry's writing. He comes off like a child unable to write. There is NO way Raimi or other people Harry meets see him as an equal--they tolerate him, at most. Harry is the epitome of everything celebrities hate--and, in person, he smells awful. -
But, I liked Spidey 3 the best of the bunch. Doc Ock is the ultimate Spidey villian and he was done justice there. I hated the Green Goblin Robot suit. Shy not go with the original? Spidey 3 was just bad. it looked like Raimi had burned out. I am glad he is returning to horror and hope that he continues to do so. I would like to see someone else (Snyder) try Spidey. WE need Mysterio, Electro, the Scorpion and a team up with Daredevil would be nice. Hint Hint. (not fucking Ben Asslick either)
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Stop saying that the studio "forced" Raimi to include Venom in SM3. Each of the first two films made a BILLION DOLLARS. Poor 'lil Sam just HAD to make a shitty movie with an emo retard. Give me a freakin' break. He f'ed up and made a terrible, terrible movie. That's all. Stop making excuses. Now he's made a PG-13 pile of crap. Harry's review will go down as one of the stupidest things I've ever read. I feel like I'm covered in geek jizz now. Sam, go away and leave horror to people that care. SM3 was the work of a director that doesn't give a shit. Oh, and Harry: for Christ's sake, learn how to write!
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ChicagoGangster wrote: "Harry's review will go down as one of the stupidest things I've ever read."So will that sentence. ("Stupidest?" Seriously? And you're telling Harry to learn how to write? Mind you, I agree--he can't write worth shit. But come on, man...the irony is just too good not to acknowledge.)
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He's an inbetween pale imitation. He's a pale imitation of the Hobgoblin and has his own pale imitation, Demogoblin. An icon has to be able to stand on its own, and Greenie doesn't do that.
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The Green Goblin is an imitation of the Hobgoblin? Right now; there is a nerd screaming in his parents basement.
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About who came first, but it doesn't change the fact that there are three different Goblins running around in the Spideyverse, and I don't give a fuck about any of them. What does a goblin have to do with a spider?
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Mar 22nd, 2009
01:21:20 AM
What the hell fan sight is this??? The first film by Alex Proyas in years and years is out, its damn interesting and cool and waaay smack in the middle of this sight's wheelhouse... and not a peep from anybody. WTF!?!?!?!? -
I know Harry and Raimi are chums who share everything including their love for eachother, but what about the "Knowing"? It's No.1 in the US box office and is directed by the very interesting pospect of Proyas of Dark City and I Robot. Who gives a fuck about a lame horror movie with a PG-13 rating, apart from bed-wetting children?
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and KNOWING was pretty damn awesome, ESPECIALLY the ending. The only people I've come across who didn't like it are 1. fundamentalists in fear of their religion being challenged 2. non-religious people irritated by anything remotely spiritual, and 3. cynical critics whose opinion never really matters in the first place.
I'm NOT saying KNOWING is incredible and life-alterning, just an entertaining 2 hours, which is what the fuck a movie should be. Anything beyond that, well, you're bringing in your own experience and laying it on the film. People with extreme emotional responses to something as trivial as a film ought to get tuned out like the braying bitches they are. -
Like that geek from "Grandma's Boy". That's the image I get from that 'review'. An image of Harry in his matrix jacket the size of a queen-size mattress.
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How did that old gypsy lady who wondered in from central casting even afford a house in the first place? And she conjures up the worst possible demon for the girl who denies her extention? Wow. I'd hate to see what she did to the kid who forgot her extra whip at the Starbucks.
This is Thinner meets Pumpkinhead meets...oh...The Ring. -
From that slightly shitty trailer needs to watch this.
http://tinyurl.com/ahrut7
Shows how a PG-13 horror could actually kick ass. -
So does some other celebrities,Hilton,sheen,Macdonna...are dating online too,but i am not sure which site they are using...
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...but not scary. They don't make horror like they used to. And Last House On The Left (remake) was just insulting.
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If the old lady can summon demons to construct horribly complicated curses, can't she get a demon to front her some $$ for the mortgage? What a waste of perfectly good demon rapport.
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then quit bashing the man, he enjoyed the movie. eat a dick.
if you hate his reviews so much and all that, don't read them. simple as that dorks
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Damn, could you suck any harder? It's an average movie AT BEST.
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This is just a throw-away episode of "Tales From the Crypt."
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It couldn't end fast enough. Just aweful. Not scary. Not funny. Not fun.
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Harry, this is the second time in a year I was disinterested in something, but saw it based on your gushing review. The last time was Eagle Eye, possibly the worst movie I ever bought a ticket for. When am I gonna learn? This movie was completely predictable and just really fucking stupid. Then it ended at what I thought was the beginning of the 3rd act, not the fucking end of the movie. Honestly I'd watch Spider-Man 3 over this movie any day. I'd watch pretty much ANY film before I'd volunteer to watch this piece of shit again.
Why did every scene involve something disgusting going into Allison Lohman's mouth? It happened once in Evil Dead 2, so let's have it happen in every goddamn scene? Fuck you Sam Raimi. -
I hated Knowing. Not as much as this movie, but quite a bit. Especially the ending. God what a dumb fucking ending.
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Lohman spent the entire film battling against her as she used to be fat. Mrs Ganush kept trying to put stuff in her mouth because she had demonised food.Then she threw herself under a train once she realised she could never escape her illness. Or something...
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This movie was so predictable and lame. When the goat started talking I was out. Rami couldnt go 5 minutes without the stupid quick editing into something loud and jumping out at you. And everyone saw the ending coming 12 miles away.....I want my money back.
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This is probably the funniest, most hilarious thing I've seen in absolutely ages. Yes I was scared, but the laugh I had at a dead corpse puking out green shit into the face of our cursed lead was priceless. And the images of the Gypsy, like in the shed with the eyes.. you know the one I mean. Sure the movie deserved hype, but probably didn't get 'enough' of it for what it really is: a black comedy. A black b-movie comedy.
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First of all, Mrs. Ganush is NOT the villain of the piece. Raimi has said in interviews that she is the VICTIM of the story. People keep making the mistake of seeing the Thing in the parking lot, who lays the "curse" on Christine, as the actual old lady who Christine was cruel to. It's not, it's the Demon in the form of the old lady, and the "curse" is just a trick of the Demon to get Christine to damn herself.
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All the "comedy" involves Demon induced nightmares in which Christine is trapped. The "anvil" gag? It's an illusion created by the Demon ... not particularly funny.
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Raimi pulls a pretty brilliant performance out of her... the nice girl she does pretty effortlessly, and he manages to get a creepy hearlessnes out of her when he needs it, but when she's asked to do true anger, she falls down a bit. But you can see what Raimi was going for, and it's just brilliant.
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This is the scaries movie I've seen since "The Exorcist", I believe.
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And the lady playing the boyfriend's Mom was FANTASTIC. So snotty and mean.
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I was able to watch this without going "Hey, that's a reference to evil Dead!" And I think Raimi wanted to people to experience it that way, not just as a reference festival.
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Did the old lady cast the curse in the bank, or did a Demon briefly possess her, called forth by Christine's cruelty? (The thing in the parking lot is definitely NOT the old lady ... come one, projectile firing of rulers jammed down one's throat, putting stars in the glass of the car?)
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Jun 18, 2009 10:11:04 AM CDT
I think the way Christine was warned constantly was great.
by nodiggity
In the beginning, the Fortune Teller asks her if she has blasphemed the dead while visiting a graveyard (to cause a dark spirit to descend upon her) has she consulted a Ouji board, or consorted with practitioners of the black arts. She says "No!" but by the end of the movie, she's done all but consult a ouiji board (but maybe consulting with a fortune teller counts for that).
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Jun 18, 2009 10:12:50 AM CDT
I like that the title is "Drag Me To Hell" not "Drag Her To Hell
by nodiggity
It implies that Christine is asking to be dragged to Hell. All she has to do is stop doing shit that will get her dragged to hell. And she does all the wrong things.
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"Ayuda Me!! Ayuda Me! ARGGGGHHHHH!" What is awesome is, you wonder what rotten things that kid did to avoid being dragged to Hell that made him truly deserve it. Also, the parents lie at first, when asked "what did he do". "Nothing" they say. Then they say that they tried to give it back. But is that a lie as well? We obviously don't know the whole story, and the kid's performance is very angry and furious "Ayuda Me!!!" We don't know why, but there's a real possibilty that he deserved to be dragged to Hell.
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For some reason, a lot of theaters seem to have the sound poorly adjusted, and the "Shock" sounds are WAY too loud. I saw it in a small theater that seemed to have a well adjust Stereo sound, and the shock sound was loud, but not ear-shattering. You need to be able to hear the dialogue and the quieter creepy sounds and music.
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That's creepy when you know what happens later. Did she hang the kitty up like that? Bitch.
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Was her mom REALLY an alcoholic? Was Raimi tryin to show Christine shaming her mom the way she shamed poor old Mrs. Ganush?
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by the end of the movie, is Christine !!!!
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That would be wierd if the REAL little old lady was siccing demons on people.
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Jun 18, 2009 10:33:42 AM CDT
Raimi mentions "The demon Allison Lohman's character calls forth
by nodiggity
"The Demon Allson Lohman's character calls forth". That's what Raimi said, discussing the research he did on the demon. He doesn't say "demon the gypsy lady calls forth".
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Jun 18, 2009 10:38:43 AM CDT
Raimi is underselling the film by calling it a "spook a blast"
by nodiggity
It's way more subtle and frightening than that. "spook a blast" makes it sound like the Three Stooges running around being scared by Spooks.
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In interviews, he says he wanted everyone to like Christine, sympathize with her, so that they'll make the same sin of cruelty with her ... and get what they deserve along with Christine.
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Actually, the blood and pus from the eyeball looked more delicious! Looked like Strawberry sauce and custard.
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Faaahhhhhh!
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Heaven finally rebukes Christine.
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Did Ash get bonked on the head by a cross?
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Are they seeing junk like "The Hangover" instead? Goddamn.
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God's sake, go see it! Don't wait for DVD, it's worth seeing!
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The sound is set just right there, even if the theater is small.
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I totally forgot that!
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I thought Drag Me was the best horror movie of its type since Poltergeist. I had a smile all the way through. Too bad dumb fuck audiences will swarm to stupid ass remakes instead of some fun original "Tales From The Crypt" type horror.
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The look on the Kitty's face in the poster is pretty awful ...
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the great David Paymer.."Did I get any in my mouth?....did i get any in my mouth..."
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and asking the lovely theater employee.."Drag me to Hell please.."Be good NoDiggity
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And I can't remember any other time I had that much fun while watching a movie in theatre. Too bad that audiences are scared of having fun these days.
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Jun 18, 2009 12:24:49 PM CDT
It was a better Poltergeist movie than Poltergeist, wasn't it?
by nodiggity
WAY scarier.
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Maybe audiences think being dragged to Hell is TOO Scary.
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Tobe Hooper.
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It was so creepy walking out of the empty multiplex, through the empty mall. And the theater LED displays were all saying "BYE BYE BYE" in Red LED lights.
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I sat through the credits. The violinist was having so much fun playing the creepy wailing violin. And then that demonic male chorus, descending into Hell, lower and lower and lower, and then a sinister female chorus going Ahhhhhhhhh! This movie was so great.
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It wasn't a mere "Spook a blast" was it! I was totally surprised by how good it was. I wasn't expecting much after the Spider-Man films. (though did like Spider-Man 3)
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So fucking spooky. I don't expect it, but Oscars nominations for Christopher Young and whoever was responsible for the sound FX would be nice!
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Sean Penn in upcoming Three Stoogies movie! Said headline from about 5-10 years ago.
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Lohman's face! That was a smmall, but brillant touch.
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It made you feel for her, and want to hug and protect her. And then she slowly does creepier and creepier things and gets dragged to HELL.
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Jun 18, 2009 12:42:26 PM CDT
I love the way her boyfriend pulls back from the INTENSE HEAT
by nodiggity
When Hell erupts around Christine. And she's glowing hot as she's pulled to hell, so you can see her skull through her skin. Nice effect!
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Or it was the Demon (the swirling leaves" that led Christine to him so he could fill her in on the nonexistent "curse".
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I've seen scarier "Buffy" episodes. Seriously, this was tame, toothless and a major disappointment. Don't believe the hype.
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I doubt that cursing someone is something that makes you go to heaven.
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... the second time I saw it. One of them kept talking through the movie (trying to avoid being scared). The only time he shut up was when he thought that the movie was over, he was totally silent all through the false happy ending, until Christine gets Dragged To Hell, and then he said "What the Fuck was That?" in an aghast voice. Made me happy, because he had been such an annoying fuck all through the movie, and the movie finally got to him.
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The thing in the parking lot, who took her button and cursed it, was pretty clearly the Demon itself, NOT Mrs. Ganush.
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For kids? It was way more disturbing than that.
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Jun 18, 2009 12:56:49 PM CDT
Now let us all point with the finger at BenBraddock...
by derlanghaarige
...and laugh at him, because he was scared of Buffy! Watch out Ben! There is a Smurf under your bed!
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Jun 18, 2009 1:03:47 PM CDT
I want to bump this up into the Top Talkbacks, but it's hard.
by nodiggity
Only at 48 new post so far. :(
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... did you notice that the granddaughter never mentions the "Curse" ? She says "Grandma said you would come". For all we know, poor Mrs. Ganush believed Christine would have pity and come to tell her that she was giving her another extension.
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... have QUITE that much embalming fluid sloshing around in them.
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... but you never were scared that Buffy would get DRAGGED TO HELL!
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...but I think too that this was way to much fluid. And I don't brlieve that it pours out of a corpse that easy.
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An illusion created by the demon. I noticed that Christine's face was totally dry after she got up.
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"Good sounds abaownd when the maouth is raownd" Heh.
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http://tinyurl.com/nmtaxm
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http://tinyurl.com/nch4oq
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... is where Raimi says "the demon that Allison Lohman's character calls forth" (NOT the demon that the gypsy lady calls forth). Big support for the Thing In The Parking Lot Who Cursed The Button Was The Demon Already theory.
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Silly Christine.
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I've seen it 4 times now, and I was still jumping at the fourth viewing.
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When the one arm grabs for her as she jumps away, so scary.
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the amount of embalming fluid in that dead old woman? A movie that features a girl who keeps an anvil tied to her rope in the shed should not be taken that seriously.
And the demon being the one who cursed the button? That makes zero sense.
Oh, yeah... I loved this movie. -
Jun 18, 2009 3:02:06 PM CDT
Gavdiggity, The "curse" was a trick to scare Christine into ...
by nodiggity
... DAMNING HERSELF. There was no real curse, except the one Christine believed in. The demon was lying to Christine about the button. Notice that the spooky swirling leaves are what led Christine to the fortune teller who explained the "gypsy curse".
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You weren't expected to take that seroiusly. That Anvil tied to the rope was as real as the Ganush-Monster that Christine dropped it on. The real anvil was on the floor the whole time.
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Jun 18, 2009 3:09:00 PM CDT
The USUAL idea of Hell is that you go there because YOU DESERVE
by nodiggity
Not because someone lays a curse on you. I'm pretty sure Sam Raimi is aware of this, and is hoping his audience is aware of this too.
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(the thing about the anvil). I mean, why would she have an anvil, at all? She moved it from the farm so she could make some money on the side shoeing horses? And Christine damned herself before she was cursed, when she refused to help a sick old lady keep her house in order to further her career. I think you're taking what is, essentially, a cartoon with live actors, and turning it into more than that. But whatever, man, I'm glad you've enjoyed it so much.
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Jun 18, 2009 3:21:48 PM CDT
Gavdiggity, maybe the anvil was in the shed when she moved in?
by nodiggity
The point is, when a person in a story is being attacked by supernatural illusions, why bitch about a suspended Anvil during one of those illusions?
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Jun 18, 2009 3:26:10 PM CDT
Can you watch the Parking Lot scene and believe it was really Mr
by nodiggity
Seriously, watch the parking lot scene again. Starts with that satanic handkerchief, has "Mrs. Ganush" materialize inside a LOCKED CAR, and fight on despite staples to the face and EYE, lift heavy concrete blocks to smash the windows, begin the first sign of the demon (the sharm teeth, in the jagged smashed dentures) and when she delivers the curse, Christine falls asleep, so it suggest it might all have been a dream/illusion. And the ghostly swirling leaves that signaled her presenec in the parking lot appear just in time to guide Christine to the psychic who explains the "gypsy curse". Mrs. Ganush (the old lady at the bank) is not the same as "Mrs. Ganush", (the demon called forth by Christine's cruelty). Every critic online is taking this film so literally. Raimi was too subtle.
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Jun 18, 2009 3:28:01 PM CDT
Gavdiggity, to call it a "cartoon with live actors" is unfair.
by nodiggity
From the interviews, Sam Raimi is taking it FAR more seriously than the reviewers are. The reviewers seem to be reviewing "Evil Dead 4" expecting it all to be taken as a "goof".
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and believe it was the old woman? Yes. If there's one thing Raimi's know for, it's subtlety. Like the subtlety of, oh, say, the scene with the fountain-like nosebleed. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, my man.
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do me a favor and look up the term deus ex machina, 'cause that's what you're talking about.
As far as calling it a cartoon with live actors, why would I think that? Hmmm... would it have anything to do with things like the eyeballs popping out of the old woman's sockets and into Christine's mouth? Things like that? By the way, that's not meant as an insult or a slight. Raimi's done plenty of cartoonish stuff in the past (a tree raping a woman? All of Army of Darkness? Brisco County Jr?), and I love it (with the exception of Spider-Man 3, which I fucking loathed). Drag Me To Hell is not some heavy, Hitchcockian psychological thriller, it's a movie about a woman who, through her own actions, winds up damned. -
I love you, marry me
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There are some fucking great cartoons outthere - this is one of them. ;)
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"Eyballs popping out of sockets". And the old woman and her popped eyballs disappear completely a split second later, and it's supposed to be seen as REALITY that is "cartoonish" but real? As far as being a "heavy Hitchcockian psychological thriller", Raimi recently said that the filmmakers he admires include Kubrick and Hitchcock. And this film has Hitchcock written all over it.
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Sounds like you're working it all out.
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Much appreciated.
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Jun 18, 2009 4:36:15 PM CDT
The performance of the actor is DIFFERENT in the bank vs. parkin
by nodiggity
Old Mrs. Ganush in the bank, is human, sad, real. "Mrs. Ganush" in the parking lot is demonic, cartoonish, exaggerated. Raimi is telling us it isn't the same Mrs. Ganush. ESPECIALLY WHEN THE REST OF THE MOVIE HAS CARTOONISH GHOULISH MRS. GANUSHES ALL OVER THE PLACE.
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Jun 18, 2009 4:40:35 PM CDT
I still don't know why Spidey Three was so awful for fanboys
by nodiggity
Spidey 2 was the one that was unbearable. SHUT UP, MARYJANE! NO ONE WANTS TO SEE YOUR SAD ACCUSING FACE!
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"We’re going to try to make it a fun, spooky blast of a film for people. It was really clear that we weren’t making an art picture and everyone really got into that. I had a wonderful time." Sam Raimi
Stop reading into it, it is a FUN film, NOT MEANT to be dissected. Not meant to be Hitchcock. I admire Tom Waits, but I don't talk in a gravelly voice and sing about smoking. -
At that point, when we all have a chance to be greedy or not, when it’s important, she’s cruel to this old lady for her own betterment. She sins with greed and forces her out of the house, hiding under the rules of the bank. Because I wanted the audience to make this choice with her. I wanted to present her as a nice person. She is a nice person. We all are nice people but we’re all sinners too. And I wanted you, the audience member, to make this choice with her, when the old woman was unpleasant looking, was absurd, I wanted the audience to say, “Yeah, just deny her the loan and get her out of the office for crying out loud.” Because I had hoped that once you sinners had made that choice with her, that like it or not, you would know in your heart that that thing that had been sicked upon her was not just coming for her, but deservedly so for you because you had made that choice with her. And that ending when it came for her, although it may be a surprise or not, you’d know that it could’ve come for you too.
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Interviewer: Justin reminds her that she had two warnings already. Is there no merit to that?
Sam Raimi: Sure. There’s all sorts of reasons to be greedy and cruel to other people. They can be justified by logic or you could use the rules of an institution or a government or the military. There’s all sorts of reasons to torment and be cruel to others, justifiable wonderful reasons. That’s another one, that she had been given an extension twice before. Did she really expect a third one? Did she really expect mercy after she’d been shown some? It’s another way for people to hide behind their choices.
From the screencrave review. -
Jun 18, 2009 6:01:17 PM CDT
Nice Gaius! The film was so NOT a "wink wink, nudge nudge" fil
by nodiggity
Go see it.
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and I feel like an ass for having spent any time at all discussing movies with you.
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I "enjoyed" it relative to the awfulness of Spidey 2, but Spidey 3 was still pretty awful. Just more enjoyable than Spidey 2. It had more villains crammed into it, so there was less room for the whining and moaning. Spidey 2 only had one villain, so there was LOTS of room for whining and moaning. There. Now you don't have to feel like an as for discussing movies with me.
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At all
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there was an AWFUL lot of images of Christine having things forced into her mouth (scarves, flies, eyes, etc). And the scene where she couldn't eat the cake at Clay's parent's house?
yup, that all makes sense. -
But I think the demon is just shoving her dreams of a perfect life, the ones that motivated her to be cruel to the poor old lady at the bank, down her throat. Christine is repulsed by her old, fat, food indulging self, so the Demon shoves stuff into her mouth. Including the diseased eye that she found so repulsive in the real Mrs. Ganush at the bank. Christine doesn't have an eating disorder ... she's perfectly capable of eating gigantic heaps of ice cream at the diner later.
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I'm wondering how old you are.
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None of your business.
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If you don't wanna answer, that's fine. But I am being serious.
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And what has that question to do with what we were talking about? What's the matter, can't keep up with the conversation, so you want to find out if people are too young and immature, or too old and immature, or what? Admit it, your view of this film as a "silly cartoon, that I don't have to think about" is being shattered, and you don't like it. Because it means the film is ACTUALLY SCARY now. And you don't like being REALLY scared, you poor little kitty kat.
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Poor Ebert.
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what're you getting all bent out of shape about? I was just curious. I certainly wouldn't want to assume that you're 17-22, probably studying English and philosophy or psychology, a big oh, let's say Pink Floyd fan, looking for meaning where there is none. I wouldn't want to jump to any conclusions, even though your arguments are weak and you're resorting to name calling, much like someone with little experience in the world would do.
Also, please tell me where I said the film was silly, or dismissed it in any way. And frankly, while there were some good scares in the movie, the actual world is scarier than a movie could ever be. The economy, what's going on in North Korea, the elections in Iran... the story of a demon tormenting a naive farmgirl isn't even close to those things (although, as I said before, I enjoyed the hell out of the movie).
Bottom line, I'm "so serious" (I see what you did there... you quoted that other movie with the guy in the bat suit, right? Clever and topical) 'cause I was under the misguided impression that I could have a discussion that is, while light and friendly, still serious.
But never mind. I have to go home and hide under my bed. -
I didn't like the book, didn't like the writing style. Drag Me To Hell is the first film of his I've really loved, it seems. (have to see Evil Dead now).
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Jun 18, 2009 7:04:53 PM CDT
Well, Gavdiggity, the "banality of evil" is a serious thing.
by nodiggity
That's a part of the real world. People do mildly cruel things, and it leads to worse and worse crimes, and you end up with ordinary people being complicit with Holocausts just because they want to impress their bosses and get promotions, just like Christine Brown did. And as I showed with my quotes, Sam Raimi is taking the movie quite seriously too, even though he's also, in other interviews, trying to sell it as a goofy "spook a blast". It can be a "spook a blast" and have a serious undercurrent at the same time, can't it?
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I need them to help up the post count.
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Just before she got dragged to Hell.
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Jun 18, 2009 7:17:48 PM CDT
Roger Ebert's review suggested that Christine and Clay were chas
by nodiggity
Meaning that they didn't have sex. I'm pretty sure the film implied they did have sex, even if Christine was wearing a robe afterwards. Her boyfriend looked naked enough.
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He basically said it's a fun B-Movie schlockfest, and nothing more. Condescending as always. And totally missed the point.
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http://tinyurl.com/d22hzm
This is what annoys me ..
"Look, "Drag Me To Hell" is slight. It's not about anything. It's not trying to make a larger statement about the real world. This is just plain fun. It's a haunted house movie. It's a curse movie. It's a ridiculously fun movie, and in May, you'll be able to see it for yourself"
Just because Moriarty didn't see anything deep in the script, doesn't mean there isn't anything deep in the script. Sam Raimi's own comments on the film and what he was trying to say with it contradict Mr. Moriarty. -
He's likely to show up like the Lamia and ban me and drag all my posts into Hell.
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A more coherent one. You should!
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It's nice to agree with him about something. Just wish he could keep his dismissive Superior Than Thou attitude out of it. He ruins many a friendly positive article by sticking in a compulsive Lording it Over whatever film or director he's discussing. Generally takes the form of prognosticating about the bright future of the director/actress/franchise, or whatever. Can't seem to help it.
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About Moriarty's review. It was a good read, and described the evening's events well.
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I know she can do the sweet innocent thing, and she can do the cold evasive thing. She could also have done the angry bitch thing, probably better than Lohman. But we will never know.
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The villain and his evil underlings are much more frightening! :-)
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I recommend Drag Me To Hell instead.
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The mmovie is awful, it is unwatchable. I wanted it to be so good, and this site wanted me to like it so much. It sucked. Wooden acting, terrible sets, pure cheap soundtrack horror. A tired plot, well-worn material and totally cliche. Some of the worst CGI I've seen recently, which is actually saying a lot. Totally watered down for the rating, gross-out horror for 14 year-old girls. Green goo? Come on. But most of all, and it really pains me to say this, poorly directed. What has happened to Raimi these last few years? It seemed like a dress rehearsal.
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Oh my God, oh my God, she is a pathetic actress. She's been good and convincing in other movies, as has Justin Long, again, bad direction. Just lazy filmmaking all the way around the board
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Top 2 movie of the year so far
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Jun 19, 2009 9:31:10 AM CDT
If The First Thing You Think About Lohman Is Her Acting Skill.
by laserpants
Then you are gay. Full-on, Liberace, Disco rainbow, meth fueled bathhouse gay. The girl is GORGEOUS. And shes was GREAT in this movie as the clueless, totally hot little tortured ingenue.
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TRUTH!
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I'm guessing you hated it since you said you were going to see it and you don't like reviewing movies you hate anymore because it depresses you.
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At least, not in the small quiet scenes. She's quite good at being sweet and innocent, and at being shifty (as in the scene where she confronts the grand-daughter of Mrs. Ganush). That scene of bitchy triumph in the parking lot was also convincing "I beat, you old bitch!". I just found other scenes where she was required to be bitchy a little unconvincing... pretty much the entire climax, from the diner through to the cemetary scene. Could have used more fury. Example: "Keep the coffee coming, or I'll give you a tip you won't forget". Needed a touch of menace to it.
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You have no soul.
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Jun 19, 2009 10:55:44 AM CDT
So, what do you all think? Is the parking lot monster Mrs. Ganus
by nodiggity
I'm pretty sure it is NOT Mrs. Ganush. My only worry is that Raimi has said in interviews "the curse the old woman casts", though he never says "Mrs. Ganush". In his cinema.com article, he says "The demon that Allison Lohman's character calls forth: the old woman", and I don't know if he was correcting himself to say "demon that the old woman calls forth" or if he is being tricky about letting the audience believe, along with Lohman's character, that it actually is Mrs. Ganush in the parking lot, even though it's just the Demon setting the "curse".
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Your an idiot. Also you want a good Alison Lohman movie watch Where the Truth Lies instead, you'll understand when you see it.
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When Raimi said "The demon that Allison Lohman's character calls forth: the old woman" Did he let slip that Allison Lohman's character is the one that really called up the demon, and the demon is in the form of an old woman, or did he simply make a mistake and correct himself, and we really are supposed to believe that it is poor old Mrs. Ganush from the bank who is attacking Christine and projectile-spitting a ruler to crack her car window?
If the old lady from tthe bank and the Thing in the parking lot are the same, I'll be sort of disappointed in the film.
I actually was a bit disappointed in the film when I first saw the parking lot sequence ... it seemed so cartoony, and Mrs. Ganush had turned into a cartoon monster, after being so human and frail and pitiful before. Believing it's the Demon in the parking lot makes the whole film much better. -
Jun 19, 2009 11:15:09 AM CDT
Anything to keep this guy from fucking up Spider-Man!
by hollywoodhellraiser
AGAIN!
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That plastic look, those one-dimensional characters, the simplistic moralizing about Adventure. But I have to wait until I see it, so breath expended on my expectations is wasted breath.
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A great underrated film about con artists, if you haven't seen. I thought she would go on to do great things after that, but it never panned out for.
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Features a crazy hot lesbian scene with Allison Lohman and some chick dressed up like Alice in Wonderland. Its a TERRIBLE movie, but that scene made it worth the view.
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Google it. Totally hot!
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You really don't care about your credibility in trying to get people to see Drag Me To Hell do you? Sitting there saying that Up looks awful but ranting and raving about how great Drag Me To Hell is, is just stupid. How am I suppose to believe what some dumbass that hasn't seen UP to begin with, that sits there and say its stupid Up is, has to say about any movie? You can say that you don't like cartoons, are you aren't old enough to understand Up, but to sit there and say that a Pixar movie looks awful and dumb just makes you an retarded.
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was probably the MOST entertaining film this summer.I really dug it.It was fun, and elicted reaction after reaction from me, and that's impressive!
Not a film I'd LOVE-but I was VERY surprised.Then aagin, Raimi's films are ALL pretty good( like the GIFT or the film where BILLY BOB find the plane full of money)..so good job Sam! -
Frank MARSHALL sucks a mean cock.
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Jun 19, 2009 2:36:41 PM CDT
Gee, Series 7, tighten up your Reading Comprehension Skills
by nodiggity
Didn't say I disliked cartoons, just Plastic Looking ones. And forgive me for not looking forward to a plastic looking cartoon about an old fart and a fat boy scout.
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but there's nothing that appeals to me in the premise. It actually sounds very sad to me, very depressing. A lonely old curmudgeon mourning his dead wife? I dunno. I'll see it eventually, of course, cause you kinda have to with Pixar, but I can wait until dvd.
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to need wacky titles..Drag Me To Hell...more like Drag Me To Swell..
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What a great movie!
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You guys have got to give it a chance. I liked it much better than Wall E...
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Jun 19, 2009 3:59:47 PM CDT
Where did Raimi get his love for all those Christian themes?
by nodiggity
He says he got it from all those classic Marvel comics from the'80s.
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Wall-E was all right, but I'm glad I waited to rent it on DVD from Redbox.
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http://www.dragmetohell.net
Remove the AICN inserted spaces. -
The title -- UP -- is kind of a double entendre.It's not only about a man mourning his wife, but about letting key aspects of life get away and then attempting to recapture them.There is mystery, danger, suspense, and hordes of cliffhanger moments.The great actors doing the voices are there for a reason and it shows via the complicated characters. Christopher Plummer's villain is one of the scariest, most vicious film bad guys in recent memory.
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Jun 19, 2009 4:56:15 PM CDT
Stop talking about UP. Let's just talk about DRAG ME TO HELL
by nodiggity
Pixar Shimixar
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Who didn't love that movie? I think LaserPants says it best "cause you kinda have to with Pixar". Exactly, because Pixar won't let you down. Raimi has been letting me down since everything after Darkman. I mean Pixar did the impossible it made a run away hit cartoon without really appealing to anyone. I mean Old People hate cartoons, kids hate old people it was a sure fire flop. But its looking to be one of Pixar's top grosser (something that can't be said of Emo dance choreographing Samuel Rami's newest flick). Also you seriously have to hunt down Up toys, I think even Drag Me to Ghost House Pictures Last Movie 30 Days Of Night Was More Of A Hit Then Its Newest had a deal for kids meals toys with Roy Rogers that flopped as well. Up was made a hit on the soul name of Pixar alone, while Drag Me to Why Do I Let My Untalented Brother (who had a great camero in an awesome horror movie Midnight Meat Train (i think NoDiggity is probably riding that right now)) Have A Say in Anything Do by touting the fact that this movie was directed by the feller who made dem there Spidyman flicks. Up become an instant classic it the second you left the movie theater. It has its sad moments, but it is by far a sad movie. As far as describing the characters as plastic when it comes to cartoons, you are right. I mean every cartoon they are making these days focus' around a widowed old man and a fat Asian American boy. I mean I turn on Cartoon Network that is all I see. The main character of Monster's Vs. Aliens, Kung Fu Panda, Delgo, Titan AE, A Sharks Tale, Wall-E, Ice Age, Rock-A-Doodle, Ice Age 2, Nine, Polar Express, Little Mermaid, Steamboat Willie, Beauty And The Beast, Snow White, Thumbelina, Rockfish, Shrek 2: Die Harder and Oliver and Company had the exact same characters as their lead. SOOO fucking cookie cutter with that shit, need more ninja and talking exotic animals you know? For Kids.
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Of that last line, then you know nothing about Sam Raimi.
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In the opening credits, we see a picture of a book, illustrating the three days of the Curse. First day is SWIRLING LEAVES. The first time we see the Swirling leaves is in the underground parking lot! Before Christine is given a "gypsy curse". She was already being haunted.
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He keeps pushing Christine to do more and more awful things. He tells her that she must warn the person she gives the button to, and he also tells her that she and he will be "accomplices" in the crime of sending an innocent person to Hell. Won't that damn them both? Why would he damn himself for Christine? Maybe because he's SATAN? And he follows his own rules about "warning" people. He warns Christine from the first psychic reading he does that she shouldn't "traffic in the black arts" or "blaspheme the dead in a graveyard" or summon spirits using a Ouiji board. But then he blithely tells her how do do all those things, and tells her to "invite the dead into my soul" at the seance. Truly, he must be SATAN!
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Fingers crossed ....
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..next weekend. So you'd better go see it this week, if you can.
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They giggled at "here, kitty kitty kitty" and at the goat.
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Jun 21, 2009 4:16:35 PM CDT
SO, do you think Ram Jaas was helping Christine go to Hell?
by nodiggity
He sure didn't ever suggest prayer, or the help of a priest.
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are the only ones in the seance who are going "I invite the dead into my soul". The lady medium and her assistant aren't saying "I invite the dead into my soul". I'm not sure what that means, but it doesn't sound good to have the dead in your soul ... Was Raam Jaas trying to darken Christine's soul further?
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Rham Jas
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Christine at the seance "I'm scared" Rham Jas: "Yes".
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Christine (after the lady medium dies) It's so sad!" Rham Jas: "Yes".
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...then Rham Jas isn't sad about the poor medium dying at all. And Christine sounds too satisfied when she says it, so I don't think Rham Jas believes she's truly sorry, just happy that she's escaped from being Dragged to Hell.
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She stripped it off at the bottom of the grave.
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Such big ears.
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...that the kitty went to heaven. Good to know!
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... as soon as she killed that kitty.
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... Sacrificing a kitty to it! Come on, that's not how you escape going to Hell!
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Jun 21, 2009 5:14:43 PM CDT
I'm really running out of thing to say about Drag Me To Hell.
by nodiggity
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I only have to get 30 to beat the bottom top-talkback.
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With Drag Me To Hell actual content.
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Why didn't Christine have a lid on that cake?
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looked like kinda dry, and it had too many raisins.
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Fail
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If I hated this movie it would be easy. I could call everyone who liked it idiots, and the post count would rise like a tidal wave.
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Why are you all going to see THE HANGOVER? About a bunch of cardboard morons who need the Deus Ex Machina of being fed roofies in order to make their doing anything interesting plausible?
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Yeah, go and have wacky fun in Vegas!
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That HANGOVER is beating DRAG ME TO HELL at the box office.
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Not a real movie. No heart, no soul, no message other than "Gee, isn't Megan Fox Hot?" (no, she's not, the skanky whore).
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... please.
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And yet Moriarty raved about it "revitalizing the franchise" and damns DRAG ME TO HELL with faint praise, about it not having a meaning outside of being "fun".
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I never thought of myself as one. I geek out over Star Wars, but I NEVER go see a movie more than once. I've seen DRAG ME TO HELL five times now.
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Even though her boobs are mighty fine. Not while Drag Me To Hell is still in the theaters.
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Stupid ScriptGirl
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She would hate the killing of the kitty, and that the cute Allison Lohman character didn't get the happy ending.
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By a pot smoking loser. Sam Raimi admires Fellini, Kubrick, Hitchcock. Who does moron Tarantino admire? Himself, the marijuana fried fucker. Who gives a shit if his trailer is censored?
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Is the only director I've ever heard that's down with a film of his own (The Evil Dead) being re-shat. What does that tell you about the prodigal child now? I almost forgot. The fucking guy is re-shitting it himself.
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My spidey sense go Chic-Chiiiing $$$$$$$$
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This spamming shite ain't gonna help Drag Me To Hell's box office dude! But in conclusion, ScriptGirl sucks.
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Y'all may love the cheesy sfx of the original, but he maybe is a bit embarassed. (I'm taking your word that he is remaking it, I didn't know)
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... are totally on the side of Allison Lohman's character "She didn't pay her mortgage on time, that's it, she should lose her house!" "If some old hag coughed up on my desk and stole my sweets, I'd kick her ass to the curb too!" Lots of people out there going to hell, apparently.
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He says he loved Marvel Comics growing up in the 80's, which were heavily into Christian themes and symbolism, and that's why those themes resonate for him. And the unaddressed, but assumed Mythos of DRAG ME TO HELL is that there is not only a Hell, but a Heaven. Dabbling in the black arts is a soul-destroying practice, (such as sacrificing kitties to demons). The world Raimi imagines was one familiar to Christians for a thousand years, and only recently has become less familiar to people. In that mythos, Demons are constantly looking for weaknesses in people, looking for cracks in their goodness that they can exploit, to trick them into damning themselves. In that mythos, the only way to avoid the constant attentions of Demons is to turn to God and righteousnes, be humble in your sinfulness, and admit that you can't resist the Demons without help and mercy from Heaven. In "Drag Me to Hell" Christine sins in greed for her promotion, denies mercy to the old woman who begs her , and never thinks to ask for help from a higher power ... instead engaging in magic rituals that intend to overpower the demonic forces, assuming that control of them, unaided by heaven, is possible. There is nothing humble in Christine. "I beat you, you old bitch!" she screams triumphantly at the demonic form of the old lady, the demonic expression of her own guilt. "Choke on it Bitch!" she screams, as she damns the victim of her cruelty to eternal hellfire (so she thinks). Raimi keeps the Heavenly side out of the story, but the falling cross that bonks Christine on the head is a not-so-subtle rebuke from Heaven, don't you think?
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FUCKING SUCKS SHIT.
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No, it does't. It's GREAT.
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Only logical reason for him to praise this piece of shit.
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When I watched it Saturday for the final time, I noticed that when Christine got up there was no wetness on her face, and corpse's face was totally dry as well. Another illusion.
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You'd respond.
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Jun 22, 2009 9:19:54 AM CDT
Series 7, I have no interest in your Old Fart/Boyscout love sto
by nodiggity
Go resurrect the UP talkback, if you care.
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Literally, of course, it means that Christines soul is starting to rot, and the fly is rubbing it's hands at the soon-to-be feast. But since we know that the "curse" is just a demonic illusion, why does the fly appear after the curse? What signals the descent of Christine's soul into rot? I think it's Christine's triumphant belief that she has beaten the Old Woman "I beat you, you old bitch!" It's the beginning of Christine irrevocably thinking of her cruel action as something she doesn't need to reverse, or fix, for the sake of doing the right thing, and that she can fix the problem by cleverness, or bribery (as she seems to intend to do when she visits the old woman's home). She wants to get around her crime without repenting. Without surrendering to her conscience and feeling remorse. You see stabs of conscience surfacing, but she never acts on it. And when the fly lands on the camera lens, isn't Raimi trying to tell us that our souls are also becoming fly-food for buying into the whole Gypsy Curse lie, and hating on the old woman, and rooting for Christine to get her happy ending?
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Nothing. Especially that Raimi reference you have no idea about.
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Tell me. Oh, and I know how Raimi was brought up, religiously, so don't bother.
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than be dragged to see this movie again.
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Being that it was so good, and all ...
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ahead of the MERLIN talkack.
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I state it pretty clearly at the end.
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I away for the weekend
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to see you still at it.
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once again...
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wriiten by the Coen Brothers, and yes, Sam Raimi.
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have a long history together when they were starting out. They co-wrote Crimewave also.
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you'll see Bruce Campbell as a televised soap opera actor in a scene in Fargo.Okay, thats it for me. Good luck NoDiggity.
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talkback...
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Jun 22, 2009 3:51:08 PM CDT
Is there anything sadder than a man who looks at ice...
by richard_gere_raped_my_gerbil
...and sees only frozen water?
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Jun 22, 2009 4:06:15 PM CDT
I drag prositutes into my blacked out van...
by richard_gere_raped_my_gerbil
...you could say I'm only helping to promote this movie.
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Thank you!
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liked the HULK comics in the '80s. There were a lot of supernatuaral episodes in old Hulk. One was in an old ghost town out west, and Hulk battled a skeleton who sucked souls into an evil gem. Hulk, of course, smashed.
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Seemed like the best strategy.
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I watched this on DVD & wish I hadn't.
I loved horror movies in my youth, circa 1980's but more than any other genre, horror is riddled with cliches that appear time after time. It all got so boring.
Raimi was instrumental in breaking with tradition when he made the evil dead, which was, back then, a breath of fresh air. DMTH is more like fetid stale halitosis.
It's steeped in cliches, has no real tension, can't decide if it's a horror or a comedy, fails in both categories. It's painfully remeniscent of his 20 year old films, Raimi hasn't given anything new here.
Scenes like the anvil hanging from a rope in the shed?! Who has an anvil, & who hangs it from the ceiling. It's purely there to set up a Tom & Jerry/Roadrunner & Coyote comedy moment, worse it actually apes a scene from the evil dead - eyeballs popping out & landing in a victims open mouth. Boring, seen that one before.
After such universally good reviews I expected better, much better.
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