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Greg Clark feels Sam Raimi just schooled everyone that's made a horror film in the last decade with DRAG ME TO HELL!
Hey folks, Harry here - I've only slept 9 hours in the last 72, but I can't shut my eyes - cuz I can't stop smiling! Here's another similarly inflicted victim of DRAG ME TO HELL...
Hey Harry,
Was also at the SXSW workprint screening tonight (I was the guy up in the balcony who couldn't stop cheering at the end), figured I'd chime in with my take on the orgasmic proceedings. Here it is:
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Saw the workprint at SXSW, the FX and sound mix weren't finished, but I can confidently say this with a fair amount of certainty: If you're a director, and you've made a mainstream horror film in the last ten years, and your name isn't Frank Darabont, you just got your ass schooled.
Yes, I'm literally writing this with the buzz still clouding my head and no, I really don't want to pick it apart right now. There's MAYBE one or two "jump scares" too many, but other than that Raimi nails the look and feel of a really well told ghost story. He's got the ick, he's got the goo, he's got the atmosphere, he's got the moments that give you full body goosebumps and even the moments that make your jaw drop open in shock or disbelief or both. But most of all, and here's where all the other directors in the genre need to take an ear and listen: it's FUN. It's scary, yes, but Raimi scares you in such a way that you ENJOY being scared. It's an enjoyable experience. I realized halfway through the movie that even though I had my hand over my mouth and was bouncing around in my seat like so many effective horror films in this decade, this was the first one that I didn't pull out of a collection where I was really, honest-to-Cthluhu having FUN with it, and that's the key to making something like this more than just the sum of its screams.
Sam trots out his old bag of Evil Dead tricks for a lot of the scares, but he’s not just treading familiar ground: he’s refined a lot of the gags and visual flourishes and made them feel new again. It’s like he took an old bike out of storage, remembered how it was always a good, dependable bike, put a new chain on it, new seat, the works, buffed it to a high shine, and then decides to upgrade it to a kickass Ducati motorcycle. Several scenes are heavy on the “boo” scares, but the way he presents them they don’t feel cheap or like a cheat; it’s a spook story, and well, spooks go “boo!” a whole huggy bunch. It’s just what they do.
Raimi as the actor's director is present as well, and gets a really terrific performance from Allison Lohman in this. The whole movie is about her, there aren't any real sub-plots that focus on secondary characters, so she has to be the audience's eyes, ears, voice, everything. It's not an easy task, and without her digging in and giving it her all the whole movie would've been far sillier than intended. The séance scene runs the gauntlet between creepy, funny, terrifying, and goofy, and Lohman hops between each tonal shift while keeping the movie grounded. She and Raimi have carved out a fantastic character, made all the more welcome in that it's a wholly original story.
As far as supporting work goes, Justin Long does a fine job as her worried boyfriend, and Raimi wisely avoids a lot of clichéd trappings about their relationship, even though the movie threatens us with it early on. David Paymer and Reggie Lee are both fun as Lohman’s passive aggressive boss and wormy asshole of a co-worker, respectively, and Dileep Rao manages to make his fortune teller an interesting and shady dude, which was a nice flourish since he is the film’s main source of exposition. It’s not ever a real doubt, but the way Rao keeps asking for money to help Lohman and the way he plays his scenes, he makes you wonder if maybe, just maaaybe he’s pulling off some sort of elaborate scam on her.
I can't really get too much more into details without going into spoiler territory, and since all of you poor bastards have to wait two more months to see this, I'll shut my yap. But just know that we've got a real yummy treat coming in May from a chef who knows how to cook a dessert.
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What an awesome night! And this was my first ever time to a SXSW screening, so the pleasure was doubly phenomenal! Can't wait for the next one!
Cheers,
Greg Clark
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...would be going to see WATCHMEN again.
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I'm getting SOOO close to first!
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Sam Raimi is my father.
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can't wait!
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we already know that raimi is a master at his craft but i dont dig this pg-13 crap...i wanna see lohman's boobies
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She freaks me out--and I understand she is pretty amazing in the movie as well.
The last Horror movie (not called The Mist) that I thought was surprising and inventive was Jeeprs Creepers...and that was a long time ago... -
Raimi has to do something to make up for what he did to everyone back in 2007, so making a movie that "schooled everyone that's made a horror film in the last decade with DRAG ME TO HELL!" is a must for him. Now if he can only resurrect Topher Grace's standing with the studios, hmmmmmmm
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Mar 16, 2009 5:45:55 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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and I'm with bacci40, I wanna see Lohman's boobies too
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Mar 16, 2009 5:54:06 AM CDT
bacci40, JUST RENT WHERE THE TRUTH LIES FOR NAKED LOHMAN.....
by 1978creepythinman
At least then you can see her doing some hot lesbo shit. People only seemed to give a shit about this chick back 6 years ago when she looked like she was 14 years old. Now that she's getting old, the lines are showing and her tits are drooping the milk from her sagging udders has definitely expired on any wank potential.
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Mar 16, 2009 7:07:01 AM CDT
seriously raimi and spiderman should be done. Professionally. Fu
by ballymoremonty
Spiderman 3 was the most dissapointing piece of shit I sat through in a theatre for a long time, after the joyous surprise that was spidey 1 and the great followup.
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The old witch-bitch can summon demons but she has to beg the bank for an extension? Still, I suppose it's more believable than spier-man jive-talking.
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Please excuse my previous grammatical rape of the English language.
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The clip looks ok..a bit naff to be honest but i guess thats Raimis MO. I thought Spidey 3 was decent...except for the end. Obviously not a patch on 2 but i think people are forgetting the seriously dodgy elements from the 1st movie..or did you enjoy seeing Spidey battle a green power ranger?
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...but really just want to see you fail.So they can shit on you afterwards. Fanboys are truly the worst kind of people.
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Seriously, this is an endless rant from you...I think most of us LOVE Army of Darkness (if not get off Raimi's lawn) and most feel the same as you about Spidey 3, so STOP ALREADY!
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Honestly, I love the Evil Dead movies, and I loved Spidey 1 and 2....but, the trailer for this left me feeling like it would be just another horror movie. Everything grimey, a bunch of loud scare moments, but nothing worth remembering. I hope I'm wrong. But then again...this guy also made Spidey 3. *shudder*
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Horror outside the US has been doing quite fine, fuck you very much.
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Mar 16, 2009 10:38:08 AM CDT
Good! Some PG-13 horror directors need to get their learn on!
by mrmysteryguest
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is someone that is strong enough to call forth the powers of hell late on her mortgage. The movie may be great, but the premise is shit!
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Even though I didn't think so at first. Once you suspend your disbelief and accept that it isn't a horror film...you've got one of the most fun adventures of the 90's.
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a new evil dead
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trust nothing on AICN.
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Just kidding. Hell I hardly trust any reviews here, especially ones that "reinvent the genre" or what have you. I happen to think this movie looks pretty good though, so go figure.
Particularly what I hate on here is the amazing hype machines for movies that really don't deserve it, recently Cloverfield and the crazy free blowjobs that were given out for Die Hard 4.
Occasionally the hype machine converges on real geekdome like the Watchmen hype, which regardless of whether you liked the movie or not was certainly geek hype worthy.
I wish there were more TBs on older movies ( like the Movie-a-day column Quint was runnig ) just because it cuts past the advertising hype altogether and just focusses on the real film. -
He's jumped on every talkback today to rant and troll...even Ron Silver's obit. Classless. If your life is that miserable go see a therapist, talk to a friend (if you have any), meditate, get a hooker, anything like that...but trying to troll for anonymous arguments on the internet just because you need some attention...not cool and pretty pathetic. Thank you.
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heh. AICN said the Hellboy movies were reinventions of film and instant classics. I must have watched some other Hellboy movie. I agree, more old movie talk would be nice, not silly hype for movies their friends make.
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but really, I would blame Sony more than Raimi, the series just became way too bloated for it's own good and Sony forced him to put in too many villains
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hahaha that shit made me laugh so hard. I agree with him though. And the caps lock rant was entertaining and spot on. Bernard's an asshole. And so is Sam Raimi. Fucking fanboys.
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was his homage to the spaghetti western "Quick And The Dead". I relize I'm in a vary rare minority on that one though. Loved A Simple Plan also. Much respect and admiration for the Katie Holmes peekaboo in The Gift as well. Of course the Evil Dead trilogy are a load of fun, and his first two Spider-Man flicks were decent. But all the Korean and Japenese horror remakes along with Spider-Man 3 have severely tainted any regard I once had for Raimi. Hopefully he's up for redeeming himself (spounds like it). I'll check it out, albeit with much trepidation.
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Spider Man 1 was alright but kinda boring, Spider Man 2 was total shit except for the action scenes (who really cares for that dork's private life??). Spider Man 3 doesn't even need to be mentioned. Here's to hoping Raimi gets back on track doing movies not about guys in gaudy superhero outfits anymore! The sooner Hollywood realizes guys in faggy bodysuits are not cool the better. I'd take 3 The Gifts (as eventually unsatisfying as it was) over one spiderman anytime. Do real movies again Sam!
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You know it to be true.
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Rami needs to dump that garbage already and use his formidable talents elsewhere.
Rami could wax the fantastic in the horror genre until the end of his days. That's where he belongs, for the good of all mankind ;) -
There's some kick-ass modern horror for you...
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by the same people who were impassioned with TWILIGHT and the GODZILLA remake. Our motto: "We'll even kiss Fred Olen Ray's ass if we nail a preview of his Cinemax gutterballs. The bottom line: WE SAW IT FIRST. We're invited to a preview of Paul Hogan's next film--and, y'know, it's already a masterpiece."
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