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Capone's pleads: DRAG ME TO HELL and make me management! Yeah, he digs it!!!
Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
Sometimes fans don't like it when a director strays too far from what they perceive to be his/her comfort zone. And probably an equal number of fans hate it when a director repeats himself a few too many times. You can't please everybody (I think I'll copyright that because it's so damn original). It's tough to think of another director that fans would love to see do nothing more than repeat himself than Sam Raimi. If he did nothing but make EVIL DEAD and SPIDER-MAN movies, most of the world's geeks would be completely satisfied. But if that had happened, we would have never gotten such tasty nuggets as DARK MAN, A SIMPLE PLAN, or THE GIFT. But a director like Raimi, like the consummate artist that he is, needs to stretch his wings every so often just to remind himself that he can. Watching a nearly finished work-in-progress print of DRAG ME TO HELL at SXSW last March saw Raimi somehow managing to do something I didn't think was possible — satisfying both schools of thought by making a non-franchise movie that still managed to tap into all of the thrill-house antics that have made him so damn much fun to watch over the nearly 30 years since THE EVIL DEAD first changed the face of horror.
Raimi also remembers that you can show the world that you are a more mature filmmaker than you were 30 years ago while reminding everyone that the kid inside still likes to have the whiz scared out of him. And Raimi manages to scare us in a wholly satisfying manner in a PG-13 format. Let me just say this before I go any further: I've seen the finished film, and I'm a little surprised that it got a PG-13 rating. What I also noticed is that there is no swearing stronger than the word "bitch" (at least not that I can remember) and there's no nudity. So Raimi effectively said to the MPAA, "I'm not giving you any other opening besides cartoony blood and guts to give me an R rating," and so they didn't. And if you don't give this film a shot because it's PG-13, you're categorically insane and I'll hereby revoke your Horror Fan ID badge and decoder ring. I couldn't stop thinking about Robert Wise's 1963 masterpiece THE HAUNTING, perhaps one of the scariest films ever made, a film that used nothing more than sound, shadows, and inventive camera work to scare us to death. Raimi's takes entire chapters from Wise's playbook, as well as a few tricks out of his own bag, to make us grip the armrests and curl our toes with fear.
But DRAG ME TO HELL also remembers how to have fun. The sweet and petite Alison Lohman (MATCHSTICK MEN; THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE) is a nice stand-in for Bruce Campbell as the human ragdoll who get tossed around by unkind--and largely unseen--beings from the spirit world who have attached themselves to her thanks to a gypsy's curse. Lohman's Christine Brown is a loan officer vying for a promotion from her boss (David Paymer), and she refuses to grant an extension to a little old lady named Mrs. Ganush (the splendidly wicked Lorna Raver, a TV character actor in her first big film role). Mrs. Ganush gets on her knees to beg for the extension, but Christine refuses, so the old gypsy lady lays a whammy on her something fierce. There's a fight scene between the two women in a parking garage (I'm sure a lot of you have seen it) that signals exactly the tone that Raimi is striving to achieve--fun, exciting, a little sickening, thrilling and whacky.
Lohman finds out from a medium (Dileep Rao) that the demon that has been cursed upon her will violently haunt her for three days before breaking through the earth's crust to literally drag her to hell. In the film's opening sequence, we see a scene set decades earlier when the same curse is placed upon a young Mexican boy who meets that exact fate. Christine's boyfriend Clay (Justin Long) is skeptical but is trying to be understanding and supportive to her beliefs. There's a strange backstory to Christine involving her being raised on a farm and the fact that she used to be fat that is amusing, but I'm not really sure that information enhances the story. For most of the film, Raimi relies on CG shadow effects, one of the great soundscapes in recent horror film memory, and his usual demented sense of playfulness ("Here kitty kitty.") to bring us to a masterfully staged séance set piece that uses every trick in the book and adds a few more publications to the shelves. Some may view what goes on during this 12-15 minutes as an EVIL DEAD Greatest Hits package (if anything, it's like one of those Greatest Hits sets where the band has to re-record all of their own songs due to ownership rights.) Possessed people float in the air doing demonic dances, inanimate objects in the room suddenly get very animated, and the voices of the possessed sound a hell of a lot like the demons inside folks in that cabin in the woods.
I also love DRAG ME TO HELL's subtext. Christine is a loan officer in a bank, and the film could certainly be viewed as a "Kill the Bankers" statement. On that level alone, the movie feels very timely. However you choose to look at it, DRAG ME TO HELL acts as a great pallet cleanser for both Raimi and his fans between SPIDER-MAN movies. Sam and his brother Ivan have concocted a screenplay that is low in concept but high in execution. The film is filled with things that ooze, gush and explode with nastiness of every shape and size, and it may be the closest thing we ever get to another EVIL DEAD film. My only real complaint with the film is that Raimi relies a little too heavily on cheap scares punctuated by loud music alongside his well-earned moments of genuine terror. I'd actually forgotten how gifted Raimi was at building tension, and I don't think he's ever done it to the extent he does with this work.
But comparing this film to EVIL DEAD isn't entirely fair or accurate (even though I just did), and the fact that DRAG ME TO HELL opens with the '80s-era Universal logo (and another vintage treat for those who stick around after the credits) shows that Raimi is trying to make a modern-version of a classic Universal scare film (or at least a much-improved version of Thinner). Whatever he's up to, I'm on board, and I hope that any loss of control that he might have felt as a result of working on SPIDER-MAN 3 has been somewhat brought back to him as a result of this. And pay attention studio heads: DRAG ME TO HELL is the result of letting this great, proven filmmaker do what he does best with next to no interference from the outside world. It's not a perfect film, but the flaws are Raimi's to own and for fans to debate. What works here, however, works so damn well that I can't image fans of Raimi, fans of horror, or fans of groovy filmmaking being disappointed.
-- Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com
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At the risk of a doing a Harry style ramble...
I remember seeing CRIMEWAVE (anyone remember that one?), EVIL DEAD, and EVIL DEAD 2 back in the day, all within about a month of each other.
It was an important moment in the life of young Cobra as it was one of the first times my youthful brain comprehended what a 'director' does. Why a film isn't actually defined by its cast (as you think when your a kid), but why its defined by its director (this unseen wizard behind the scenes).
Raimi was the first of these 'wizards' that I discovered and for that he'll always be a glory boy.
Historical ramble over. DRAG ME TO HELL sounds great btw.
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yeah, I reposted this from the other tb...
...least I didn't say first. -
The trailers look like shit (though the fly going up her nose makes me cringe every time I see it, so Kudos to you Mr. Raimi!) but I'm considering seeing this now. But as I said in the other review talkback, should I grab up a lady friend, or one of my b-movie loving hombres...
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The way Wise moves the camera in the Haunting, giving that sense of an unseen force trying to push its way in to our dimension was very much Wise's trick before Raimi used it so effectivly in the Evil Dead flicks.
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but the special effects in the trailer look a touch dated
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"...grip the armrests and curl our toes with fear..."
Capone, nicely written review. Scariest film I saw in recent years was THE ORPHANAGE, that one really tickled my terror bone for some reason. Hope DRAG ME TO HELL does the same... -
I am looking forward to this now. I was afraid it would be too PG13 for my taste in horror. Love Rami so I should trust him. Except I could do without another Spiderman.
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Need to do that. 2 and 3 are awesomeness, though I don't really need to say that to you guys.
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A damn good time. Very fun film, a great audience movie and very very loud.
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How many calories is sperm?
All the blowjob reviews must be making people fat because of sheer volume if not caloric count. -
First did have the Tree Rape scene however, I think that was original!
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May 29, 2009 8:07:49 AM CDT
turketron_2, 2 is a remake of one with bigger budget.
by evilwizardglick
Same fucking movie just more money tossed at it.
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Yes?
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Love the Evil Dead trilogy
(especially the 2nd), and this looks like it's very much from the same mold. Seeing this tomorrow...sounds like it could be the first good movie of the summer! -
Never will forget that Evil Dead screening in my youth: An open air theater in a local forest in the north of Holland. People left the premises screaming,crying and vomiting. Spiderman 1 was a Spidey geeks wet dream come true. But Raimi will always be remembered for his Evil Dead!! Looking forward to this one.
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It was fun, but i don't hold it in the same regard as I do 1 or 2. Cobra I agree with you on The Orphanage, although Let the Right One in also did it for me. Seems theres about one really good horror film a year that properlly gets me. Last 3 have been LTROI, REC and The Orphanage, be good if an English language flick can now join the list!
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Also, that the first movie he wasn't actively trying to make it that hilarous but it was so bad-good that it was anyway.
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turketron, first EVIL DEAD is extremely low budget (it was gonzo before gonzo was even a word), but... give it a chance (watch it late night and alone) and you'll get a few unsettling chills, a good bit of gore, and you'll certainly see the genesis of the trademark camera flourishes and visual tricks of the later Raimi movies. Def worth a watch.
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ps. turketron dont listen to anything EvilWizardGlick says.
He's evil. And he's wrong. -
I'm definitely going to throw it on sometime soon, I don't know why it's taken me so long actually.
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I always found it interesting that Raimi and Campbell filmed a single scene which they then previewed to Dentists for funding.
Just like Tom Laughlin did all the legwork for sales and distribution of Billy Jack. He literally traveled and sold it to theaters and drive ins.
That made it a totally independent film.
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Doubt it. Other than minor changes they are the same movie.
Campbell admitted it in his bio. The same movie but slightly different. -
You didn't mention Campbell establishing his trademark acting style.
If I recall Raimi pioneered various shots with ED1, like the camera rapidly moving at ground height. -
"Don't try to frighten me with your sorcerer's ways, EvilWizardGlick, we all know that EVIL DEAD 2 is not actually a remake of the original"
GUuuurrrghh... force choke... garrrggghh.... -
Damn son. Tree-rape in Evil Dead? Only other movie I've seen with something similarly disturbing is when the spiney vines kill the evil lady in the Silent hill movie.
Hmm, now that I think of it, if the climax of The Happening had involved sexually assaulting murderious plants, I might have bothered to watch it. The reviews that describe the assholes in the movie running from pollen spores in the wind or whatever, makes me curious to see it just for the laughs though. -
In DMtH? That shit's groovy.
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Fucking love it. As far as this one goes, can't wait.
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yeah you,you bunch of no talent ass clowns who keep reffering to the evil dead as a trilogy.It aint.There are two evil dead films and army of darkness.get it the fuck right...and you call yourselves fans...more like little girls who dont know anything about evil dead...bunch of asshats....everyone else..your cool.I'm out.
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evil dead and its sequal are different films..the tone the feel the length the actress who gets killed...there different movies completely.2 is more about the book of the dead.1 is primarily about the people getting killed in the cabin.I could go on,but ive embarrassed you people enough.
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EVIL DEAD marathon followed by an early morning showing of DRAG ME TO HELL. Summer starts NOW.
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EVIL DEAD 2 when the girlfriend does a headless dance in the forest while Ash watches from the window features the most exquisite piece of piano music.
Always wondered if that musical piece was written for the film or if it was already out there. -
lol not by me. i'll just watch...here's a preview though. Evil Dead . Evil Dead 2. ( same names and character). Evil Dead 2 ends with Ash back in time where Army of Darkness begins. Same character and continuation of story. I've sounded enough like a dork, I will cease and let somebody else call you names.
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May 29, 2009 9:59:00 AM CDT
oh and that same argument says The Dark Knight
by t 1000 xp professional
is not a sequel to Batman Begins. One Batman movie and one umm Dark Knight movie.. lol.
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Simon, I don't know what the hell your deal is, but you sound like a dickish retard who is somehow a fan of Evil Dead.
To be clear, I don't know what the hell your "argument" is supposed to be, but Army of Darkness is the sequel to Evil Dead 2.
Evil Dead 2 is often (understandably) mistaken for a remake of the first Evil Dead, but the beginning section is just a (slightly altered) review of the first movie; Army of Darkness does the same thing at the beginning. -
WHAT DON'T YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND? See this instead of terminater, duh!!!
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What the f#ck do you want, a cookie? Jesus Christ...
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From Wikipedia: "A trilogy is a set of three works of art, usually literature, film, or video games, that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or three individual works. Most trilogies are works of fiction involving the same characters or setting...others are connected only by theme". Now piss off, you big-mouthed bitch!
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but that definition happens to be correct. "I've embarrassed you people enough", indeed.
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ask for babs?---that would be awesome.
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Drag Me To Hell sounds great. But I have one problem with the plot, and that is the whole 'gypsy curse' set-up (also used in Stephen King's Thinner.)
How come these gypsies can summon demons, or make you waste away (as in Thinner), but can't meet their mortgage payments? Couldn't the gypsy have used the demon to bump off some, I dunno, mobsters to get some money to pay for the house and not have to beg for it.
Now, I haven't seen the film yet - so maybe this is explained (perhaps it's a one-off curse or something.) -
It was fun to see the old tram.
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I think I am growing weary of the empowered pixie motif. Yes, I am.
SPOILERS...
No complaints about Ms Lohman, but I fear the perky heroine is wearing out its welcome (with me). That, and, well, she kind of had it coming. Christine could have helped Mrs Ganush but she chose not to do so. And it seems that Christine also sacrificed the kitty and that was just so wrong. And her at first willingness to pass the token was off putting. No mercy for you, young lady, even if you did take responsibility at the end. And if you cannot like your heroine, where does a viewer go from there?
Justin Long was fine, as were the other supporting players. I liked Dileep Rao as the swammy with a fondness for Carl Jung. I think I would have liked more of a debate between Long (the academic) and Rao (the spiritualist), but more exposition would probably have spoiled the fun.
So was it fun? Well, IMHO, some episodes of this years batch of Supernatural were more effective than this movie. And more compelling, too. But it was fun to have the zaniness and creep-fest that the Evil Dead series has given us. Fans of the Evil Dead should attend this movie as a vote of confidence for the production of Evil Dead 4.
Off I go... scampering into the jungles of the night.
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I just got back from a 2:45 showing, and I'm angry as hell. I bought the hype, and was truly looking forward to the "return of true horror." What I got was an extended episode of TALES FROM THE CRYPT. This would have been fine as a 45 minute segment of an anthology horror movie, but as a feature, it offers nothing new. Neil Marshall has nothing to worry about.
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Without going too deep into (any more) spoilers, one complaint I had was that there were key plot developments that were telegraphed early on and made key plot turns inevitable. Which is sad because there was a lot imaginative action delivered by the film that reminded me of the Evil Dead series.
I found that I was neither enamoured by the plot nor the character of the heroine (with all due respect to the actress), and so the fun and excitement of the effects festival was not enough for me. So I expected more from Sam Raimi. -
The bad cgi really took me out of the movie. Doing this stuff in post was a real let down to me.
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Still, Raimi effectively re-earned my respect after the down right terrible Spiderman 3. This movie is going to play a lot better to older audiences that grew up "discovering" Evil Dead (and its subsequent sequels, funny how that works, sequels being subsequent) from their local video store.
I don't think the kiddies are gonna dig it as much, seeing how at the showing I was at, during a scene involving an anvil, a teenage girl eloquently (and loudly) observed that it was "just like a cartoon". Thanks child, next time shut the fuck up.
Of all the things to like in this movie my favorite are Mrs. Ganush, the sound design, and the fleeting glimpses we get of the Lamia. That's Lamia, not Labia folks. I know some of you on here are deathly afraid of labias so I thought I'd help clear that up.
Overall, this is probably one of the best Horror movies to come out in theaters in years.
If you like the Evil Dead films or just old school Horror in general, you have to go see this in theaters.
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May 29, 2009 8:15:04 PM CDT
I've been up since 3:45 am, time to watch the Evil Dead trilogy
by soylentmean
Yep, these three films do not form Voltron but they do make a well known and established TRILOGY. Not sure what the guy up above is trying to prove by saying otherwise.
While I get the whole "Evil Dead 2 is a bigger budget remake of the original" argument, I personally don't buy it. And that's my opinion, I'm sticking to it.
I win. -
May 29, 2009 11:41:58 PM CDT
I'LLSWALLOWYOURSOULI'LLSWALLOWYOURSOULI'LLSWALLOWYOURSOUL
by nasty in the pasty
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The movie is called DRAG ME TO HELL. The plot is in the title. Come ON.
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(sorry if I make some mistakes, English is not my main language)
Just got back from the screening, and was HUGELY disapointed. Why is everybody giving this a good review is beyond me.
The movie fails at being funny and it fails at being scary.
Obviously the movie aims for stupid fun. It has some good ideas, but it's not as clever as it pretends to be.
It was a very low quality movie. Predictable, some awful acting, a lot of pacing and editing issues (awkward moments where nothing happens) and....
Among the worst FX I have ever seen. Not bad in a "wink to the 80's" kind of way, just plain awful, low budget and very distracting CG. Everything from green screens to that goat, jesus just bad.
I am pissed because it could have been the fun scary ride it tried to be. But I think a movie like 'Jeepers Creepers' (I know it's not the same kind of movie) is by far superior at having a fun-scary-inventive jab at horror movies. And at least it had decent FX.
Well, it seems like I am the only one out there... but that was a big waste of time for me.
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I was psyched to see the opening titles of this movie. They gave the film the atmosphere of the old Universal horror classics. The plot isn't bad. I can't even recall the last time Gypsies were used in mainstream film. The classic example, of course, is the wolf man.
Ultimately, it didn't work. There were great ideas that ended up being drowned in a pile of CGI and contrived bullshit. There were pacing issues, over editing (we can assume to thank the studio and their PG-13 mandate for that).
Also basic logic flaws that bothered me. A Slavic gypsy summons...a creature from Greek mythology? Okay. Maybe. But then that Greek mythological creature responds to Spanish commands? You can't just pick and choose aspects of cultural mythologies you're going to apply and disregard others.
Could have been awesome. It's a respectable attempt, but it misses the mark. -
From Bloody disgusting: "quite simply the most PERFECT horror film I've seen in a long, long while" "Although Raimi got a taste of CG work on the SPIDER-MAN series, he says that he doesn't believe in using the process unless it's the only option. DRAG ME keeps the CG to a minimum" - What?! You must be kidding me? Fuckin crappy CG is everywhere in that movie. That's what happen when geeks become movie reviewers, they get so excited for the most stupid things they become blind with excitement.
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I just don't get all the love for certain Directors, actors and movies you guys have on this site. Sam Raimi has given me some fond memories but in hindsight those stopped with Army of Darkness. Did I enjoy the movie, yes. Is it on par with something like UP? Heck no. Do I understand the mostly positive reviews? NO.
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Nothing surprising there at all. The movie in all aspects was very predictable. Not original at all. It was fun though.
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Not funny, not shocking, not scary; as was written above, this would have been a second-rate "Tales From the Crypt" episode. "Surprises/plot twists" are telegraphed (if you didn't see that ending coming, you're an idiot), characters are pretty much all unlikeable, at times the soundrack overwhelms the dialogue, etc. Cheesy SFX but not in a good way. Not a major disappointment, as it was at least okay, but a disappointment nonetheless. At best this is a netflix movie.
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Oh look, an actual horror movie - and a PG-13 one that actually had some scares. Works for me. The amount of fluids was hilariously gross... my buddy's pothead perspective: http://fullybakedreviews.blogspot.com/2009/05/guest-review-drag-me-to-hell-2009.html - apparently the goat got his attention. yeah, that's a plug :P
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just the same
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Sunday 1pm showing though.
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Somebody says holy (such-and-such).
Few people were in the movie theater over here, either. I had a 12:15 showing. Two people walked out (rot13 encoded) jura vg ybbxrq yvxr gur znva punenpgre jnf tbvat gb tb guebhtu jvgu xvyyvat ure xvggra. -
DRAG ME TO HELL is as forgettable as anything made for the SciFi Channel. Nothing about this film is remarkable, scary, or even that interesting. I was checking my watch half way though. If you want an enjoyable thriller, watch POLTERGEIST for the fiftieth time. Sam Raimi should be ashamed.
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The movie is absolutely an homage to Curse/Night of the demon, from the concept of passing on a curse, down to the final sequence of....
SPOILERS! SPOILERS!! SPOILERS!!!
Someone being run over by a train in the climax.
Everybody should check out this seminal of all horror films, Curse/Night of the Demon to see how a great story line unfolds. -
For those of you who mentioned not having seen the Evil Dead movies, FEARnet.com is offering free streams of 'Evil Dead 2'.
http://www.fearnet.com
Jack with FEARnet -
mmmmmmmm!
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