Drag Me to Hell

Not being a fan of the horror movie genre, I usually ignore whenever a new cookie-cutter slasher flick is released.  But whenever a movie gets as good of reviews as Drag Me to Hell, I take notice genre be damned.  In fact I enjoy it when there is a must see horror film because it always feels new to me.  Because of this, Drag Me to Hell was well worth the price of admission.

A movie having the ability to scare the shit out of me is not that high a praise.  I jump out of my seat all the time.  Its like the chair is electrified.  So my praise for Drag Me to Hell is not because it made me jump a whole bunch of times instead I felt that it was actually able to accomplish scaring the piss out of me without resorting to over-the-top torture porn.  Most of it was the usual its very quiet, there is nothing to worry about, this is a normal scene, and HOLY SHIT WHAT WAS THAT!?!  But Sam Raimi is able to wring as much creativity as possible from this recipe.  He can be downright disgusting.  Every single time the crazy-eyed gypsy shows up something horrifying is about to appear on the screen.  The amount of substances that Raimi had inside that woman’s mouth has scarred me for life.  Plus all the scenes with the demon haunting Alison Lohman were masterfully done by Raimi.  Its just shadows and noise but it worked as well as I have ever seen before.  Even though the movie was more interested in making the audience jump, the story was tied up beautifully with the conclusion.

Man, I don’t think I’ve seen Alison Lohman since Matchstick Men.  And for a role that can degenerate into a chick constantly screaming, Lohman is able to add some depth and humor throughout the movie.  Plus she guts a kitten and I have to reward such ridiculousness.  Its always fun to see Justin Long even if he is keeping the humor in check for this role, he still took his shots when he could.  I already mentioned the disgustingness of the crazy-eyed gypsy so I need to compliment Lorna Raver for making me nauseous.  The only one that was missing was Bruce Campbell.

Drag Me to Hell was the rare horror film that I actually anticipated then loved once the credits rolled.  It was nice to see Sam Raimi jump back into the horror world that he has been absent from for the last couple of decades.  Plus I hope he chooses to turn Doc Connors into the Lizard in Spider-Man 4 because I think he can make that transformation truly horrifying.

8 out of 10