Movie Two Hundred Thirty Seven
A gypsy woman casts a curse on a young bank employee in Drag Me To Hell.
Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is a loan officer up for a promotion and is advised by her boss that she needs to make tough decisions. When a gypsy woman named Sylvia Ganush (Lorna Raver) comes in for an extension on her mortgage, Christine is cursed by the gypsy and is haunted by unseen forces. Her boyfriend, Clay (Justin Long), tries to understand what is happening, but has trouble swallowing what Christine is trying to tell him. After involving a psychic medium, Christine is willing to do anything to break the curse and free herself from the demon Lamia.
Drag Me To Hell was one of my most anticipated movies, coming from Sam Raimi returning to his brilliant horror roots and it does not disappoint, even after multiple viewings. If you appreciate all the comedic elements of Evil Dead II or Army of Darkness, in addition to the gore of those movies, Drag Me To Hell should already be on your viewing list. The gypsy curse storyline is a bit played out but it never feels too dated.
The actors in Drag Me To Hell are the weakest link in the chain for me. Not only do I cringe seeing Justin Long on screen most of the time, Alison Lohman looks like she’s about to fall asleep when she isn’t screaming and something about her face just…bugs me. So Lohman and Long together onscreen as a couple is mildly nauseating to me, but it doesn’t ruin Drag Me To Hell in any major way. I imagine it was hard to cast a lead actress that is pretty and also willing to have bugs and other gross things poured into her mouth, so I’ll be a little more lenient on Lohman.
I have been out of the loop for most horror films made recently and I usually don’t feel like I’m missing out but I’m really glad I got on the Drag Me To Hell bandwagon. Sam Raimi may have lost the respect of some fans after his Spider-Man trilogy but I never lost hope. I grew up with Evil Dead and Sam Raimi was a filmmaker I admired. Drag Me To Hell is a throwback, some may say it’s a throwback to a fault, but to me, it’s pretty much just a great modern horror movie with some nostalgic sensibilities.
I give it 4 best use of possessed villainous handkerchief ever out of 5.
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This Raimi pic is all kinds of awesome. Good write up!
Right on, man!
Great film with an excellent “jump out of your seat” blu-ray audio/sound effects track. Really glad you liked it!
This was one of the first blus I bought and it still holds up damn well compared to some of the bigger budget films
Absolutely! Damn, you’re making me want to pop it into my BD player tonight. 🙂
This is proof that Raimi needs to do more horror! Supposedly he’s writing a horror story with his brother now that he’s finished up with Oz. Fingers crossed.
I think it’s safe to say I’ll see whatever his next horror movie is regardless, but I have high hopes too
I loved this movie haha, besides the ending :s
I yelled so loudly the first time I saw the ending haha
Great to see Raimi back doing what he does best. I watched the director’s cut recently and much prefer the original theatrical release – way too much barfing! Enough already with the barfing! 🙂
Haha yeah, it’s a lot of barfing. I felt like there was more scarf action in the director’s cut too. They really liked that scarf.
And it’s interesting to note that although Sam and Ted Raimi have been shy to admit it, DMTH is essentially a remake of a classic Jacques Tourneur horror film from 1957 called Night Of The Demon (aka Curse Of The Demon) – which itself was based on a story by M.R. James called Casting Of The Runes. Well worth tracking down for comparison. 🙂
Noted! Will check it out
Yay! I’m glad, as you say, that you got on the DMTH bandwagon! I love this one; it’s one of my favorite horror movies. Also, LOL at your paragraph about the actors.
😀
When I first saw this I thought it was going to be a straight up horror so didn’t really get it first time around. The goat, for example, lost me completely. Having seen it again though, I like it a lot more although I totally agree with you about the actors, particularly Mr Long. Ugh.
I can totally see being put off by the weird sense of humor in things like if you don’t expect it.
Long doesn’t ruin movies for me, I don’t outright dislike him, I just find him kind of irritating. That said, I would much rather have had anyone else play his role in this movie.
I had a lot of fun watching this in cinemas. Great write-up 🙂
Thanks!
Saw this in the cinema, bought the Blu-ray (and reviewed the film) I ABSOLUTELY adore it. It was fun to see Sam put someone else through the mill. I wonder if he thought of Bruce Campbell while he was torturing the lead? Great review, great film. 😀
Thanks! – I do wish there was a Campbell cameo at least
That would have been way beyond cool! 😀
I’ve still never seen all of this. I have no excuse. I’ve got to check it out. Great review!
It’s definitely worth checking out
Didn’t love it like everybody else, but I can still say that it’s a horror flick that has a lot of fun with itself, in an old-fashioned, Raimi fashion. Nice review Andy.
It may not be one of my all-time favorite horror flicks, but it’s definitely one of the better recent ones in my mind. Thanks!
Great review, I really need to see this one.
Am I the only person who thought the ending was awesome???
I think it is pretty sweet
Great movie – nice review.
I enjoyed this somewhat in the theater but every time I think about watching it again I feel sick. It seemed like every time the lead actress turned around there was something gross hitting her in the face if not directly in the mouth, and at one point I think the old woman even gummed her on the face. Ew!!! Regardless, I hope Alison Lohman comes back to make more movies someday, because she was super talented. Loved her in White Oleander and Matchstick Men.
Actually, she gets gummed by the old woman TWICE…once while she’s a corpse.
Barf.
Hahaha yeah, pretty much. It’s the type of movie that you either laugh at those scenes or cringe. Or both, I guess.
I’m glad I saw it in the theater though, because people were really getting into it and yelling at the screen. That’s almost always a good time.
Probably worth the gross-out factor, yeah
I’ve put it on once but got tired and turned it off. I still need to watch it and thanks to you it’s going back up the stack next to my DVDplayer, haha!
Haha I keep a similar stack…and always seem to choose something else off the shelf instead of from the stack
Haha yes, most of the times, so do I.
I love this film,most horrors these days bore me,when that pikey looking lady starts tapping her fingers on the desk the hair on the back of my neck stood up like a soldier outside the palace.
Was SO excited to see this but found it only marginally entertaining. The kitten part though…I couldn’t stomach that so I can’t watch it again.
I know what you mean, I hated that part too. I had forgotten all about it so it just made me even more sad
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