Drag Me To Hell - Review

Sam Raimi should do these types of films for the rest of his life. I actually hadn't written up a review for this because i went and saw it three times in theaters. That should be enough of a review for you.

Drag Me To Hell is the story of pretty young loan officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) who is gunning for the assistant bank managers job at the bank she works at. Her only real competition is the new guy, Stu, whose nose is so far up his bosses ass with Lakers tickets and compliments that it makes her a bit sick. After learning of this her boss tells her about making tough decisions. Well right then and there a tough decision shows up, a creepy old gypsy woman whose house is about to be repossessed. Christine dutifully informs the woman that a loan extension is out of the question due to the previous loan extensions she has received. Old Ms. Ganush (Lorna Raver) begs and pleads for assistance but is ultimately thrown out by security. This is where the 27 different kinds of crazy show up. Ms. Ganush in old school fashion meets Christine out in the parking lot, old school style, and proceeds with the oddest and funniest chick fight ever put on screen. Ganush ens up putting a curse on Christine and she ultimately finds out she has three days to break the curse before being... you guessed it, dragged to hell. Along the way we meet her super sweet and Apple loving boyfriend, a seer who is trying to help her out of this situation, and a demon called the Lamia.

This flick is so fun that had it starred Bruce Campbell, you coulda called it Evil Dead 4. Lohman is such a good sport with the physicality of the role and with the disgustingness that Raimi subjects her to, she should get the offical Bruce seal of approval. Mr. Raimi quite likes to abuse his actors if you ever pay attention to any making of docos for his films. The movie may ne rated PG13 but it is still fairly brutal. The blood is essentially replaced with disgustingness of saliva, drool, maggots, embalming fluid and the like. The film played well with both a small audience and a large audience.

My biggest issue is not with the film, but with the fake ass Sam Raimi fans who know nothing of his work outside of the Spiderman films. It was odd to be sitting in the packed theater next to a girl who couldn't have been older than 16, laugh, scream, and jump all the way through the film only to declare it stupid at the end because it was to "funny". What sense does that make? Oh yeah, the chick was wearing a brand new Army of Darkness t-shirt. She had obviously never seen that film and then say that about the one she just watched.

I can recommend this film to Raimi fans far and wide, and to non Raimi fans, you should become one before seeing this. The best way to describe it is it fits right between Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn and Army of Darkness as far as quality goes. If you understand the reference then go see the film, if not go rent those films and then, if you enjoy them, go see this one.