Drag Me to Hell (2009)

From the intense opening scene to the stellar and shocking finale, Sam Raimi has officially returned to the horror genre with vigor and spark in the year's best horror film so far. Starring Alison Lohman in the leading role (Ellen Page was originally cast as the lead but dropped out of the project early in production), Drag Me to Hell feels like much more than your average, predictable horror popcorn flick. It's filled with plenty of twists and turns and, like any good ride, a satisfying conclusion. And the PG-13 rating? Forget about it! You hardly notice that little factor because of how immersed you become in the story. Also starring are Justin Long, David Paymer, and Lorna Raver.

Christine (Lohman), a loan officer at a bank with a lovely boyfriend (Long), is being considered for a promotion. Jumping at the opportunity, she comes across an old gypsy woman (Raver) who requests a third extension on her house. Her boss (Paymer) tells her it's a tough decision, and its her call, so she refuses the woman's payment. Absolutely infuriated, the woman stalks Christine after work and bestows her with a supernatural curse, one which she has only three days to overcome before the spirits drag her to hell.

Lucky enough to have won tickets to a pre-screening of the film, I had heard nothing but great things about it. I was hoping for the best, but I wasn't sure how the comedy and horror would mix together. Much to my surprise, the horror and comedy in Drag Me to Hell are that rare perfect mix of perfection that one craves in horror movies. If too funny, they can go overboard, but not this one. In fact, I don't think I've seen quite a proper mixture since Raimi's own Evil Dead II.

Perhaps the most shocking thing about the movie is how well it's made technically. It had all sorts of interesting shots and the real work of a master filmmaker. Having both written and directed the film, Sam Raimi more than proves his worth to the horror genre despite his long absence since Army of Darkness. In ways, this is also a sort of revival of what people with think of PG-13 horror movies. Drag Me to Hell is one of the most intense, scary horror films in quite some time, despite the PG-13 rating which many tag as already crap.

Drag Me to Hell is full of its epic shocks, and the less you go in knowing about it the better. I could go on for hours about the movie and spoil everything there is to know, but that would truly ruin some of its appeal. Which is certainly not to say that it is lost after a first viewing, just that it's an experience unlike any other going into this movie watching virtually no clips and reading very little about it. It becomes a truly rewarding experience.

Mrs. Ganush is one truly phenomenal villain that provides plenty of scares. Lorna Raver infuses the role with an enthusiasm - an terror - that is rarely seen in big-screen baddies. She has more personality than The Ring's Samara for sure. Clay's character provides a much-needed balance between the goofy and the horrific, and helps make the film's heroine, Christine, all the more believable. It was an interesting twist to see Justin Long in a horror film, despite the nature of his role. I believed his performance and the sincerity of his character. Lohman had a lot resting on her shoulders with this movie, and she totally pulled it off with flying colors. Nobody plays the terrified, but headstrong and determined female lead better than Lohman, and she proves her worth over and over again in thi

Fmovies: Drag me to Hell is, really, a throwback in so many ways to the fun of The Evil Dead 2. The camera angles, the excellent score - it all recalls how Raimi played with us in his earlier trilogy. What has changed however, is the sense of pace. We know its coming and Raimi employs all his skills to draw out the tension. The thrills are all there in place, I jumped like there was an electric buzzer under my seat. Perhaps a little too much CGI is indulged in but its easy to forgive in a film as wicked and blackly comic as this. I genuinely found the film disturbing for a 15 as well, again I think this is a mark of tension that Raimi creates with the score and camera work throughout the film. So incredibly refreshing to see a horror film with out the hallmarks of the recent saw franchise. Special mention for the ending, which has conviction and guts and was the proverbial cherry on top of the cake. throughly entertaining.

Drag Me To Hell is exactly what it should have been. It effortlessly takes a dump on 90% of the rest of the horror movies this decade has offered us.

In 2009, we are flooded with brainless remakes and Saw rip-offs, which was never a great series in the first place. Only Sam Raimi (the king of horror in my opinion) has the power to bring a completely original horror movie back to the big screen in this day and age and capitalize with it.

It was one of the most intense movie-going experiences I've had in some time and I see it as a wild ride that no one should miss out on. It is guaranteed that you will be either jumping or cringing in your seat half the time, unless you are one of those people lacking heavily in the department of sensitivity and/or general thought processing.

The movie is entertainment and horror fun in it's purest form.

A lot of people complain about CGI, and in a lot of cases I agree, but in Drag Me To Hell, they were never trying to hard with it - it was always in good fun and in a movie paced like this, with it's Sarcasti-Horror, it is certainly fitting.

It is, without question, a new horror classic - thanks to it's basic yet innovative plot, likable blondie, loads of bodily fluids, and an ending you will not forget.

Let's hope Hollywood takes some hints and allows studios to start making original horror movies again.

Thank you Sam Raimi. Loved it.

Drag Me to Hell fmovies. Personally I thought movies like the "Spiderman"-trilogy, "A Simple Plan" and "For Love Of The Game" were excellent, but they all shared a common flaw: they made Sam Raimi look like a mentally balanced person. "Drag Me To Hell" on the other hand wants none of that, it caters to the "Evil Dead"-crowd and does so very well. There isn't much of a story, but that's pretty much the point. Raimi has always stated he wants his horror flicks to be non-stop fun, and that's exactly what this is. It's a pretty stream of consciousness sort of thing, the feeble plot about Alison "Big Fish" Lohman getting cursed is just an excuse to come up with as much demented stuff as humanly possible. Put some maggots in a pie and then somehow make it bleed, why not huh? Anything goes here, that keeps things interesting throughout. You never know what's going to happen next, which is pretty damn scary. It's also a plus that eventually the movie works up to one of the the greatest climactic scenes I've ever seen in a horror movie, now that's what I call a finale. Overall this is a great movie that won't let anybody down.

The early trailers for Drag Me to Hell dubbed it as (sic) "the return to classic horror", and for once at least, they are correct.

Sam Raimi manages to incorporate genuine thrills and terror using the old-fashioned format of surprise, misdirection and suggestion. As a frequent viewer of horror films, little surprises me, but in this film I was caught off-guard several times while watching it.

While the majority of the movie is kept on a serious and foreboding level, much like the original "Evil Dead", Raimi can't help but throw in elements of the absurd and slapstick during some of the more horrific scenes, thus reducing the tension and echoing the latter 2/3 of the "Evil Dead" trilogy.

WHile I have nothing against the modern trend of horror movies to provide shocks merely in the form of how much blood and gore they spill, this flick was wonderfully refreshing. It's a must-see, not just for Raimi fans, but for anyone who loves a good scary story and a great movie in general.

It took Sam Raimi to bring fun back to the horror genre, and I'm so glad he did. In a sea of 'torture porn' and 'found footage' garbage, this is a rare jewel that makes you realize what you've been missing as a horror fan.

If you're into Sam's other works, you will greatly enjoy this film as it hits all the right notes and contains many of his trademark moments and nods to his early films. It's light on the blood and guts compared to the Evil Dead trilogy, but I didn't miss it all that much because I was having too much fun with everything else.

If you don't get black comedy, perhaps this film will confuse or disappoint you or come off as 'cheesy', but this is classic Raimi style and I love it. It's good to see many practical effects back in action and his camera work is as great as ever.

I like horror films to be fun and this certainly fits the bill.