My Evil Dead 4...err.. Drag Me to Hell review

Hey guys,

Sorry its been so long since my last post. Have A LOT going on right now. But I'll update you on that later.


Well, I would consider myself a Sam Raimi fan. I like the first Evil Dead, love Evil Dead 2, and Army of Darkness is funny, but not my favorite. I also love his more mainstream work like A Simple Plan and The Gift. But, for some reason, the Spiderman movies don't do a whole lot for me. I think I enjoy them when I see them, and then I generally don't have to see them again.

It seems that Sam Raimi had lost his edge.

With Drag Me to Hell, no only does he still have it, he has plenty left in the tank. I went into Drag Me to Hell with optimism, but I wasn't quite sure it would live up to the hype.

This is already in the top 5 scariest movies I have ever seen. The other four are: The Ring, Jaws, Halloween, The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

Now, by scary I mean a few things. One is that I feel generally unsettled during the majority of the movie. Another is the effect it leaves on me AFTER i get out of the movie. The Ring freaked me out with its atmosphere and jumpcuts, Halloween always makes me look around my house making sure there isnt a faceless killer just chilling in the shadows, Jaws still makes me not want to go swimming (pool or ocean), and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, well, that was just Jennifer Carpenter giving one heck of a performance. Drag Me to Hell does all of the above.

Basically, the story is about Christine Brown (maybe a clever nod to Bruce Campbell, CB and BC? that's a stretch), a young loan officer who works at a bank. She really wants the assistant manager job, but has to compete with a slimy Reggie Lee. So, right after telling her boss that she is willing to make the tough decisions, she is visited by a gypsy who's house is about to be repossessed. Christine asks her boss what to do and her boss says that it's her call. She denies the additional loan that the gypsy asks for, and the gypsy begs for her to reconsider. Christine does not budge, and the gypsy feels shamed.

After work, Christine walks out to her car in the parking garage and sees the gypsy's car parked at the other end of the garage. To me, this was the scariest sequence in the whole movie. And funny as well. Without spoiling too much the gypsy puts a curse on Christine that will send her to Hell in 3 days. That's the general synopsis.

There was also one of the scariest shots I have ever seen during this sequence. When you see it, you will know what I mean. It involves the camera (Christine's POV) following a scarf that is being blown around Christine's car in the parking garage. There is no music cue for what happens, just ambient noise. Still gives me chills.

It isn't fair what Sam Raimi does to the audience in this movie. It is as if he is sitting with us, and scaring us right when we start to calm down. He makes us laugh, and then makes us scream. As a horror director, Raimi's skills are unmatched. IN the world of horror directors, it's like LeBron James playing against kindergardeners. He is THE master.

This movie makes me fear parking garages, rooms with windows, cell phones, my car, my bedroom, and just sounds in general. I was on edge the entire movie to the point where I didn't feel that comfortable staying. This is an embarrassing confession, but when I get scared in a movie, and I am with a friend (I was with my buddy Stan for this movie), I tend to lean over a little bit just to make a little bit of physical contact with that person, and it somehow puts me a little more at ease. Trust me, I would have preferred it if it was Hanna sitting next to me, but she didn't want to see it. So... desperate times call for desperate measures. I was leaning on Stan for the last hour of the movie I felt so unsettled. But I also had a blast with all the bizarre comedy that takes place during the horror of it. Whether it's dentures flying out or something that gets projectiled, I was laughing as often as I was terrified.

I'll finish my thoughts when I get up in the morning...


NEXT DAY POSTING...

No sleep whatsoever. I didnt even want to let my dog out to the bathroom because it meant going into my dark living room. I am a pansy. But I also can't help but smile when I think of the experience.

Right now, if I had to decide where it would place on my list, I would list it as number 2 behind Jaws (i still get nervous getting into the water). Maybe it's just because I saw it last night, or because I don't remember getting any sleep last night either.

Easily, the most thrilling movie-going experience of my life.


Drag Me to Hell

4.5/5 stars


Highly recommended