Drag Me To Hell: It Will Make You Afraid Of Buttons

Growing up horror was always my first love of the film genres. I relished that feeling of fear knowing that outside the doors of the cinema, away from the screen there was the comfort and safety of the real world. My ninth birthday, or maybe my tenth involved a marathon of the Nightmare on Elm Street series, culminating in the newly released Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare 3D. My pre-pubescent cohorts and I gathered around our 14 inch, flimsy cardboard glasses in hand and let the fear embrace us. And so it went for many years.

But recently I have become jaded by the trawl of Craven wanna-bes and grotesque packages that the studios have latched onto as the definition of current horror. I want the fright, I want to sit glued to my seat both craving as much as dreading the next scare and tensing until my muscles hurt. What I don’t need to see someone being flayed alive while having their genitals shredded by ravenous dogs. I don’t want the dull brainless bombardment of gore in place of a story line. It’s not horror, it torture and it’s entirely different. It’s just lazy and insulting.

There was something surrounding the lead to Drag Me To Hell that told me to expect something different. Whether it be Sam Raimi’s return to what Sam Raimi does best or the kitsch factor of the trailers, I just couldn’t wait to see the movie and…I am happy to report that this this is the film I’ve been waiting for. Drag Me To Hell is an excellent demonstration of what can be achieved without resorting to the “torture porn” trapping of relying on vicious gore to get a reaction. It’s a return to the nostalgic glory days of fun horror flicks.

The plot:

The movie revolves around Christine played by Alison Lohman an ambitious loan officer who in an attempt to prove her back bone to her boss declines an extension on a mortgage to a mysterious and comically grotesque old woman. As dumb luck would have it, said old woman turns out to be a bitter and remarkably spry gypsy woman who places an evil curse on Christine, giving her only three tormented days to live before an evil spirit comes to claim her soul and as the title would suggest, drag her to hell.

With the assistance of her skeptical boyfriend played by Justin Long and a local seer, Christine sets about saving her soul from firey damnation by either reversing or breaking the curse. As evil forces close in, Christine must consider how far she is willing to go to break the spell.

Lohman’s timing is excellent however Justin Long is a little absent. It felt to me that he was only in the movie as the token name and he merely went through the paces as if to tick off another contractual obligation.

I’ll say it now Sam Raimi is a genius. “Genius” is the only explanation for the crafting of horror and comedy in such a flawless manner. As reviewer Mark Kermode put it Raimi manages the technique of build-up tension-boom-shriek- boom-laugh like no-one else.

The shocks start out immediately and continue at a steady pace thought the film. Without giving too much away, the first bottom raising scare comes about ten minutes in, following some preposition and the change of atmosphere in the cinema was palpable. People shifted in their seats, coughed uncomfortably, reached for the comfort of their sweetheart’s leg. I still have a pain in my face from squinting to hide behind my eye-lashes.

There is very little blood on screen and Raimi captures that elusive gem of great horror movies where your mind is convinced that it is seeing more that it actually is. Drag Me To Hell is the perfect mix of physical slapstick, dark humour and gagg-inducing ick, paying homage to Raimi’s early baby The Evil Dead while still being fresh and timely.

I came out of the screen hopping with excitement and wanting to go back in and see it all over again.

Oh yes, Sam Raimi is the man.