Drag Me To Hell - Review

Director: Sam Raimi
Writers: Sam Raimi/Ivan Raimi
Starring: Alison Lohman/Justin Long
Runtime: 1 hr 39 minutes

This is the horror movie I've been waiting for. Funny. Silly. Moderately gross. Fun. Fun. Fun.

In this flick, Sam Raimi shucks his Spider-Man cloak and goes old school, back to his early days of directing spooky horror flicks that contain enough thrills and gags to put the girlfriend in your lap and laughter in your mouth.

It's been a long time since I clapped during a movie. I probably clapped a half-dozen times during this one: "I can't believe he just did that." Hilarious.

The movie's about Christine Brown, a loan officer at a small bank. A gypsy woman comes in and wants an extension on her loan before she loses her house. Christine, bucking for a promotion, decides to prove she's a hardball banker. She turns the gypsy woman down. So the gypsy woman curses her to three days of torment before a demon will come and drag her into a pit of eternal fire and damnation.

Wow. Maybe Raimi was looking to give homeowners some catharsis in tough economic times. "Take my house? Burn in hell. Literally." Take that, AIG.

The movie's story is as thin as paper, but it doesn't matter. It's all been done before. Why anyone would anger a gypsy woman is beyond me, because we all know that anyone with a glass eye and missing teeth is in league with the devil. The devil, of course, must be short of cash because gypsy women can't afford anything better than a rundown fixer upper from hell. But just try to take that fixer upper away...

There's a number of great scenes in this movie. The fight scene (yes, fight scene) between Christine and the gypsy woman is an insta-classic. It reminded me of how fun Sam Raimi used to make his horror flicks. Another scene where a tormented Christine visits her fiance's parents is a beauty.

When Raimi can't scare you, he goes for the gross out. Watch out for a few scenes involving maggots, worms, a decidedly unappetizing cake, and a kitten. A kitten? "I can't believe he just did that." The movie even has a seance and a talking goat. A talking goat? Come on, you know it's gotta be a good scene (Raimi fans will like the sound effects in the scene; the voice sounds a lot like the voices from Evil Dead).

For a modern day horror flick, the body count in this movie is ridiculously low. Raimi proves you don't need ten teenagers and a machete to scare people. The cast is small and all of them are good actors. The lighting is sparse. The visual effects are good. This is a stripped down flick that moves along so quickly you could be forgiven for thinking it's one of the previews.

This is a good, fun horror movie. See it.