Ernest reviews Drag Me to Hell

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Guest Blogger review: Ernest reviews Drag Me to Hell

12 June 2009No CommentPosted by Phil

Editor's note: Thanks to Ernest, occasional NFD contributor, we have a review from Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell which premiered just about two weeks ago. Please enjoy his article!

In the year 2009 Sam Raimi has returned to horror with Drag Me to Hell but would it be worth the wait. How would Raimi's slapstick, creepy, bloody "B" movie style fit in with the remake plague public, would they accept something that's not remade, rebooted, repackaged or regurgitated. Also, how would the die-heart fans react to a new horror film from Raimi, under a rated PG-13 tag? Let's see how well we can get answers to some of these questions.

The story is fairly simple, lead character Christine (Alison Lohman),a loan officer, denies an old woman for a third extension for her house mortgage, mostly because Lohman wants to impress her boss and be promoted to assistant manager. The elderly woman happened to be an evil gypsy who puts a curse on Lohman, making her life a living nightmare. For the rest of the film we follow Lohman as she tries to rid the curse away from her life once and for all.

For me, one of the biggest issue with Drag Me to Hell was the lack of tension. I can't understand why horror movies of this decade have the same error, take away Haute Tension (2003) and I'll be here for week trying to come up with another film. Raimi would set-up a tense moment then with a blink of an eye it's on to a new scene almost dismissing the impact of the previous scene. Not only does this become a tension killer, but after awhile it grows into a somewhat boring experience for the audience. I also can't ignore the PG-13 rating because it DOES hurt the movie. When the fun starts to pick up, it can only go so far giving the impression that the makers are working with a safety net.

End result, Sam Raimi didn't fully embrace his roots. The film was too polish, too neat and yes at times too damn predicable. I'll give him points for some cool moments such as, the fly scene, the parking lot showdown, bleeding of the nose and for at least trying to go for a haunted atmosphere. It's also nice to get an original score from Christopher Young instead of the usual trendy play-list from an I-Pod.

6/10, Drag Me to Hell needed colorful gore with a pedal to metal mentality, from the start to the end. Rather than giving the public a neat, safe, slow moving horror movie. Cute but far from classic.

-Ernest