Drag Me to Hell


Title: Drag Me to Hell
Rating: 2/5
Genre: Horror
Starring: Alison Lohman
Director: Sam Raimi

There comes a moment when we are watching a film that we ask ourselves "What does the director want?" While I'm not a stranger to "Raimi", I truly found a mediocre achievement here. Girl lacks confidence in herself, girl tries to obtain higher position in the bank where she works, girl disappoints a gypsy old lady to prove she can make harsh decisions, girl gets cursed, and finally girl is expected to be dragged to Hell by big scary demon. "Lohman's" role was nothing short of the prototypical dramatic scream-queen. I am taking this film for what it is, and even for what it is I did see better works. The film ends up being silly, while good to startle you in some sudden scenes, it is by no means that horror films that it aspires to be.

Some lines in this film are just down to earth silly, which makes them funny, but funny can't always be a good thing. Sometimes they just ruin the moments. Combine that with bad acting and endless clichés, sometimes we just wonder if "Raimi" is trying to leave up to his old legacy by trying to duplicate it with new technology, or if he has lost that touch he had on "The Evil Dead" trilogy after moving to blockbuster area. Co-written with his brother "Ivan Raimi", we got this mix of corny melodrama, "Scary Movie" funny moments, and B-Horror experience. We see many moments, like the car fight scene, where we will notice "comedy" is forced upon us, but just ends up being gross. Sure, the best way to kick someone's ass is to suck his face with your toothless mouth. At other parts, like the grave fight with a corpse, not a zombie, a corpse, I felt I was overwhelmed with such a bad-ass heroine. I felt I was watching a ridiculous horror flick "Alone in The Dark"; only what eased the situation for me was that I have seen "Evil Dead" before.

While with a better actress film would have been better, "Lohman" was one of the weakest points of this film. While I don't expect high intelligence in such films, or I high degree of acting, I truly found her dump. But I won't discredit the film. Some moments the whole comedy/horror mix worked, it even startled a friend of mine who was watching with me. I enjoyed the special effects, it was really well done, especially the shadowy demon thing. It was disgusting and some parts because it worked to disgust. The high-tech that was used to bring this film raised its marks, but also lowered them. The whole cult feeling that we got in previous films disappeared. While all the events were going around, I believe the focus was a bit diverted. While I do enjoy that a film would make laugh for what is happening, I don't enjoy a film trying to make me laugh be covering up what's happening.

This wasn't completely a bad film. We can see "Sam Riami" trying to return to his old style, but after being completely spoiled by the whole blockbuster world, I feel it's going to be hard. This was a cool midnight film to watch after a long and tiring day. Don't try to think hard about it, your conclusion won't be that praise-worthy. I put it on not expecting what would I have, but I got what I got, a below average attempt of retaining older glory. The film got lots of praise, but I'm not moving this way just to be against the stream. It was fun to watch, even if it was silly. I had "Riami" in my mind, but there were too many flaws that I just couldn't ignore.

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