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Drag yourselves to ‘Hell’
Just because this blog has been all Up in Pixar lately doesn’t mean that’s the only good new movie out there.
Almost as entertaining as Up is Drag Me to Hell, director Sam Raimi’s wild return to the kind of horror/comedy flicks he cut his teeth on, like Evil Dead and its follow-ups. Just when it looked like PG-13 horror has run its course, Raimi comes back and shows all the pretenders how it’s done.
Granted, this isn’t a relatively bloodless shocker like The Ring. From the moment the 70’s-era Universal logo comes on screen, it’s clear this is Raimi’s tribute to schlock cinema, and I would argue that it’s much better than what Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino came up with in Grindhouse.
It’s not so much a straight horror movie as it is a thriller with a plethora of nudges and winks, but that makes it all the more enjoyable. After all, how many non-animated movies do you see where a goat gets dialogue? Regular readers of this blog will notice I’m not much of a horror fan, but I am when it’s executed with this kind of verve and imagination. (And as far as representations of Hell go, the movie is also much more convincing than Angels & Demons.)
It helps that Raimi cast someone I wanted to root for. Alison Lohman is nothing if not a trooper in her role of a loan officer who refuses an extension to a scary-looking hag, only to find the hag has, um … connections to the underworld. Lohman had a good streak going for awhile with fine work in Matchstick Men, White Oleander and Big Fish before a series of poor choices tossed her back under the radar. I hope she can sustain the momentum this movie ought to give her.
The movie is nice career resuscitation for Raimi too. The Spider-Man movies have done very well for him, but he was clearly burnt out when he made the very uneven third movie. Drag Me to Hell allows him to kick back and cut loose, and he does so with style. (And just about the loudest soundtrack I’ve ever heard - parts of the movie are loud enough to make even Michael Bay wince.)
I was a little distressed to learn the movie opened a little less well than other horror offerings this year, like The Haunting in Connecticut and The Unborn - two movies I’ll wager most people will forget by October. Granted, Drag Me to Hell isn’t the kind of movie that lingers long in the memory either, but like a good thrill ride, it’s a lot of fun while it lasts.
GRADE: B+
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