REELGUY'S DVD REVIEW:
"Drag Me to Hell" does not live up to its namesake
Maine Connection (new feature): Stephen King wrote a short story called “Thinner” about another gypsy curse, which was turned into a movie in 1996. Many of the scenes were shot in the Camden-Rockport area of Maine. I stood in line to be an extra for the film but didn’t get a part. I guess I didn’t look gypsy enough.
The creators of the "Evil Dead" franchise, which launched Sam and Ivan Raimi's movie careers, return to the genre which made them famous with "Drag Me to Hell." This much-hyped return to form by director Sam Raimi, shot between his adventures with Spider-man, is surprisingly anti-climactic. While "Drag Me to Hell" is a solid film with some sudden frights and a well-reasoned story, it does not stand-out amongst its modern contemporaries. Lacking the wit of the "Evil Dead" movies while relying a little too much on the same campy camera-work, the film will fail to stay with people. While star Alison Lohman ("Flicka") gives the best scream performance she can, the lack of interest with the rest of the cast and the failure to redefine the gypsy curse storyline are the glaring weaknesses of this picture.
Lohman is Christine Brown, a successful loan officer at a bank with a serious boyfriend in Clay (Justin Long; "He's Just Not That Into You") and a bright future. An old woman comes in one day asking for a loan extension on her home, which is in foreclosure (a very contemporary plot point). Receiving pressure from her boss, Christine denies the extension. The old lady puts a gypsy curse on her. In three days, hell will open up and swallow Christine. She begins seeing strange shadows around her and hearing funny voices. Christine seeks the help of a fortune-teller, who may be able to exorcise the curse from Christine before the third day is over; if she does not go insane first.
The special effects are well-incorporated into the movie, not overwhelming the audience's more primal fear of the unknown. The shadows which seep in around the edges of the room are the most terrifying things in the picture, if you do not include the surprisingly spirited old gypsy. Lohman really gets into her character as she goes from sweet corporate-climber, trying to prove herself, to crazy and terrified survivor willing to do anything to save herself. The oral fixation that writer Ivan and director Sam apparently have becomes overwhelmingly apparent as blood spurts out of noses and vomit gushes out of corpses' mouths. If the sequences were funny or scary this could be forgiven but most of the time they are only gross.
The real disappointment in the picture is the boyfriend, Clay, who is in half the scenes but with very little to do or add to the story. Long acted much more natural and played a more intrinsic role in his other horror picture, "Jeepers Creepers," than here. None of the rest of the cast really creates much of an impression. This is Christine's picture and she fights and scraps to an entertaining level. But much of the same gypsy curse ground is covered by Stephen King's "Thinner," with few minor differences. Other than a handful of frights and a startling finale, Drag Me To Hell does not live up to its namesake.
Rated PG-13 for sequences of horror violence, terror, disturbing images and language.
