I've never considered myself a fan of horror, yet for some niggling reason Drag Me to Hell managed to capture my interest from the first trailer I saw. So much so that I decided to see a midnight showing of it. As it turns out, I made a great decision.Drag Me to Hell (DMtH) is Sam Raimi's time directing a horror film since the 1980s, and it was certainly a much-needed return to his roots after the failure that was Spider-Man 3. Raimi probably had the most fun he'd had in years making this film. Good for him (and also the audience).
The premise of the film one can easily get from the trailers, but what you don't get is just how fun the film actually is. Not only is it genuinely frightening, it's also chock-full of comic relief and campy moments, which serve to alleviate the shock value of certain scenes. The plot is rather basic, but for what it's worth, Raimi makes it work quite well and manages to throw in quite a few unexpected things.
Probably the biggest flaw is the film's score. It's rather generic, filled with the usual sounds that would accompany a horror film. It suddenly gets loud when something is supposed to scare you, it becomes foreboding when necessary, etc. In fact, that many times the score caused me to begin anticipating that something surprising was going to be thrown at us, and as a result I didn't jump in surprise along with the rest of the audience. Still, I jumped plenty of times while watching this, and I was shaking in my seat towards the end. The guys sitting in front of me made the midnight showing worthwhile. Their ongoing commentary was almost as entertaining as the film itself.
The best part, though, is the ending. Of course, we all know what was going to happen to Christine, but how it happened was undeniably clever. Christine's reaction when she realized she hadn't avoided the inevitable after all is worth the price of admission.
When it all comes down to it, DMtH is a very good horror flick. It does what it set out to do very, very well. Best viewed at night, obviously, and along with an audience.
(out of 5)
2 comments:
Yeah, this is another one I have to see sometime (don't know why I've been neglecting to see this one....). From the sound of things I think it'll be a movie I'm really going to like. Not only because of Sam Raimi and the fact that your description of the good comic relief and campiness to go along with the shockingly dark and disturbing horror that I consider to be his trademark as a film director, but the idea of the story being one that is more interesting to see how things happen rather than what actually happens is really appealing to me as well.
Unfortunately probably the only thing that probably goes against me in seeing it is the fact that it's been out long enough that I'll probably not get a show with a good crowd. :C I know exactly what you mean by the audience enhancing the experience though. Not only have I been apart of that on numerous occasions but I've also experienced it a bunch of times as well. Like when me and my dad went to go see Remember the Titans back when I was in Jr. High and some of the high school students were in this group down close to the front where they were cheering on the Titans in that championship game like they were apart of the crowd. That was awesome! XD
Ah man, that Remember the Titans moment. Wish I could have had an experience like that. I first saw it on a plane back when we were moving from Germany back to the states several years ago. Great movie, but of course people weren't cheering on the Titans or anything like that. :)
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