Thursday, June 18, 2009

Drag Me to Hell: A Horror Film as Literal as its Title


I remember being a freshman in college and reading Emily Dickenson's masterful poem about a fly. I never looked at a fly the same again. Now there's Sam Raimi's extremely entertaining Drag Me to Hell, which offers up a whole new reason to look at a fly differently. This is exactly what summer movies should be: exciting, unapologetic, genuine, and fun. This is the type of movie I have in mind when I want to go to a movie on a summer afternoon. Like a 90 minute walk through a masterfully constructed funhouse Drag Me to Hell is the most fun I've had at a horror film in a long, long time.

Raimi has a lot of fun with the genre he so obviously loves (and owes a great deal to), and seems so comfortable helming another horror film that Drag Me to Hell could be called Evil Dead 4, with the sweet-faced Alison Lohman (always looking too young for the part, no matter what film she's in) playing the role of Ash, the character made famous by Bruce Campbell in Raimi's Evil Dead series. But more on that later...

The plot is simple, which is the way it should be when you're going to a horror film, and reminded me a lot of the old horror films of the 40's and 50's (I'm thinking specifically of Val Lewton's films and Robert Wise's The Haunting). Christine Brown (Lohman) is a loan manager at a small bank branch. She is jockeying for an Assistant Manage position with a suck up names Stu. In order to impress her bank manager (played by the always great David Paymer) she tries to show him that she can take the initiative on loan cases and prove to him that she has the nerve to turn people down. Unfortunately for Christine her next customer is an old woman named Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver) who obviously has some issues and is in desperate need of a third loan or else she'll lose her house.

Despite the initial sweetness of the old woman Christine, trying to make a name for herself, denies the old woman a third loan and this sets off a scene of awkwardness that just spirals into downright lunacy. And I mean that as a compliment. This basically kick starts the plot at Christine is attacked in the parking garage of her business by Mrs. Ganush who steals a button off of Christine's jacket, and proceeds to curse it. What follows are three hellish days of non-stop torment and weird goings-on that are filmed with the glee of a director who seems to be happy and having fun in the genre that made him the star director he is today.

I dare not give away how any of the scenes play out, or the direction the film takes after a weird seance...but I will say that for any fan of the genre (or any astute viewer) you'll catch the clues rather easily; and that's because Raimi makes no qualms about the fact that he's not trying to shock us as viewers, he's just trying to give us a good time. This is a horror film in every sense of what the genre was intended to be: fun, scary, exhilarating, and a good time at the movies. And what a relief that it is for a film of this nature. Too often these days horror directors are overly concerned with shocking the viewer or trying to keep them guessing until the big swerve at the end...which usually just makes us scratch our heads. Raimi and his brother Ivan who helped write the script don't waste any time in the movie: they show you what's going to be scary and what's going to jump out at you, and then they execute the action...brilliantly I might add.

They also create a character in Christine who is perfect for this kind of film. Like Ash, she's an innocent enough person who gets placed smack in the middle of a supernatural world she tries to understand. As I mentioned before this could have been the fourth installment of Evil Dead, with Christine as the Ash character. I love the willingness she displays in going to psychics who exist in those buildings where they know just where to find the book to answer inquiries about animal sacrifices in order to revers a curse. Christine is a flawed person, too. She's not the innocent or virgin type character we get in most horror films where we feel bad for being entertained by all of these bad things that are happening to this poor innocent person. Like Ash, these bad things just keep happening to her because she happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,and the result is the same kind of entertaining torment that Ash went thought; and it works because Raimi is never malicious towards his main protagonist...those are just the breaks when you become cursed and find yourself in a battle with the supernatural.

I also like how her boyfriend Clay (Justin Long), a professor of psychology, is that typical character who only believes in reason, and therefore is ill equipped to help Christine out because it all just doesn't make sense. These types of disbelieving characters are found in all kinds of these supernatural films, and Long's performance hits all the right notes needed for this kind of character.

Raimi and co. have some fun with genre tropes: false scares (who knew a handkerchief could be so scary), headache-inducing sound, and lots and lots of projectile goo, blood, maggots...you name it, Raimi does it. Raimi also continues his fascination with mixing horror and slapstick humor. There's a scene towards the end that seems right out of Evil Dead 2 or Army of Darkness where Christine is fighting with handkerchief (it'll make sense once you see the movie) and the little piece of linen squeals and cries out in pain when it's ripped in half. Raimi has always been indebted to the Three Stooges, and just like the fight scene between Ash and his hand in Evil Dead 2.

The film is like a masterfully constructed funhouse: for 90 minutes every askew perspective provides an eerie feeling that something is about to scare us, and ever corner we turn there's something else that jumps out at us. We expect to jump and scream and have fun...that's why we paid the price of admission. Raimi uses shadow and sound masterfully throughout the film. Just like in his previous horror films he's instituting the tropes of the horror films that thrilled him no doubt when he was younger. These are films like Cat People, The Haunting, anything with Vincent Price in it, and any other low budget horror film where the filmmakers had to think of creative ways to make their films not look cheap and still scare people. There were a lot of moments in Drag Me to Hell that made me smile because Raimi understands this better than most horror filmmakers today.

Drag Me to Hell is, to put it rather plainly, a whole lot of fun. Raimi films certain scenes with the same frenetic energy and glee found in his Evil Dead series. It reaffirms my belief that all horror doesn't have to leave you cold and depressed. And when that ending happens, and boy does it happen, and the title card is plastered up on the screen a second time, I couldn't help but let out a deep breath and laugh -- the kind of out-of-breath elation synonymous with the feeling of getting off a roller coaster. And that's what I'm talking about when I talk about how fun horror can be, by the time I got home and started thinking about what I wanted to write for this review, I was ready to get right back in line.

8 comments

  1. "Raimi and co. have some fun with genre tropes: false scares (who knew a handkerchief could be so scary), headache-inducing sound, and lots and lots of projectile goo, blood, maggots...you name it, Raimi does it. Raimi also continues his fascination with mixing horror and slapstick humor."

    "The film is like a masterfully constructed funhouse: for 90 minutes every askew perspective provides an eerie feeling that something is about to scare us, and ever corner we turn there's something else that jumps out at us. We expect to jump and scream and have fun...that's why we paid the price of admission. Raimi uses shadow and sound masterfully throughout the film. Just like in his previous horror films he's instituting the tropes of the horror films that thrilled him no doubt when he was younger."

    Yes indeed, both of these passages are wonderfully stated! This is the second review of this film I've read in the last 24 hours, and both have been exceptional.

    I like that "fly" lead-in and it's more profound than my own anecdote which has to do with the Vincent Price film, which forever changed my own view of a fly! That buzzing terrified me as a child! ha!

    I like the use of the word "funhouse" and the proposal that this could well be called EVIL DEAD 4 in style. I agree that there is indeptedness to Val Lewton and Robert Wise's THE HAUNTING, which of course ar eprime examples of suggestive horror.

    And you are quite right methinks to assert that this film is hardly a mystery, and that Raimi is out to give a good time. I do think that hair-raising sequence at the gravesite near the end of the film was one of Raimi's all-time greatest set pieces--it's perfectly lit and choreographed and it's deliriously terrifying. Mrs. ganush is one of the great Raimi characters and Ms. Lohman gives a first-rate performance as Christine.

    And Kevin I know well the desire to get on line again immediately for something that entertains supremely.

    Your passion in this great review is palpable. And I love the film myself.

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  2. Sam:

    You sir are too kind! Haha. Thanks for those kind words. I too love the set piece towards the end in the graveyard. It's one of those great moments where things just keep getting worse, and the absurdity of it all makes for a scene that evokes terror and laughs.

    I thought of the funhouse metaphor during the first "intrusion" scene where Christine is in the kitchen and every time she turns around the camera moves with her and there's something else popping up at the screen trying to get a reaction out of the viewer. It's a great moment in the film, and in my opinion, evident of the glee Raimi and his brother had while making this film.

    Thanks for the wonderful comment, Sam.

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  3. I also want to add that I love how Raimi doesn't use silence in the film to try and ratchet up false suspense. I love the scene where Christine is looking out the window at the gate, and when the gate swings back and closes that's when we see the shadow figure jump at her. Most directors would try to milk that scene until it becomes parody, but Raimi just wants to scare us. He keeps loud sounds off camera throughout in order to evoke terror, and that score with the strings is just great stuff for this type of horror film.

    I also like how he had some fun with the obvious product placement in the film. I especially loved this line: "Oooh American Express platinum. Nice." As the camera gets a good shot of the credit card. I also laughed at the extreme close-ups of the iPhone. Anyway...another element that added to the fun that permeates through every frame of this movie.

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  4. I would say, "Amen," but that somehow just feels positively wrong for this film.

    Nevertheless, a terrific piece, Kevin. As Sam notes, every line is wringing with passion and honesty, which are never in short supply here.

    Have I mentioned that I adore this film? Easily one of the best films of the year.

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  5. Kevin: Nice review. Sam says it best: "Your passion in this great review is palpable." Fun film. Fun read.

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  6. Alexander:

    Ha! An "amen" here would seem quite odd. I'm glad you love the film so much. And I'm with ya: this might be one of my favorites of the year.

    Jason:

    Always a pleasure to see your name pop up in the comments! Thanks so much for stopping by and supplying such a wonderful compliment. I had fun watching it and I fun writing about it...so I'm glad other people had fun reading about it!

    Thanks again.

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  7. Just now getting a chance to read your review -- it just goes to show that I need to type my thoughts up much faster when we go to the movie together, lest it looks like I stole from your review! You had this published 2 hours after the movie was over -- I'm impressed.

    So with that in mind, I think it's obvious that you and I are on the same page about most of the salient points. I liked your comparison to the Lewton horror films, as that seems very apt, and that's a comparison that I hadn't necessarily thought of. Raimi, for as much as a CGI fan as he is and for as much as he uses it, really leaves the majority of the "scares" to simple, old-fashioned tricks that the low-budget guys were doing years ago.

    One other thing -- I just noticed that Raimi's IMDB page shows a remake of The Evil Dead has been announced, so perhaps he's trying to get back to the style that made him famous to begin with (although Spiderman 4 is also shown as being in the pipeline). Now, where's my Darkman remake!

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  8. I'm SO there for a Darkman remake. Let's call Kyle...I'm sure Larry Drake needs some work!

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