Eddie Reviews "Drag Me to Hell"
Saw this movie with Paris on Friday night and had a great time.
Really fun absurd, over-the-top horror/comedy in typical Raimi style, if slightly toned down. Our friend Eddie (who I assume a large number of you have met through Sammy) writes reviews for Examiner.com. See what he thought here and share your thoughts if you’ve seen it, ummm, here…
Comments
Yea this was a feel-good theatre-going movie. There were plenty of jumpy moments. And yes, the sheer ridiculousness of some of the scenes were extremely laughable.
Jay had pointed out how essential it was to have the kind of packed, vocal, immature crowd that we had sitting with us in the theatre.
I love Sam Raimi’s movies but I hate (HATE!!!!) PG-13 horror. So I’m torn on this one. If it’s got lots of scary jump out of your seat moments of surprise then I can get behind it.
I too hate PG-13 horror and this film feel like a PG-13 horror movie to me. Maria and I saw it yesterday and both enjoyed it quite a bit. I’m kind of torn about the evil dead-esque elements in the movie. I love the evil dead series, with the jiggling, laughing furniture and levitating possessed people, but I think that Raimi could have explored different ways of portraying those elements in this film. Borrowing a little too much from his past films is the only “un-creative” thing about this movie.
I thought it was awesome. Really charming how Raimi seemed obsessed with trying to provoke laughter and gasps in equal measure… it was pure goofy, cotton candy entertainment. I yelped a few times, laughed a hell of a lot, and made gross out “ewww” noises too. That’s about the best praise I can give anything. The audience reacted loudly, too.
I often dislike PG-13 horror, but think the rating works in its favor, it actually keeps things from feeling a little lazy. Raimi gets to figure out a bunch of other disgusting body fluids that you’d hate to have spill in your mouth.
I like that you spend every single scene with the main character and see every other character (including stupid Justin Long) as either uncomfortable or flat-out unlikeable. By the end, you’re sorta rooting for this poor girl who’s getting hemmed in by a bunch of people that want to control or suppress her.
The movie has its flaws. There’s a few things he’s pulling very directly from the Evil Dead films, but I guess you could argue that his giggling, dancing undead follow their own set of rules like Romero’s zombies. It’s not perfect, but it’s certainly not boring. Which is not something I can say about anything else I’ve seen in the last couple months.
Kev, go see it. Even if the PG-13 spooks don’t work on you, you can still have a good time. Most of the movie’s joy seems to be in the careful pacing and comic timing.
Thanks, Justin. Your opinions on horror movies seem to run pretty much parallel to mine a lot of the time so I’ll take this as a solidly reliable recommendation.
I too hate PG-13 horror and this film feel like a PG-13 horror movie to me.
Whoops:
I too hate PG-13 horror and this film doesn’t feel like a PG-13 horror movie to me.