The lasting cult of Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead trilogy leads to
Drag Me to Hell, a return to the energetic horror-comic style
the filmmaker helped innovate. It’s weird in execution: Not an Evil
Dead movie, but it frequently behaves exactly like one: The
gore-gags were edgier before CG was involved. And though Drag Me to
Hell (from the late-’80s Universal logo that opens it) is a
throwback rather than the next wave of horror it’s hyped as being, it’s
an enjoyable reunion.
Bank loan officer Christine (Alison Loham) makes the acknowledged
faux-pas of not granting a mortgage payment extension to an elderly
gypsy with one glowing eye. She is instantly cursed. The buckets of
blood that established the first two Evil Deads as ultra-violent
slapstick are complimented with other bodily grue. Raimi’s delirious
setups (the best of them set in a parking garage) follow jump scenes
with sights like a toothless woman biting Christine’s chin. Drag Me
to Hell delivers the predictable jumps, and then always a
punchline.
It’s outside of the giddy scare moments that Raimi doesn’t keep
things elevated. His dialogue scenes are as routinely shot as they were
in Spider-Man 3. This movie has a simple story to its favour,
but it would have been more fun if Sam andbrother/co-writer Ivan Raimi
had more fully developed their lead. Lohman’s approachable charm (deep
eyes, toothy smile–a nerd’s fantasy) makes up for her not being much
of an actress. Yet Drag Me to Hell is missing the backstory to
give her infernal struggle deeper conflict and payoff. Calling this a
morality tale about career ethics is stretching things.
Like others who spent chunks of childhood browsing video stores,
Evil Dead 2 awakened something in my junior high-aged mind (in
the early ’90s, the VHS wasn’t available for sale, but I rented that
tape repeatedly). Drag Me to Hell hasn’t the inspiration or
freshness to have that kind of impact. Still, it should become a
Halloween staple. Raimi replaces the sadistic wave of torture in recent
horror movies, giving Christine’s torment the spook-show spirit missing
from the genre for years. If it’s not a classic, it’s at least the most
rewatchable Tales From the Crypt episode.
This article appears in Jun 4-10, 2009.