When I made the decision to stop reviewing mainstream movies and shift my focus to covering smaller films, I did so because I thought there were a lot of pictures out there that were being missed by audiences simply because they didn’t know these films existed.

When Spiderman premiered in 2002, Sam Raimi instantly became a household name.  Everyone wanted to know where this director who had such a knack for vibrant, kinetic visuals came from.  To most Raimi was a complete unknown before getting behind the camera to helm the ongoing adventures of everyone’s favorite web-slinger.  For a few of us however, Raimi had already given us a superhero years earlier and that hero’s name was Ash Williams.

Evil Dead II is the epitome of a cult film.  I first heard about it from a friend of a friend whose older brother had a bootleg of the movie.  I remember being hunkered down in a suburban basement with a group of fellow film buffs watching a warped VHS dub as we all vied for space around the nineteen-inch television screen.

What I saw that day changed my perception of movies forever.  Here was a film that was both frightening and funny in a way that had only been hinted at in movies like A Nightmare On Elm Street.  These seemingly disparate elements were blended with a ragged energy that I’d never experienced before.  Even more profound was the realization that the filmmaker was having fun.  Raimi’s enthusiasm was apparent on every frame as he gleefully put Bruce Campbell through the wringer again and again. 

I think the Evil Dead trilogy benefitted from being homemade movies with an underground following because it allowed Raimi to make them the way he wanted to without worrying about things like market demographics or test screenings.

The reason I bring all this up is because Drag Me To Hell is Raimi returning to his roots.  It is in essence an indie film made by a man who no longer has to scrounge to create his art, but understands the value of doing things on your own terms.

Spoilers Ahead

Our story opens with a young boy who has been cursed for stealing a necklace from a gypsy’s wagon.  The child’s family brings him to a healer who attempts to rid him of his affliction, but ultimately she is unable to stop the wheels already set in motion and watches helplessly as the child is hurled around the room by an unseen force and dragged to the fiery depths below through a large hole in the floor.

We fast forward many years later where loan officer Christine Brown, played by Alison Lohman, is angling for a promotion, but is told by her boss Mr. Jacks that she’s too easy on the hard-luck cases that come into the bank.  Christine assures Jacks that she can “make the tough decisions” and proceeds to demonstrate by denying an elderly, bedraggled gypsy named Mrs. Ganush, played brilliantly by Lorna Raver, an extension on her mortgage.

Ganush pleads with Christine, but she refuses to acquiesce and when the old woman starts getting physical Brown calls in security, which shames Ganush and causes her to curse Brown, though only through the use of garbled profanities.

Later as Christine’s leaving work Ganush confronts her again in the parking garage and the two proceed to have a knockdown, drag-out fight, which ends with Ganush cursing Christine again, this time with the gypsy variety.

Christine is understandably shaken by the encounter and goes with her boyfriend, played by Justin Long, to a fortuneteller to assuage her fears.  Unfortunately the mystic confirms Ganush’s curse and says that Christine has been marked by the Lamia who will come to collect her soul in three days.

What follows is a series of torments that only Raimi could devise. 

Always a fan of using everyday objects to make the familiar frightening, the director gives Christine no quarter as the items in her house all conspire to plunge her into ever deepening levels of terror.  Raimi’s love of gross-out effects also comes into play during several cringe inducing moments that’ll make you want to avoid eating any big meals before viewing the movie, especially after learning that the production used actual creepy crawlers rather than CGI insects for the various hordes and swarms.

One of the other hallmarks of this film is the comedy.  Many of the most intense scenes are laced with moments of hilarity that cause you to drop your guard just long enough to get the daylights scared out of you a second later.  This dark humor also provides some wonderful character development as the tension mounts and desperation makes our protagonist do things she would normally never consider.

The supernatural disturbances continue to escalate and Christine eventually employs the help of the fortuneteller and his associate, the healer from the beginning, to help rid her of the curse.  The healer tells Christine that she will let the Lamia possess her and then pass the demon’s spirit into a ritual animal, in this case a goat, which will then be slaughtered thereby lifting the curse.  Needless to say, things don’t go according to plan.

I won’t reveal any more, as the ending to this film really needs to be experienced without any foreknowledge of the events. What I will say is that I thoroughly enjoyed the conclusion and everything that preceded it.  This film frightened and entertained without resorting to the myriad of modern Horror clichés that I personally believe have been degrading the genre in recent years and for that alone it should be applauded.

Fans of Rami’s early films won’t be disappointed.  Had Bruce Campbell been in the lead role it would’ve almost certainly been branded as the fourth installment in the Evil Dead series.  Personally I’m glad that wasn’t the case as Lohman did a tremendous job and really gave us something new to enjoy through her performance.

Overall I give Drag Me To Hell five out of five feathers.

If you like Horror films or good cinema in general, then you owe it to yourself to see this movie. 

I guarantee you’ll laugh yourself silly when you aren’t jumping out of your seat in fright.

-Quoth the Raven

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