Perhaps one of the most dangerous possessions are grudges.
The past can be held in the hands of people you would never guess. Think you’re the nicest person you know? Think again. Even the best people are not immune to being taken down by an enemy for a slight against them. So when Christine Brown denied Mrs Ganush a third loan to pay off her house, she unconsciously started the path to her own torment. Be careful what you do to others; it can tear you apart later in the most horrific way possible.
Drag Me To Hell is a supernatural horror film by Sam Raimi, who brought us the classic horror franchise Evil Dead. In this film, Raimi performs his usual style of bloody violence, uneasy camera angles and dark comedy against the background of modern, middle-class America. No cabin in the woods or haunted mansion, just the idealistic scene of the working class being torn apart by an older woman’s torturous curse.
Christine Brown is a loan officer at her bank in the running to become assistant manager. Her only opponent is Stu, a new employee who has tempted the boss with his aggressive work ethic. In an attempt to secure the position, Christine denies Mrs Ganush a third loan on her house, throwing her into eviction. Ganush gets down on her knees and pleads, but to no avail, and curses Christine in pure rage with a lamia, a demon from Greek mythology. Christine has 3 days to appease the lamia and save her soul before getting pulled to Hell and tormented for all eternity. She’s accompanied by Clay Dalton, her professor boyfriend, and Rham Jas, a seer who offers her pathways to save her soul.
Alison Lohman plays Christine marvelously, with a level of sweetness that makes her character the perfect prey and final girl. You end up rooting for her, not for her ability (non-existent), but because she’s a person you genuinely want to see do well. Justin Long plays Clay and does an adequate job, but offers nothing special. Long is always a great addition to a film, but his performance here is nowhere on the level of his scenes in Zack and Miri or Walk Hard. Which is a bit of a shame seeing as all 3 are comedies on a certain level. Rham Jas is played by Dileep Rao, who performs the character with just the perfect tone – stiff yet peaceful, nailing the faux-spiritual act you usually see from yoga instructors or fortune tellers. You feel like his character is spouting rubbish, but know that any lead is a good lead.
The film is scattered with gory gags. From spitting blood over the manager to having an eye popping up in your dessert, you’ll find something to laugh at. I never thought I’d cackle so hard at an arm being shoved down a person’s throat, but Raimi always finds a way to make the horrific laughable.
Drag Me To Hell is a brilliant and bloody horror comedy that is sure to make you either laugh, squirm or tremble, with hilarious characters and revolting terror scenes. I’d even go as far as to call this film Sam Raimi’s finest horror film, even beating Evil Dead 2 and Army Of Darkness. If you want pure Raimi, this is the film you need to see.
Mason’s Rating: 5 Stars! Essential Viewing!
Mason Horsley is a graduate of UOW with a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Arts, majoring in Creative Writing and minoring in Theatre. He hopes to write and direct a feature film and has been working on screenplays since he was 17. He writes film reviews for the Tertangala and works on his latest project ‘The Last Film’ while working a full-time job at a fish market. Mason despises reviewing films he dislikes and because of this, every review he writes acts as a recommendation.
Image Credit: Ghost House Pictures