Review - Drag Me To Hell (SPOILERS) | ryuuzaki's Blog

It's been a while since I saw anything at the cinema, so I though I should write a little review of Drag Me To Hell.  Be warned, there will be some spoilers so please don't read this review if you intend to see the film for yourself.

After a brief flashback at the start where we see a young boy dragged to hell by unseen demons after a gypsy curse is placed on him, the film introduces us to a young woman named Christine.  Christine works as a loan officer for a bank and is currently trying to get promoted to become the assistant manager over her more aggressive rival, Stu.  Trying to seem like she is a 'stronger' person, when an elderly gypsy woman comes in and asks for a third extension on the repayment of her mortgage, Christine tells the woman that this will be impossible. 

Declaring that Christine has "shamed" her, the gypsy lady (who's name is Sylvia Ganush) leaves, but later attacks Christine as she's getting to her car after work.  After a brilliantly comic fight sequence, Sylvia manages to pull a button off Christine's coat and sets a curse on it before pressing the button into the palm of Christine's hand.  A few trips to a medium and a visitation from a violent spirit later, and Christine discovers the nature of this curse.  An evil spirit called the Lamia has been summoned and if she doesn't find a way to appease it within three days it will drag her soul to Hell.

What did I think about Drag Me To Hell?  I thought that it was the best thing that Sam Raimi has brought us since Evil Dead II.  Actually, Evil Dead II provides a good comparison to Drag Me To Hell as both contain the same kind of horror mixed with black comedy.  Although not as gory as Evil Dead II, Drag Me to Hell contained some genuine jump-out-of-your seat moments, even though the film was not frightening in itself.

Yeah, the plot's been done before.  The whole 'gypsy curse' motif is explored in almost exactly the same way in Stephen King's Thinner.  If I had to find problems with this movie, I'd probably criticize the fact that all the jumpy bits come so thick and fast that there's really no tension or build-up to anything.  The ending twist, also is fairly obvious.  I'm so mean that I'd give it away, but there is one particular moment about fifteen minutes from the end of the film where you just thing "ah yeah - that's how they're going to end it".  I also found Christine to be a fairly unsympathetic character.  She mistreated an old lady to get a promotion and murders a kitten.  As far as horror movies go, that's practically like signing your own death-sentence!

On the upside, as I said, the movie was done very, very well.  The fact that you only ever (fully) see the goat-like Lamia when it's possessing someone was a great idea as it saved from the audience having to suffer through some lame, CGI monster.  Justin Long and Dileep Rao were also brilliant in their respective roles as Christine's boyfriend and the medium that she goes to visit.

Unlike most of the movies that I've reviewed for my blog, I genuinely enjoyed every minute of Drag Me To Hell.  For fans of horror movies, it's definitely one to watch.