You won't eat cake again after watching this! (Drag Me To Hell (DVD))

Member Name: FairyG

Product:	Drag Me To Hell (DVD)
Date:	20/06/09 (77 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Makes you jump. It's fun, over the top horror.

Disadvantages: Full of horror cliches. Might not be scary enough for some people.

Sam Raimi has returned to traditional supernatural horror with a film that makes cinema audiences jump in their seats, shout out loud in shock and groan with revulsion. Final Destination had a similar effect, but it's hard to think of a film since that's generated a reaction on that level.

The opening titles give a fair warning of what to expect. DRAG ME TO HELL is splashed across the screen in garish white lettering accompanied by a melodramatic soundtrack, reminiscent of 1960's style B movies. It's a warning that there will be no effort at subtlety in this film. And there isn't.

Raimi has incorporated the four main themes (as defined by Wikipedia) of films about horror of the demonic: the idea of vengeance; the corruption of the innocent; mystic phenomena, particularly possession; and an emphasis on Christian symbology.

They're all in here, particularly the first three, and the innocent about to be corrupted is Christine Brown (Alison Lohman), a nice girl from the country who works in a bank as a loans consultant. She is hoping for promotion, but there's competition, and she's warned by her boss she'll need to show she can make tough decisions to get the position. As the men treat her like the office tea girl, she begins to realize she's a bit too much of a pushover and maybe lacks the competitive edge to get the position she wants. In a fateful effort to show her toughness, she refuses a loan extension to Mrs Ganush (Lorna Raver) an elderly woman about to lose her home.

The furious Mrs Ganush takes her revenge by putting the curse of the Lamia on the hapless Christine and from then on, she seems to be haunted by an evil spirit. Christine's loving boyfriend Clay (Justin Long) is sympathetic but not convinced it's anything supernatural. In desperation she turns to psychic Ram Jas (Dileep Rao) who warns her that her soul is damned unless she can reverse the curse. But can the timid Christine do what it takes?

Alison Lohman strikes just the right note as the hapless Christine. She bears a strong resemblance to Kirsten Dunst in the Spiderman films in both looks and personality. Maybe that's no coincidence as Raimi also directed Spider Man. She's the nice-girl-next-door type who truly doesn't deserve everything that's happening to her. In between being scared, she also manages to be funny, although without entering into the parodic style of Scream. The humour in this film is more understated and is there just as an odd moment of welcome light relief for the audience.

Lorna Raver is truly repulsive as the malevolent Mrs Ganush and she is the one who generates many of the feelings of disgust in the viewer. Some of her scenes are also funny, but in a horrible way that makes the audience groan. Her jagged broken teeth are disgusting to look at, but even worse is when she takes them out!

Justine Long puts in a good performance as Christine's boyfriend Clay. He tends to dominate her a bit, just like the men at the office. It's meant more kindly though, so although he is a little bit irritating at times with his slightly overbearing attitude, he's a quite likeable and well meaning character. Like Christine, he's an innocent who really doesn't know what he's got himself into.

Dileep Rao really looks the part in the role of the psychic who doesn't always give the best advice. Although the Indian mystic is a bit of a cliché, it works well here, making the viewer initially wonder if he's genuine, or just a fraud, as the skeptical Clay suspects.

In spite of the fact it's only a 15, Drag Me to Hell manages to be an effective horror film that doesn't rely on torture or gallons of blood and gore. It's the atmosphere generated that keeps the nerves jangling. Although the film contains clichéd horror effects such as billowing curtains, creaking gates and buzzing flies, they're used to lull the viewers into a sense of familiar territory so that they then jump when the unexpected happens. As with Final Destination, it's not really a film that generates feelings of terror, so much as feelings of revulsion and edginess, and sometimes unexpected amusement. There's a piece of cake that's honestly the scariest piece of cake I've ever seen in a film. It really overtakes the pie in Stephen King's film Thinner for stomach-churning desserts. There's also a fight scene in a car that's so hair-raising I found I was pressing my foot down trying to put the brakes on.

It's not hard to see the ending coming. There's a plot device that's so blatant it's probably going to be criticized by some people as being too obvious, but that doesn't detract from the film. It's part of the fun that you figure out, or at least suspect, exactly what's happening. Overall it's trashy horror revamped, a rollercoaster ride of a film, that's best seen on the big screen for the greatest effect.

Director: Sam Raimi
Running time: 99minutes
Certificate: 15

Summary: Nerve jangling, but a bit silly.