Drag Me to Hell – DVD Review

Film, Reviews

dragmetohell

Sam Raimi has kind of gone all over the place with the films he’s made. The Evil Dead series which was simply brilliant paved the way for his so far masterful career. Then there was For Love Of The Game which just seemed to come completely out of left field (baseball pun not intended). Raimi struck oil when he got connected with the Spider-Man franchise that has already produced three films and likely has two more on the way. The great writer and director has finally found his way back to the horror genre and one would have to wonder just how he would do after being nowhere near it for close to twenty years. I think that most people expected him to lose a step or two and find it hard to locate his way back home to the world of horror. Little did they realize the exact opposite would be true and he hasn’t missed a beat.

Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is a loan officer at a bank and willing to do whatever it takes to take the next step up and get a promotion to the branch’s assistant manager. She is though in stiff competition with a guy named Stu Rubin, but Christine is assured the position can be hers if she is able to make the difficult decisions when the time comes for them. Her first real test when a rundown Gypsy named Mrs. Ganush comes in and virtually begs her for an extension on her loan. Christine does all she can but then lets Mrs. Ganush know that there is nothing they can do for her and they’re very sorry. The Gypsy does not take the news well and places a curse on Christine vowing that life for her will never be the same.

Christine isn’t quite sure what to make of the curse that has a “mythological” horned creature named Lamia destined to make life a living hell for her. The creature and other evil spirits are bound to torment Christine for three solid days but there is nothing she can do about it. At least not on her own. With the help of her boyfriend Clay, Christine seeks out severe help that may make her life go back to normal and stop these spirits from destroying her in the matter of three days. They find a seer by the name of Rham Jas to possibly help rid her life of all that haunts her, but it may already be too late.

Don’t go into this one expecting all that much of a plot because there isn’t much time to really get one started. Clocking in at just under one hundred minutes, Drag Me to Hell jumps right into Christine’s story of trying to get a promotion and before you know it she is under the Gypsy’s curse. Usually I’m someone that likes a little bit of a backstory so that we can care more about the characters we’re watching on screen, but that isn’t needed here. You will feel compassion and sympathy for Christine right from the moment she is cursed all the way up until…well, you need to watch to find out that far. Trust me, though, you’re going to love the way her three days of hell are played out because it is everything you could imagine a curse to be if one were actually placed on you. Strange, odd, demented, and unbelievably frightening.

Drag Me to Hell is exactly what Sam Raimi truly is all about. You can see so many touches and almost a bit of an homage to his Evil Dead franchise made famous by the one and only Ash. Besides paying tribute to his own work, Raimi brings horror fans back to the early days of Universal Studios and old school horror with so many signs that make a gore nut like me smile foolishly. Full of fright, gore, demonic creatures, and everything else you could imagine; an excellent job is done to get you in the proper mood for a good scare and a ride down a roadway straight to the fiery pits of hell.

Hell is shown in 2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen format and there are no problems to be found by me. Most of the film is rather dark but colors really break through brightly and sharply when it comes time for them.

The film is heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound with it coming through absolutely perfect. All dialogue can be heard loudly and clearly while the fantastic soundtrack mixes in with awesome sound effects that will truly get you roped into the film even more than just the story will do.

Unrated Version – Believe it or not this is one of the most misleading things in all of DVD release history. A little research online revealed Sam Raimi actually saying that there are no real changes between the PG-13 and Unrated versions. Oddly enough the Unrated version is a few seconds shorter with only one particular scene getting a bit more blood splatter then in the “cleaner” version.

Production Video Diaries – This is an extended “making of” featurette that is quite excellent and a lot of fun to watch. Unlike most “making of” features; there is barely any footage from the film making way for more interviews and behind the scenes type stuff. Well worth checking out. (35:07)

Color me impressed with Trick ‘R Treat and now Drag Me to Hell coming out; it almost makes me believe there is hope for the horror genre yet. Now if only we could get more than two or three decent scare flicks a year. Raimi’s leap back into horror came through with a bang and is excellently done. The man knows what he is doing and he does it perfectly even with only a PG-13 rating which is quite impressive. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a special edition somewhere along the way since we only got one extra on this disc and Hell screams for an audio commentary from both Sam and Ivan Raimi. If you want some freakish sights and a good old fright fest then drag your bony ass to the store right now and unleash hell.


Universal Studios Home Entertainment presents Drag Me to Hell. Directed by: Sam Raimi. Starring: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Ramer, Dileep Rao, David Paymer, Adriana Barraza. Written by: Sam Raimi & Ivan Raimi. Running time: 99 minutes. Rating: PG-13/Unrated. Released on DVD: October 13, 2009. Available at Amazon.com