Raimi returns with hellbound humour

Drag Me To Hell
Certification: PG
Cast: Alison Lohman,
Justin Long, Lorna Raver,
Dileep Rao, David Paymer,
Reggie Lee, Adriana
Barraza
Director: Sam Raimi
Genre: Horror, Thriller

JUST a few months ago, producer-writer-director David S Goyer released his horror project The Unborn after working on the highly successful graphic novel adaptation of The Dark Knight. That, however, didn't go too well.

Now it's another producer-director-writer Sam Raimi's turn to take time out from Spider-Man to produce, direct and write Drag Me To Hell.

It has been close to a decade since Sam Raimi directed a horror movie. Drag Me To Hell marks his return to a genre he started off his career with, and the only long break he took from it was when he directed consecutively the three Spider-Man movies that brought his name instant recognition.

But any long-term Raimi fans will be able to tell you that it wasn't Spider-Man that made Raimi, but the Evil Dead franchise that he created. And it's no surprise that his next project, before Spider-Man 4, is an Evil Dead remake set to release next year, almost 30 years after the original.

Although the story, which Raimi co-wrote with his long-time collaborator and brother, Ivan Raimi, isn't the most original, he didn't take it too seriously and compensated originality with his usual brand of ingenuity and all-out fun, something other directors can certainly learn from.

After the opening sequence introducing the effects of a curse on a little boy who stole a necklace back in 1969, we meet loan officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) in the present day. She is up for promotion at work, but has to contend with the new office suck-up, Stu Rubin (Reggie Lee).

Her manager, Mr Jacks (David Paymer), wants to see her in a more aggressive and assertive light. So when an Eastern-European old lady, Mrs Ganush (Lorna Raver), came in with one good eye, dirty nails and even dirtier fake teeth, asking for a loan extension; Christine puts her foot down hard but accidentally steps on Mrs Ganush's tail and "shames" her, making a big scene at the office.

That same evening as Christine walks to her car in a parking lot, Mrs Ganush appears and after a long and scary cat fight, Mrs Ganush towers over Christine and puts a curse on her before making her fall into unconsciousness.

Waking up, Christine then lodges a police report with her boyfriend Clay Dalton (Justin Long). But as they started to head home, Christine is drawn to a fortune telling shop where she meets Rham Jas (Dileep Rao), who then informs her that she has three days left to live because of the curse.

It's now up to Christine to decide just how far she would go to break the curse.

Drag Me To Hell is a true scare-fest. And it's not just the cheap, jump scares that are mostly appropriately done here.

First, there are the sound effects: nothing this loud or scary has ever been heard in a cinema before. What Raimi and his sound department have achieved is so eerie and sharp that they cut straight to your core.

Even those shrieks whenever the eye appears in the original version of Ring or the lengthy croak whenever the creature is approaching in Ju-On are nothing compared with the bone-chilling sounds from Raimi.

Then there is the highly stylised horror combined with bizarre humour, which only Raimi can mix up in such an over-the-top extravaganza.

The best example is the first big "action" sequence in and around Christine's car with Mrs Ganush involving dentures and staplers. That sets a high standard for the rest of the movie to follow.

The cast are all very capable in their portrayals. Lohman fits perfectly into her role, Long is his ever-likeable self playing the supportive boyfriend, Paymer and Lee provide some mild comedy, and Raver is fantastically scary as the unforgiving old woman. Only the housefly and the handkerchief don't really tie in properly into the story.

As mentioned, there is nothing new in terms of storyline for any horror movie fans, but Raimi is able to cleverly insert flourishes to each scene, making them something different from what's been done so many times before.

If The Exorcist did a number on you that many years back, Drag Me To Hell will mostly likely do you another, but with some fun, too.

Reviewer's Rating: 8 / 10

The Brunei Times