A funny, dark, and gross horror flick.

Rating: 7/10 (14 July 2010)

Drag Me to Hell is not slow-paced by any stretch of the imagination. It's a literal onslaught of shocks and gross-outs. Some parts of the movie work better than others, but it was by far the most memorable of the horror movies that I've seen this year.
I'm sure that die-hard Raimi fans probably have a different opinion about his unique little humorous touches, but as a casual fan I found his little flourishes occasionally distracting. I know that horror movies often benefit from some humor, but some scenes (the anvil in particular) just felt unnecessary.
Drag me to Hell is also loud. I mean LOUD. You will jump. A lot. And not necessarily because you're afraid. You may just be jumping because it sounds like a fully-loaded freight train is about to come crashing from the speakers. Some of the frights are genuine, but your body will slowly become numb to the quick-cut jump scares, and by the end of the movie they really won't affect you much anymore. At least that's the way it was for me.
The story is cool enough, but a few of the plot devices are all too familiar. The certain length of time to break the curse before it's too late for the protagonist, the desperate séance at the end of the movie, and the last second twist that's pretty much telegraphed to the viewer with more that 30 minutes left to go. Do those things spoil the movie? No. I actually enjoyed DMTH a lot. But these ticky little flaws stand out when the rest of the movie is so enjoyable.
I thought the Alison did really well, and her beastly tormentor was suitably freaky. The old gypsy woman was a scene-stealer. She was equally frightening and disgusting. There's also a memorable goat that I would have loved to see for a longer period of time. Raimi really makes the curse seem horrible, and we can completely understand our heroine's (I use that word quite loosely) desperation to put an end to it.
DMTH pushes the right buttons most of the time, and it's a really good movie to watch with your girlfriend or a few of your buddies. It's not perfect, but don't let the few flaws that I've pointed out stop you from seeing a pretty cool horror flick.