Review the movie

Rating: 10/10 (29 October 2011)

A brilliant example of being damned once you produce a cult classic. I'd suggest removing every review mentioning The Evil Dead so that people don't have to wade through "this movie isn't the Evil Dead and I really liked the Evil Dead and why didn't Raimi remake the Evil Dead again so I think this movie is a bomb and I really wish he'd remade the Evil Dead" over and over again.
I was lucky - caught the movie on USA without knowing, or caring, that it was made by Sam Raimi Who Made the Evil Dead. Instead, I got to see the movie as it is, without reference to Evil Dead, and what I saw was a well crafted, old fashioned, scary and thoroughly entertaining Horror Movie. Cast was great, pacing was great, all of the little "predictable" bits were great as predictable little Horror Movie bits: when you hear the music, you know something's coming.
It did meet a personal prejudice - I don't like Kill Stupid Teenagers/ Slasher movies; was dragged to Texas Chainsaw by a friend on first run long, long ago and was shocked by its emphasis on gore and total lack of a plot. Got over that and was able to appreciate Chainsaw for what it was but still not the kind of movie I'd pay money to see. Same with the first two Evil Dead; loved the third precisely because it had story and plot which is why I really enjoyed Drag Me to Hell: not only did it have story and plot, it had characters you could recognize as human beings, that you could identify with as human being and who were attractive, i.e., who you cared about.
So Raimi made an old fashioned Horror Movie and did it extremely well. I can see how those inured by two generations of Slasher Movies would be disappointed that a master of that genre didn't make another one but Get Over It, like I did with Chainsaw. If you don't like old fashioned Horror Movies, that's your right just like it's my right to dislike the Slasher genre, but keep it down to This Wasn't a Slasher Movie. Otherwise, review the Movie on The Screen, not the the movie that wasn't.
P.S. Drag Me does have a lot of references to recent (relatively) movies. Main character is straight out of Clueless and Buffy and that oh-so predictable séance scene was full of references to both ancient (30s and 40s) and modern movies, like every vampire movie made in the last 15 years. My only complaint, the compulsory Carrie ending. Even that was well done but I would have preferred Happily ever After and forget Carrie.