Getting Dragged to Hell is an Awful Experience

Rating: 2/10 (1 June 2009)

Drag Me to Hell written and directed by Sam Raimi is to put it bluntly...Awful. I have to say that when I heard Sam Raimi was taking a break from Spider Man to go back to directing his first true horror film since Army of Darkness, I was looking forward to it. Then when I saw the trailers and now the film, I feel like telling Sam to stick, with Spider Man for now because he's lost his horror movie directing edge.
A tale of bad things happen to good people is taken to the extreme when a sweet, innocent loan officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) fails to give an extension on a mortgage to a decrepit gypsy woman Sylvia Ganush (Lorna Raver), Mrs Ganush decides to put a hex on sweet little Christine whereby a demon will come to...you know, the title gives it away, unless she can find a way to reverse the curse. She sets out doing this with the help from her ever so accommodating boyfriend Clay Dalton (Justin Long) and a psychic medium Rham Jas (Dileep Rao).
The film is boring, full of horror clichés that are not scary and the laughs are not that funny. There is one scene featuring embalming fluid that was pretty funny, I'll give it that. The key ingredient missing in this film was Bruce Campbell not having a cameo, which would've provided needed comic relief. The acting is sorely lacking. Alison Lohman just doesn't live truthfully under any of the given and imaginary circumstances that befall her. She certainly didn't have a feeling about what was happening to her. Don't get me started on Justin Long. He simply looks clueless and I am just not sure why he is so popular. He looks like he is sleep walking through the film. I will say that Dileep Rao brings some sort of depth to his character as the medium and there are times when I felt something from him. Lorna Raver does a good job as the hexing gypsy woman but unfortunately neither she nor Dileep can save the film.
As for Sam Raimi, I was expecting more from the horror maven. This is a boring and sloppy film. I felt cheated. He essentially rigs up a lot of the same cheap gimmicks from the Evil Dead series into this mind numbing story. It was disappointing because it feels like Sam just needed something to do while waiting to make Spider Man 4. If you are a fan of mainstream horror that lacks any depth or thrills than this is the film for you. Otherwise, save your money.