Disappointing!

Rating: 4/10 (19 May 2011)

I haven't exactly seen many horror films and I was pleased when I got the chance to watch one. However this film left me unexpectedly laughing throughout rather than jumping out of my skin. I'm not too sure if Sam Raimi was trying to make a horror film or he was actually mocking the genre. As a slight newcomer to this genre I wasn't sure if an attacking handkerchief, a cartoon like talking goat and a dancing demon was meant to be thrilling? The film's plot was rather simple and the basis of it could have possibly made for a good horror film. A loan officer, Christine Brown, (Alison Lohman) has a curse placed on her coat button, after she refuses to extend a loan to an evil old gypsy lady. Subsequently she is frequently tormented by evil spirit demons from hell. She seeks help from an Indian fortune teller to rid her of the curse, but fails. After believing she has finally got rid of the button and curse she and the audience are 'shocked' to find out she hasn't. It was all very predictable and the writing was very lazy as there were many flaws in the storyline, the grave digging scene was particularly hard to believe.
Although the film did scrape out some good qualities, as there were some scenes that did make me jump, this was due to the way the director used the technique of suspense building. Throughout the film I noticed that whenever the sound/music stopped, there was going to be something that would jump out at you. Also there were times that made you believe there was a scary moment about to happen and something harmless would pop out, giving the audience a false sense of security. All in all I was rather disappointed with 'Drag Me to Hell' and I look forward to watching another horror film that hopefully doesn't make me laugh as much.