Raimi goes back to basics

Rating: 8/10 (2 June 2009)

Drag Me To Hell is a welcome return to the inventive horror movie for director Sam Raimi. Even though quite a bit of his trademark style can be seen in the Spider-Man franchise, those films are so big and effects-driven that his voice is diluted. The lower-budget Drag Me To Hell is a much more personal movie. And as such contains a lot more of the things that made Raimi the tour-de-force, quirky and energetic director of the Evil Dead series.
The story is basically about a bank worker who is cursed by an old gypsy woman for not extending her loan. Enter all manner of scary occult events.
The story-line is pretty forgettable but it serves as a good framework for Raimi to bombard us with inventive scare scenes. As is typical, he mixes the horror with knockabout humour, and proves once again that he is one of the very few directors who is adept at mixing comedy with genuine scares. It's not an easy thing to pull off. If the balance isn't just right the horror will be diluted or the comedy will be out-of-place. Raimi though is a master at this and time and again mixes these two contrasting film genres extremely well. Happily, when the film focuses on the horror, it really is scary; the scene in the underground car-park being a standout scene. Mrs Ganush makes for a terrifying villain and her attack on the heroine in the confines of her car is a pure horror moment. When Mrs Ganush's false teeth fall out and she resorts to sucking her victim's face, we are in pure Sam Raimi territory; simultaneously terrifying but laced with a demented humour. This really sums up the film in general.
Acting performances are all good and the script is solid. There were a couple of references to Raimi's past work on Evil Dead – the idea that the hero and heroine were planning to go on a break to a cabin in the woods and the recurring appearance of the battered Oldsmobile. Sam Raimi is clearly having fun on this movie – I'm not sure that the same thing could be said in the case of Spider-Man 3 – and when he's having fun, the audience is in for a good ride. This may not be Raimi's best film but it certainly is his most satisfying in a while.