Raimi back to his roots

Rating: 9/10 (28 October 2019)

In the 1980s, a different, low-budget film full of dark humor and innovation emerged, resulting in a rapture of a legion of fans from around the world. EVIL DEAD - DEMON DEATH is one of the great horror classics, respected by everyone, whether it's professional critics or loyal fans of terror. Its director, Samuel Marshall Raimi, better known as Sam Raimi, can be considered a master of horror, along with other well-known names like Wes Craven and John Carpenter, for making one of the most fantastic trilogies in history - that's right, The film EVIL DEAD had two sequels entitled AN EXCELLENT NIGHT 2 and 3, both as good as those responsible for their origins. Unfortunately, Sam Raimi after the EVIL DEAD series was no longer successful before, until in 2000, more than 7 years later, he was directed to direct one of the most lucrative comic book series: Spider-Man was a box office hit. all over the world, making Raimi lift one of Hollywood's most enviable fortunes !!! After so much success, the director decided to honor the genre that opened its doors: horror. Sam Raimi goes back to ancient times and provides fans with a splendid and fun production: DRAG ME TO HELL.
Christine works for a bank in the credit industry and is about to be promoted as an assistant manager. One day an old gypsy appears, about to be knocked out of the house, as her mortgage is about to expire. The poor lady then asks for a deadline to finance her home, but Christine denies the request to impress her boss and win the long-awaited job. But in the midst of it all the old gypsy throws a terrible curse on Christine: the mighty demon Lamia, responsible for bringing the souls of her victims to the depths of hell within 3 days. And it is in this short span of days that Christine runs out of time to escape such a curse as she is terrified by the damn demon.
Without ever losing his talent, it is with this simple and seemingly unremarkable story that Raimi terrifies the viewer with sometimes disgusting, sometimes fun, sometimes scary scenes. The apparitions of the demon Lamia, even if only made in shadows, can scare yes, especially the child audience (as censorship put him at the age of 13, I doubt that children who came to check on him were free of nightmares at bedtime ). From apparitions we go to the big and best time of all: the attack on Christine's gypsy parking lot. Poor Christine is surprised by the old woman in the backseat of her car. The old woman attacks her in a horrendous way, entitled to 'jerks' of hair and vomiting, spat and even stapled in the face. And so it does not stop !!! During the projection of the film we still have an exaggerated nosebleed and flies and worms over Christine everywhere!
But all this would not work if Raimi had not chosen a cast with talent and charisma to give. Alison Lohman, who plays Christine, is quite a heroine, winning all the sympathy one can get. Already Lorna Raver, the witch Sylvia Ganush, surprises in a first-rate performance when facing a not so easy character (I forgot to say that the old gypsy looks disgusting: she is blind in one eye, her teeth and nails are rotten and her skin it's an amazing wrinkle). A plus point is also the terrifying soundtrack !!!
Raimi finally breaks free from the geeky cobwebs of Peter Parker, and returns to his roots making a movie as entertaining as his first son EVIL DEAD.