Comedic take on demonic possession

Rating: 7/10 (22 May 2010)

I almost turned the film off after watching the first 5 minutes. I was expecting something a bit more serious because when I'm in the mood for a comedy I watch a comedy. When I'm in the mood for horror I watch horror and so I scrolled down my On Demand list and was ready for a spooky evening. However, I laughed instead, all while getting the creeps sometimes shortly after laughing! Raimi can do that to you! This film threw me off, I thought Raimi was done with doing movies like this! Now even though I'm very familiar with Sam Raimi's style and loved the Evil Dead series as well as Dark man. But after seeing his film, The Gift, I expected this to follow the formula of that film, which was a serious take on the supernatural as in films like The Exorcist, and The Unborn, etc. But don't expect total macabre with Drag me to Hell. It's a film Id compare to the Evil Dead films. Typical Sam Raimi here and in the end, I was very entertained. I laughed a lot during watching the film, all while the others who saw it with me covered their eyes.
Now this isn't some campy Creep show type film. I would consider this a very intelligent film although heavily exaggerated. Mediums who watch this film will pick out the subtleties and subliminal things that may or may not be scientifically explained; but that is another story. Just watch it for the make-up effects, thrills, and surprisingly great performances by the talented Alison Lohman and Justin Long. The directing was masterful, and of course, the production for this film was pretty awesome.