Guess what? It not originally from Japan or a Remake.

Rating: 10/10 (6 January 2010)

When I first heard of this movie, the title told me what I wanted to know. With the grade A pieces of crap "Horror" movies in 2009 such as Friday the 13th or The Unborn being released, I had little interest to see any horror film in theaters, and Drag Me To Hell sounded like it would be like one of these movies. Needless to say I didn't pay attention to the movie, and can't recall even seeing a trailer on T.V or looking for one on the internet. Eventually however, I saw that Sam Raimi was making this film. I have known of Raimi's work ever since I was smaller, but being a bit young to see it in theaters during the time of Evil Dead's release, I eventually saw them when I was in my early years of 10 and 11. I remember sneaking in to see my brothers watching Army of Darkness at 6 however, and being scared ****less for weeks. Now, with a bit of fresh nostalgia to motivate me, I decided to research this movie. I was surprised to find it holding a 93% fresh rating on rotten tomatoes, and decided to wait and buy it on DVD, my hope that it being critically acclaimed and coming from Sam Raimi would provide a brilliant horror movie. And it did. When I finally saw Drag Me to Hell, I was blown away. I must applaud Raimi's work on this original concept that certainly ranks itself among films like The Exorcist or A Nightmare on Elm Street. So now, lets begin the breakdown shall we? The Story takes place in a suburban Los Angeles where the films opens up to a slightly disturbing set of scenes in the mid sixties that establishes some character plot and to give us our first look at what Hell has in store for the cursed. It then takes us straight from the action experienced a few seconds before into the opening credits. I particularly thought the score for this certain part of the movie was incredible and quite eerie, while giving us some background on the accounts of demons in the old times. We then meet our main character, the brilliantly played Christine Brown, who is a loan officer for a bank, and as we all know she gets in some deep **** with an old gypsy woman who pleads for an extension to pay off her debt or her house will be seized by the government. Christine gets cursed for she doesn't give the old bag her extension and we have our movie begin its chain of events. The story gives us characters who become deeply scarred, and the process in which Christine's life get absolutely destroyed is portrayed perfectly horror wise. The séance room scene without giving much away is one of the eeriest parts of the movie. Its combination of dialogue, music, and images spread out through the entire scene worked out perfectly to develop the character of pretty much, Hell. Drag Me To Hell scared me, but not in a scream fest rather in a smart form, by clever camera angles combined with scenes of the monsters and demons we have in the film. So much could have gone wrong with this, but it all played out effectively. Michael Meyers for example, never popped up and screamed, most times you just saw him appear. People didn't say Halloween scared me because of the pop up moments; they say it scared me because of Meyers. Same goes with Freddy Krueger, he just talked and it creeped you out. When you hear the Lamia talk or see Mrs.Ganush it has that sort of effect. It's creepy and scary, but you're not jumping out of your seat when you hear it. There are a few pop out and scare you moments but don't feel cheap or out of place at all. In the way that they are used, they contribute well to the pace and horror aspect of the movie. Then ending I will also add, is one of the best parts of the movie. Its not prolonged as neither is the first one in the beginning (This will make more sense after you watch the movie) and its just ends leaving us to think, and actually think of what really happened to the character. It's not real, but in the movie it is and in that sense it's pretty intense. Closing Comments: The effort and brilliant screenplay is proof in the finalized product. This film isn't supposed to make you laugh in my opinion, but I did find some of the scenes offer some comical lines, but again they did not feel out of place and never broke the horror feel to the movie. There were times throughout the movie when I would think "Sam Raimi is the only one who would write that." Those who don't understand Raimi's style of horror films will find this movie unenjoyable because it isn't the cheap stereotypical high school kids/hot girls with a mildly scary slasher movie, where there are at least two sex scenes to keep the college kids attention. Horror movies have become a social object for older and younger kids to bring their friends, to get cheap scares and then talk about it for weeks. Subsequently directors and producers create terribly put together pieces of pedestrian **** to please them, but really only to please their own wallets. If you are one of these movie goers odds are The Eye or The Grudge would be more your kind of movie. Raimi didn't make this film for those people, and clearly kept fans in mind and doesn't disappoint. If you want to see a thought provoking brilliant sound track and visual image combination of a movie that is intelligent and one of the best true Horror films I've seen in years, you'll find your Michael Meyers with Drag Me to Hell.