Doomed to Purgatory

Rating: 6/10 (25 June 2009)

So Sam Raimi has finally directed another horror movie. For really young people like me, this would be our first opportunity to see one of his genre films in theaters during its first run. Fangoria, Rue Morgue, and other horror magazines dedicated a large portion of their May 2009 issues to this movie's coverage. When the MPAA rating came out, people were in shock. Only PG-13? You can't defeat undead or spew bloody slapstick with teeneybobbers in attendance.
General fears of PG-13 lameness are unwarranted. Drag me to Hell isn't like other "tame" horror movies of recent years. Yes, the scares are scant and sudden, but the film feels fully crafted without self-censorship. Even The Uninvited, another PG-13 horror movie I enjoyed, felt muted. Gore would have enhanced its story. This film takes an "Asian horror movie" approach and presents little on screen viscera. Only one bloody scene occurs and it's comical in nature. Unlike many of those films, Raimi's new cult classic isn't serious or scary. He inserts vignettes of humor, either in dialog or action, to parody current trends in the sub-genre this film emulates.
The movie poster spoils the film for you as much as the next paragraph will. Christine Brown is a loan officer for some bank in LA. She refuses an elderly gypsy woman's request for an extension one day and encounters the lady at night. In a hilariously kitsch battle, Christine escapes from the lady who warns of her impending doom. Later that night, Christine asks her boyfriend to accompany her to a fortune teller to see what the old lady meant. The business-oriented owner, Rham Jas, says that a curse has been placed upon her. The demon lamia will take her to hell in one week. Rham Jas agrees to help for a fee. Several bizarre methods are proposed to end the curse. One of them is effective, yet there is a twist ending.
One of the most amusing scenes is when Christine kills her kitten to appease the lamia. She tells us that she is an animal shelter volunteer too. Note: this scene would not have occurred if her pet was canine. Animal activists' diligence and occasional cruelty to humanity (see Christine and the gypsy lady) needs to be comically presented more frequently in movies. The lamia rejects her offering (maybe it wanted a puppy).
Drag me to Hell has amounted an astonishing 93% on Rottentomatoes. I've read several reviews, and after seeing the movie myself, I agree with many of them. The film is barely recommended by many critics. The humor is one-dimensional and repetitive. As the film nears its ending time, more situational jokes are added. When Raimi does try to frighten us, he usually makes the lamia or the old gypsy woman appear out of nowhere for that one reason and disappear.
Should you see it? Yes, even people who don't enjoy horror movies will like some aspects of it. The film does what Army of Darkness did for us back in 1994. Neither that film nor this one is capable of lasting more than a few months on our minds. They aren't good horror movies or extremely funny comedies. Instead both movies are candybar experiences that are enjoyable when consumed but not part of a great movie diet.