A repulsive, over the top tour de force

Rating: 9/10 (13 January 2011)

Christine Brown is a loan officer who, in her quest for a promotion, refuses to extend the loan of the elderly Mrs. Ganush. Unfortunately for her, Mrs Ganush turns out to be a gypsy, and as a consequence of her greed, Christine finds herself tormented by a demon, the Lamia, who unless sated within three days will drag her to the depths of hell. Thus begins Drag Me To Hell, the latest film from Sam Raimi, the director behind two massively popular trilogies. Most people will be more familiar with his recent work at the helm of the Spiderman series, but hardcore movie fans such as myself have far fonder memories of a little franchise called The Evil Dead. Incredibly bloody and incredibly silly, those low budget schlock fests are huge cult favourites, and are considered by many cine-buffs to be amongst the greatest horror comedies of all time. Drag Me To Hell is Raimi's return to the genre that made his name, and is every bit as funny and frightening as his reputation would suggest it should be.
Put plainly, this movie is utterly absurd. It's being marketed as a straight horror film, but nothing could be further from the truth. Just consider the premise for a second: a demon is being denied a mortgage extension! In reality, Drag Me To Hell is a cheesy, gratuitous horror comedy filled with intentionally dodgy special effects, more gross out gags than you can shake a stick at, and, at one point, a talking goat. After the disappointment that was Spiderman 3, it's good to see Raimi at the top of his game once more; it's been fifteen years since Army of Darkness (the third Evil Dead film), but from the opening scene of this movie fans will recognize his signature campy style. The camera work is a testament to B-movies; the quick zooms and slow tilts are glorious to behold. The movie is gross hell, although in hindsight it's actually not that bloody. Instead, Raimi uses a bevy of other thing to disgust his audience and torment his protagonist – maggots, bile, flies, eyeballs – take you pick! But as well as being hilarious, Drag Me To Hell is also at times legitimately frightening. I am a big fan of classic horror, but in recent years I have found myself bemoaning the lack of decent entries in this Saw dominated era. Maybe it's just me, but I find little entertaining about watching people get tortured for two hours – it's not scary, nor is it any fun. My favourite horror films have always been a mixture of horror and comedy; aside from the Evil Dead films, movies like Child's Play or Scream or even Gremlins (that movie is PG, but it's still far scarier and more suspenseful than anything from Eli Roth). Drag Me To Hell reminds me of films like these; slow suspenseful build followed by a jump scare. It's good to see the old tropes in use again, things like shadows, the wind and thunder. At the same time, Raimi completely subverts the whole idea of a jump scare, using items like a phone or a handkerchief to provide the shock. This is not the kind of scary movie that will leave you with nightmares, but while you're watching it you certainly get your money's worth.
I should point out that fans of Evil Dead will enjoy this movie on a whole other level. Drag Me To Hell is filled with homage's and references to that trilogy, so much so that many scenes could be have been lifted out and inserted directly into Evil Dead 2. Come to think of it, my only real complaint about this movie is that there was no Bruce Campbell cameo! But even those who have never seen a Raimi movie before can still have a hell of a lot of fun. All in all, Drag Me To Hell is hands down one of the most entertaining horror films I have seen since I first saw the original Evil Dead. Funny when it wants to be, scary when it needs to be and stupendously campy throughout, this film is a repulsive, over the top tour de force, and a return to form for Sam Raimi, the master of excessive horror.