Simply Horrible, almost unwatchable

Rating: 2/10 (30 May 2009)

Going in to the movies to see this I really didn't know what to expect. I had seen MySpace ads around as well as a commercial I barely glimpsed at. Still like a typical horror movie I went in expecting greatness, despite being disappointed 9/10 times.
Now, prior to going in I was unaware the man who made this also did the Evil Dead series. In all fairness I loved those movies as a kid when my dad showed me them on VHS. They were scary and weird so it was still enjoyable despite the oddness.
Drag me to Hell on the other hand, well I seriously considered leaving the theater. If you want to simply jump throughout the movie you're in luck, it uses about 20 or so cliché suspense moments to get you scared. Now, I've watched plenty of horror movies in my day so disliking the movie had nothing to do with disliking "gross" things- but the amount of goo in this movie was just unnecessary and only there for the sake of being gross. While I now understand the comical-horror scenes in this movie (As I'm now aware of the creator) for newcomers to the maker, or just casual moviegoers in general it doesn't make sense to be in there. If we come for a scary movie we don't expect to see Looney-Tune situations. Laughter amidst a horror movie may be a nice break and all, but it just makes the movie look silly, low budget, badly written, and not serious considering the rest of the movies mood.
The acting for this was mixed, it was either over the top and unneeded or just awkward. Later we meet the Boyfriend's parents who are clearly wealthy. While they went for a "smug rich people" act it just seemed like acting of a cheap television show.
Personally I found the music and sounds to be terrible in this movie, I apologize if this is coming off as a rant but I'll explain. Drag me to Hell is LOUD, extremely so; in the suspense scenes people were covering their ears due to the loud pitch. Musically it was just inappropriate, during one particular horror scene they chose a Jazz-like bass rift.
CGI in the movie was decent, nothing award-winning but it worked despite certain scenes looking as if they were from the 1987 Evil Dead film. The style mirrored that of "My Bloody Valentine" where everything appeared ready for 3D (assuming you didn't see that in 3D)
On paper, the plot is good. Or at least it started good, though realistically its just your typical "Somethings going to possess you and haunt you, we need to do an old ritual to end it" film (See also: The Eye, The Unborn, Etc.)
To sum things up, I wasted my time and money by seeing this movie. While I would like to appreciate it as the "Comeback of a great horror director" I just refuse to call it anything more than a cult hit. Don't see this movie, its a jumbled mess of random acts thrown together to create suspense just for the sake of doing so.