Customer Reviews

Drag Me to Hell (Unrated Director's Cut)

5 star:		(99)
4 star:		(85)
3 star:		(39)
2 star:		(30)
1 star:		(40)

 

 

He's back! No I'm not talking about Freddy, Jason, Chucky or Michael. I'm talking about Sam...as in Sam Raimi. It's been almost 17 years since Raimi has helmed a horror flick and he hasn't lost his touch. Drag Me to Hell feels like the ugly (real ugly), long lost sister of Evil Dead II. It blends jump-outta-your-seat scares with Three Stooges style slap stick. If that sounds like an odd combination then you've never watched a Raimi horror movie before...

Drag Me to Hell is a basic morality tale. The whole thing feels like a polished episode of Tales from the Crypt. The story follows Christine Brown (Alison Lohman), a young woman who is looking to move up the corporate ladder at the bank where she's employed. Her boss tells her that she must learn to make the hard decisions if she wants a promotion and the first time she attempts this she forecloses the house of a disgusting, old, gypsy woman (Lorna Raver). If classic horror has taught us anything it's that you don't EVER screw with gypsies (or carnie folk). The dilapidated crone waits for Christine in the parking garage (in Raimi's beat up Oldsmobile!) and applies the 'Curse of Lamia'. The Lamia is a devil goat that loves the taste of souls. It takes three days to fully manifest and then the demon comes looking for its meal which gets dragged back to Hell for consumption.

Christine is perfectly portrayed by Lohman and I'll be damned if that girl doesn't have some spunk! She is cute as hell and has a knack for physical comedy. One thing about Raimi is that he loves to put his actors/actresses through the ringer. Lohman is a trooper as she gets hit in the face with maggots, mud, blood, drool etc... See that's the beauty of this film. Every time something terrifying happens it's quickly followed up with some disgusting gag that makes you cringe and then burst into a fit of laughter. It's a really great group experience...much like a well executed haunted house.

Justin Long plays Lohman's love interest, Dr. Clay Dalton, and to be honest it seems like he's just along for the ride. Make no mistake about it, this is Lohman's movie and she easily carries it all on her own. The rest of the cast is merely there to witness Christine physically and mentally fall apart as the Lamia's curse intensifies.

My only real complaint is that Raimi actually had the budget to create some CG effects. While they don't ruin the movie, I would have loved to see him stick with the real stuff instead. My main problem is that the things he uses CG for could have easily been done with practical effects.

Drag Me to Hell is horror done right. Sam Raimi has crafted one of the best horror films I've seen in the past 5 years. You've got elements of Evil Dead, The Exorcist and Dead Alive all stirred into the wicked witch's brew that is Drag Me to Hell. The packed theatre I sat in seemed to really get into it, but I'm afraid some folks simply won't wrap their heads around all the goofy stuff that Raimi does. Make sure you drag as many friends as possible to see it. Rest assured that everyone will be jumping in their seats, covering their eyes, screaming and giggling like prepubescent schoolgirls! Drag Me to Hell is just flat out fun cinema. Go see it.

Final Grade: A

Sam Raimi sure does have a consistent view of what the demons from Hell look like, sound like and act like. And these are some of the meanest, scariest demons ever conjured into the world of film-making.

In Evil Dead II (Raimi's Horror Classic rumored to be in re-make mode), words spoken from a tape recorder bring some nasty demons over that ruin the day for a group of folks stuck in a spooky cabin in the woods. In Drag Me to Hell it seems that there are some gypsies that you don't want to cross that know words similar to those spoken on the Evil Dead II tape recorder...And if you hear them spoken...you're dead whether you're alone in the woods or surrounded by suburbia.

So if you happen to be an aspiring local bank manager...check that...aspiring *assistant* bank manager, and a gypsy comes in asking for an extension on an overdue loan payment...give it to her!

Sam Raimi may not have outdone himself with Drag Me to Hell, but he has certainly succeeded in giving Horror fans something to cheer about. There are really scary moments, funny moments, grotesque moments and very deliberately over-the-top moments. There are even moments that are clearly a tip of the hat to Raimi's Evil Dead collection (open wide and say Eyyyyyee!).

Alison Lohman keeps the action and scares rolling along almost solo for like 60% of the movie. She's no Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead's Ash Williams), but she does a fine job of taking her role seriously and stepping into Raimi's humorously sinister world of diabolical demons. Then there's the gypsy women played devilishly by TV actress Lorna Raver; Raimi turns this little old lady into one memorably hideous villain. Justin "I'm a Mac" Long plays Lohman's boyfriend and has some short, mostly unmemorable appearances. In fact, Justin Long's acting in the final memorable scene would have lost him the job if I were involved; I wouldn't be surprised if Raimi thought the same thing but complacently had to settle since it was indeed the last scene.

Like I said, Drag Me to Hell ain't no Evil Dead II, and it's by far no Spider-Man Trilogy, but it's a super fun ride in the Horror genre that's worthy of your collection. Add it to your cart or at minimum your rental queue.

Drag Me To Hell is a very good film for what it it, a Sam Raimi film to be exact. All in all it's not my top fave horror of the summer but it still is a good film none the less.

Sam Raimi gives the film an interesting story and interesting characters which makes the film worth while in my opinion.

The only major downside of the movie is the film isn't very gory and it relies on the story more than anything else.


I bought the Blu Ray to Drag Me To Hell and I will say that the picture quality is amazing and the bonus features are good for what you paid for.

I will totally recommend to anyone who loves horror with a slight of humor to it!!

4 out of 5 stars!!

I can't believe I'm going to say this but Drag Me to Hell is one of my favorite movies of the year so far. I thought this Sam Raimi gem would get mixed reviews at best, so I was blown away when I saw the 100 or so positive reviews flowing in from critics. It ranks with UP and Star Trek as one of the best reviewed movies of the year. That rarely happens with a horror film, but this one is so much more. It's full of dark humor, gross out gags (really pushes the PG-13 envelope), good acting, nice SFX and an interesting story. I can't remember the last time I was this surprised at how much better the movie was than any of the trailers or what I had expected going in.

Alison Lohman really sold me here. She is very cute, but she shows the smarts and toughness you almost never see in a horror flick. Really good stuff from her. The whole cast from Justin Long to the evil gypsy lady is spot on and you can't leave out director Sam Raimi. His visual style here will remind you of The Evil Dead trilogy, but with a bigger budget and just as much creativeness. It was great to see this now summer blockbuster director go back to his roots and knock it out of the park. The music and sound effects are some of the best I've heard in a long time. When it goes from quiet to extremely loud, the sound alone will make you jump. Out of all the movies I have seen in theaters, I can't remember one with sound mixing this good.

Well, do you think I liked Drag Me to Hell just a little bit? Really? When it comes to horror films, especially in recent years, few pack the thrills, laughs and entertainment value that this one brings.

4 and 1/2 out of 5 stars

Finally a horror movie worthy of my time. This is one of the best horror movies in a long time, I don't know why some people gave it one star, maybe because it relies on scares and fear rather than a ton of blood. The music score reminds me of the 1930's-50's horror movies, excellent music, the acting is very good, and the special effects are great. The cemetery scene is awesome.Great story, and the Blu-ray is excellent quality. I highly recommend this if you like a good horror movie that doesn't have blood everywhere or people cutting of their hands (Saw) but just good scares from the story itself. I give it a 5 compared to other horror films.

I'm a huge Sam Raimi fan, but this isn't his best work. I'm not saying it isn't good, just something was missing to make it outstanding. The writing felt a bit disjointed in parts throughout. A very good story premise and some great Hitchcockian like scenes, but lacking some of the scare and fun of previous Raimi movies. The actors and actresses didn't bring any special chemistry to it and I think with a better casting this would have improved the movie greatly. Bruce Campbell would have helped this movie in any role with his offbeat humor and unlike many of Raimi other works, he isn't here.

A young female bank loan officer inadvertently maddens an old gypsy that puts a curse on her. At first the young woman is just frightened by supernatural events, but eventually she'll try anything to save her soul from being dragged to hell. When she tries to make amends to the old woman she finds she has died so she must enlist any occult practitioner to remove the curse. Overall good enough to keep me watching but not quite good enough for me to buy it. If you enjoyed this be sure to see The Evil Dead [Blu-ray].

CA Luster

Drag Me to Hell marked the return of Sam Raimi to directing a horror film as well as being the co-writer with his brother Ivan Raimi. While distracted with the Spiderman franchise as of late Sam's initial claim to fame was a small series a few of you may have heard of - Evil Dead. Yes the pivotal movies that launched both his career and that of B-Star legend Bruce Campbell has returned back to his roots in a movie that clearly pays homage to what made him famous as well as adding in a few new tricks.

The most noticeable difference between this and any of Sam's Evil Dead movies is that this one has a budget. The fact that the main noticeable difference is an increased budget is good because he doesn't sacrifice the fun thrills from his earlier movies or the humor that is subtly found within. I would say the introduction scene sets the tone to the movie perfectly - a young boy who has been cursed tries to outrun that which has cursed him and ends up being thrown from a balcony into a pit that has opened full of flames and is surely a gateway to hell (hence the movie title.) If you are going to go off killing children in the very first scene of a movie you know it's going to be a fun ride!

We are introduced quickly to Christine (Alison Lohman) who is a young woman that is inches away from getting an assistant manager's job that she has long wanted at the bank she works for. However the job is not set in stone and she has competition in the form of a weasel named Stu (only being mentioned because of that great first name.) In order to secure the position she has been told to be a bit stricter on loans and soon is asked to extend the payment date on an old woman's mortgage. This old woman though is a sickly looking elderly gypsy lady, Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver.) When she tells the old woman no, Mrs. Ganush will not take it as an answer and turns to begging. When further denied she is petrified at what she has had to do and still be denied. This of course is not the end of it.

When in her car and ready to go home that night Christine is attacked by the old gypsy in a fight scene that screams back to early scenes filmed by Raini and you cannot tear your eyes away for a moment. As the fight comes to a close the old lady loses but puts a curse on Christine. This curse quickly proves to us who has really won the fight as there is no end to the constant harassment Christine suffers in both her professional and personal life.

Raini has returned to horror in true style and just the way it was meant to be. Every scene keeps you wanting to know what is going to happen and the way it was filmed puts you in a perfect frame of mind for a fun horror film. It's not surprising that a Raini horror movie has humor In it but it is surprising at how many laughs are found in this one while still being able to pull off having it be suspenseful.

Los Angeles, The Present: Christine (Alison Lohman) is a timid small town girl trying to cut it as a banker in Big City and failing miserably. Eager to build a secure foundation for herself and her academic boyfriend, Clay (Justin Long), as well earn the respect of Clay's snobby parents, Alison eagerly pursues a promotion to assistant bank manager, a task which sees her locked in a passive aggressive struggle with weasily, conniving contemporary, Stu (Reggie Lee). During the course of a working day, Alison finds herself reluctantly forced to act as judge, jury and executioner on the estate of Sylvia Ganush (Lorna Raver), a sinister, elderly Gypsy woman who is defaulting on her mortgage. Keen to prove herself to her boss as the kind of capable employee who can make a hard judgment call, Alison goes against her better instincts and forecloses on Ganush's mortgage. But as anyone who has ever seen a horror movie knows, crossing an old Gypsy woman is never a good idea, and before long Alison finds herself pursued by a relentless demonic force that quite literally wants to drag her straight to hell...

I'll be honest. I had gone right off of Sam Raimi in recent years. I loved the "Evil Dead" films but absolutely despised the "Spiderman" films and despaired of ever seeing a decent film from the man following his mainstream success. Luckily for me though, "Drag Me To Hell" heralds a return to his earlier gonzo style of film-making.

Taking it's cue from M.R. James' short story "Casting The Runes" and any number of seventies satancentric Amercian TV movie schlockers, "DMTH" is a joy-ride through glorious excess and bad taste. Those familiar with the "Evil Dead" films and those gloriously tacky 'movies of the week' will know what to expect: its less of a horror film and more of an absurdist dark comedy which takes a subtle jab at our 'win-at-any-cost' culture of corporate success. Which is not to say that it isn't rife with gore and general ickiness. It is. Its just that its rendered in a tone more akin to that of a Tex Avery cartoon than a hardcore splatter movie (indeed, a carefully positioned and precariously suspended anvil is actually responsible for a gloriously grotesque demise at one point). Likewise, a scene in which a goat is possessed by a demonic force, and begins to bleat about how much of a "b-e-a-a-a-i-i-i-t-ch" our protagonist is, is a clear indicator that things should not be taken too seriously.

While its not going to be too everyone's taste, I had a ball with this film. It made me roar with laughter and grimace in equal measure. It'll confound those who aren't in on the jokes, but if you grew up on a diet of Tex Avery and films like Fear No Evil, The Legend of Hell House and Curse of the Demon / Night of the Demon (an excellent Jacques Tourneur directed adaptation of the aforementioned M.R. James story which this film obliquely references several times) then you'll probably take this one to heart.

This movie proves that you don't need a lot of loud special effects or gory slashing sprees to create an effective horror film. A simple story line with creepy shadows, graveyards and a freaky one-eyed old woman are good enough to keep you entertained. There are scenes that might gross you out but there is a dose of sly humor lurking beneath all the outlandishness. Allison Loman (who resembles a young Jessica Lange) is wonderful in the lead role! The only reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is for the ending, which disappointed me.

Sam Raimi has been one of the top cult directors ever since he shocked the horror world with his impossibly low-budget debut The Evil Dead. He proved himself the absolute master of black absurdist comedy with the sequel Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn, and added polish and cheesy goody times to the adventure flick that closed the series, Army of Darkness. He has also become known for his comic book adaptations Darkman and the massively successful big-budget Spider-Man series, and has produced some outstanding cult fantasy television series such as Xena Warrior Princess, Hercules The Legendary Journeys, and the recent Legend of the Seeker. Not a bad career for any geek god. But having faltered in recent years with the embarrassingly underwhelming "Spider-Man 3", and by attaching his name to bad horror films such as the American J-horror remake The Grudge and the abysmal Boogeyman, I may have lost my faith just for a little while. Sorry I doubted you, Mr. Raimi. To think I almost didn't go see "Drag Me to Hell" in the theater. PG-13 typically spells "kiddie horror", but the man made it work. Spectacularly. I never once felt that this film pulled a single punch. It not only shows you the good/bad stuff, it vomits it on the floor in front of you and forces you to laugh at it. This is overall the best reviewed horror film in recent memory and in this man's opinion Raimi has again served every other horror director out there nearly 30 years after "Evil Dead" dropped. Applause is called for.

Let me get to what those of us who saw it in the theater want to know first. How is the unrated director's cut? Well, it's exactly the same film. However, there are a few shots where extra gore was added that apparently would have pushed an already intense horror film into R-rated territory so they were left out of the theatrical cut. I welcome the additions, but I do wish there was more material to justify the "unrated director's cut" label, which implies something more substantial even beyond an R-rating. And while I'm on about the DVD, the special features consist solely of about 30 minutes of excellent production diaries. I wanted more. A commentary with Raimi and the stars would have been great considering the director's talent for entertaining commentary tracks and the great personalities of the film's two charming stars Justin Long an Alison Lohman

The story and setup of "Drag Me to Hell" couldn't be any more standard or unimaginative. Through a series of unfortunate events, a good person makes a bad decision under stress and winds up cursed by an old Gypsy woman. An evil spirit will torment her for three days and then take her soul into the abyss unless she can find a way to stop or appease it. Standard. Unimaginative. But I've often said that I don't mind the redundancy inherent in genre entertainment so long as the execution is solid; and it is beyond solid in this one. Ms. Lohman is the loveliest thing I've seen on screen in some time. As our protagonist, Christine, she is sweet and vulnerable but also prone to temperamental moments of badaz$ery, which come off as downright cute and funny no matter how mean-spirited her intent. Raimi' sadism when it comes to his leads is legendary and Christine gets no quarter. Coping with stressful situations like meeting her boyfriend's terrifyingly shallow and judgmental mother or vying for a promotion at work against a ruthless amoral up-and-comer are bad enough without an evil spirit only you can see or hear blasting terrifying visions in your face without warning. The film definitely uses the speakers to maximum effect which could be annoying in it's volume, but I feel that the film is trying to put you in Christine's shoes and makes you personally experience what is driving her insane, which is the flash-visions and screaming noise that accompany them. Some may call them cheap "startle scares", but I feel it was for immersive purposes and I can tell you, it keeps you on edge. Mission accomplished, then.

"Drag Me to Hell" is not a comedy, but it is very funny. The film is absolutely grim and you will see some deaths that will horrify you. The scream of sheer terror that punctuates the opening scene is one I can't get out of my head. Unlike most horror directors, Raimi doesn't care about morality. He doesn't go into a film thinking he's going to punish the horny stoned teenagers and let the good-hearted innocents off with a warning. Like I said, he's a sadist. Regardless of how cute and nice and young a character is, they're getting it bad one way or another. Empathy will get you nowhere. It's all part of the fun.....if you're a sick bastard like me, that is.

The story goes from one messed-up situation to the next and Christine winds up seeking supernatural help to try and do away with her invisible demonic tormentor. The film climaxes in what has got to be the wildest and most bizarre seance in cinema history. That scene was where the film went from good fun to borderline classic for me. I laughed hard even as I was completely shell-shocked by what I was seeing onscreen at the time. It's relatively easy to be scary OR funny, but scary AND funny at the same time? That takes a special kind of talent. I have only one major complaint about "Drag Me to Hell" and it consists of a single bad CG shot. Most of the effects are practical, and you will see in the production diaries that Lohman quite literally ate maggots to get a good shot. What a trooper. I told you Raimi's a beast. Any way you slice it, this movie is the real deal and it pushed it's PG-13 rating as far as possible with disturbing death, vile excretions in unsavory place, and a generally sadistic attitude. Even with a few extra-nasty shots, the core film is only slightly more shocking then it already was. It's still the same movie. No better, no worse.

"Drag Me to Hell" has all of the familiar charm and zany unexpected bleak humor we've come to know from the director, and it's really amazing how comfortably he slipped right back into the horror genre. In my opinion it can easily stand alongside the Evil Dead films in terms of sheer entertainment value and really could easily be seen as taking place in the same "universe" as it were. Some may (and do) disagree but I would sentence those people to watch every inane toothless PG-13 horror film of the last two decades and then give this one another shot. It'll look like The Exorcist in comparison. Good modern horror is hard to find on the big screen these days. When we get it, let's embrace it with both arms, shall we?