For those looking for a Raimi fix of old and, lusting over the camp, blood drenched hilarity of Evil Dead but wanting a bit more in special effects than stop-motion clay, then
Drag Me to Hell is just what the psychiatrist ordered. Starring Justin Long from Jeepers Creepers fame and Alison Lohman from "cute as a button" fame,
Drag Me to Hell is a brave venture for Raimi. Trying to follow a cult classic franchise like Evil Dead with another horror movie after the likes of Spiderman sounds more dangerous for Raimi than drunken urination sounds for Edward Scissorhands, but
Drag Me to Hell is a worthy return to the horror scene after the mediocrity or non-horrorness of the movies in between. The gore and clowning are toned down but this is more than amply compensated for by a solid storyline, some quality performances from the cast and some gross-out scenes involving a toothless, slobbery granny that
no amount of blood and guts could compete with on the gross-out scale.
Christine Brown (Lohman) is a loan officer in a bank fighting a battle of butt-sucking with her co-worker Stu Rubin (Reggie Lee) for the position of assistant manager. The attention of all the butt-suckage is Mr. Jacks, who hints that maybe Christine needs to make some tough decisions and show her steel balls if she is to become the person to fill the slot of assistant manager. Unfortunately for the ambitious Miss Brown her steel-ball-showing opportunity arrives with the dentally and ocularly impaired Sylvia Ganush (Lorna Raver), an aged gypsyish lady looking for a third extension on her mortgage. Having her pleas fall on deaf ears, Ganush decides that begging may sort the situation. With plan B failing, Ganush resorts to elderly violence, plan C also fails so the only option is Plan D.. grtting made up as the basement dweller from Evil Dead, further violence and cursing Christine's button.
Afraid for her button, Christine convinces her boyfriend, Clay Dalton (Justin Long), that the most rational plan of action is to see what a fortune teller has to say for $60. In a true horror-cliché way, Rham Jas (Dileep Rao), the teller of fortunes, freaks out and tells Christine that she has been cursed. It takes a poltergeist, some bad dreams and the
most ultimate on-screen nosebleed in the history of the world ever to convince Christine that there may be some truth in the curse diagnosis.
Deciding to track down Ganush and apologize and ask how many pretty-pleases it would take to remove the curse, Christine and her button are shocked to find out that the in a ding-dong twist of fate the witch is dead. Back to Rham goes Christine only to discover that the only way to appease the evil is to sacrifice her pussy to Satan (but not in the way a meth-head hooker does) or pay $10000 cash to a more experienced purveyor of mumbo-jumbo, otherwise she is in for 3 days of torment then a one way ticket to Hell with no discount for cuteness.
Kitten death, sacks full of dollars, séances and the death of the more experienced medium still don't appease the demon of vengeance so Rham suggests the most radical last resort (which is also the simplest and doesn’t cost $10060)... give the button away and pass the curse on to someone you don’t like, but ensure it is the button you give away.
Sorry to compare with Evil Dead again, but as Raimi's most influential attack on the horror genre, it is inevitable that such comparisons would be made after taking a horror hiatus. Raimi has forgotten none of the things that made Evil Dead great and has packaged them into a movie that has a more mainstream appeal with more structured yet just as madcap and fantastical plot devices.
Drag Me to Hell is more fun for a horror fan than a hospital dumpster is for a hobo with enough grossness to turn the stomach of a scat chick, plus it is a triumphant return to classic horror for Raimi and a refreshing addition to the horror genre on the whole.
