DRAG ME TO HELL

[Greg Cox]

I'm not sure if I want to see this or not. Raimi was awesome back in the day, but after the Spider-Man movies he's become a bit of a sell-out. The PG-13 "horror" movies his Ghost House Pictures produces are a bunch of crap. The Grudge and Boogeyman were both crap. So, when I saw this movie was going to be Sam Raimi's "Big return to horror" I was a bit skeptic and when I saw the rating I figured it was going to be more of his usual tripe of late.

It's probably worth pointing out that Raimi didn't direct the GRUDGE movies, BOOGEYMAN, etcetera. He just produced them. I think the last horror movie Raimi actually directed was THE GIFT, which was was pretty good.

 

[davejames]

**MILD SPOILERS**

Huh, surprised there aren't more reviews on here. Anyway, I really enjoyed it, even though I was kinda hoping it would be even MORE wild and outrageous and off-the-wall that it was.

I appreciate that Raimi was trying to tell a real, fleshed-out story with real characters (a rarity in horror movies nowadays), but somehow the movie felt a little TOO subdued and grounded. I really wanted to see him go a lot crazier, and throw all kinds of weird shit at the screen. Unfortunately though, most of the scares came either from shadows or from the old woman popping up out of nowhere-- which, well, started to get a bit old after awhile (although the attack in the parking garage was absolute BRILLIANCE). And the fact all the craziness was limited only to the girl was a bit disappointing too.

And as great as most of Raimi's direction was, his twist ending was made PAINFULLY obvious, and really undercut (at least for me) the entire last act of the movie. I would have expected him to disguise that a lot better than he did.

Still though, there was a lot of fun stuff in here, and I definitely had a good time overall. If you're a Raimi fan (and judging from the excited reactions at seeing the Evil Dead car, there were a lot of them in my theater ), you should check it out.

 

[JacksonArcher]

Huh, I was completely shocked at the "twist". Never saw it coming.

Guess I'm dumb.

 

[davejames]

Huh, I was completely shocked at the "twist". Never saw it coming.

Guess I'm dumb.

Well maybe I just watch WAAAY too many movies. The whole ruse felt like something I've seen many times before. Plus the movie gave me way too much time to think about it once I realized something was probably up.


(hmm, looks like my spoiler code isn't working. darn)

 

[The Evil Dead]

I've decided that Sam Raimi should direct every horror film from now on.

 

[JacksonArcher]

Huh, I was completely shocked at the "twist". Never saw it coming.

Guess I'm dumb.

Well maybe I just watch WAAAY too many movies. The whole ruse felt like something I've seen many times before. Plus the movie gave me way too much time to think about it once I realized something was probably up.


(hmm, looks like my spoiler code isn't working. darn)

I think I saw it coming in the car, but when she found it, I dismissed it completely. I'm trying to be as vague as possible since the spoiler code wasn't working for me either, ha.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Loved it. Good old fashioned scare you with suggestion, and loud noises. I miss those horrors.
Plenty of laughs too. My non-horror-liking friend seemed to enjoy it too.
Probably see it again soon.

Saw the twist coming too, then just dismissed it until she looked in the shop window and it clicked in to place again.

 

[Awesome Possum]

I saw the twist coming, but only because I assumed that since Sam Raimi is one cruel bastard he'd go for it. Other movies would have had a happy ending.

 

[Pingfah]

I have just returned from viewing it, I loved it.

It was more in the typical style of the Evil Dead movies, and just Raimi's earlier style of direction, but still distinguished itself well. It didn't feel like a retread so much as it just felt like a continuation of that very individual manner of film making. Some really clinically gross out moments but without employing too much in the way of extreme splatter effects, excellent building of tension, really good performances, the only thing it was missing was Bruce Campbell.

 

[Goliath]

I'll just add another voice to the chorus of "I liked its".

As for the twist ending--I knew some kind of twist was coming, but didn't anticipate what made the twist possible. If you know what I mean.

It was a very satisfying twist, in any case.

 

[Starkers]

Fantastic film, Raimi at his best. I think there are few directors who could mesh a classic old school horror (jumps, shadows and noises only) with gross out green goo spewing old lady corpses, and make it funny and scary in equal measure.

Did see the twist coming, and the cartoon violence was just a bit too cartoony at times, but on the whole this was wonderful, great little homages to some of my favourite horror films like The Haunting and Night of the Demon (even down to the railway station ending)

Justin Long must be the youngest professor ever though...

 

[Newski]

Many spoilers, but if you can't guess them from the previews, I want you to stop breathing the same oxygen I do....

Drag Me To Hell is a movie that pretty much starts out great, but ends up being dragged down to hell by the third act, mostly because Sam Raimi can't avoid, well, convention.

It's got some great sequences, and is pretty frightening, enough to forgive the fact that it's mostly driven by things popping out and going "Boo!"

Unfortunately, what happens if you see a gun in the first act that doesn't go off in the third act? You wonder why they even let us know there is a gun in the first place.

Beginning: Kid is dragged to hell by a demon (the Lamia). Spiritualist devotes her life to stopping it.

Half way throug: The Spiritualist is back, but guess what? All she does is talk, die, and pad the film. Because hey, who wants that?

And then the movie just goes down the same beaten path every horror film goes down. So why bother? Why should I even care at this point, if I know what's going to happen next?

And, because it's a horror movie, our hero gets dragged to hell. Sorry, I know, it's a spoiler. But is it really? It's on the posters, in the trailer, and I went to the theater KNOWING it was going to happen. I just hoped I would be surprised. But hey, it's a typical horror movie and I guess they needed a typical horror movie ending. Instead of something original.


I don't need a happy ending. I just think a tacky, cliched, predictable unhappy ending is just as stupid as they typical Hollywood Happy ending... Because all horror films end this way. I want something fresh. If you must have an unhappy ending, at least don't give us the one we know will happen from the get go? Or at least, have more to it than that.


Quite frankly, it was a cop out ending. Actually, I screamed "Cop out!"

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Many spoilers, but if you can't guess them from the previews, I want you to stop breathing the same oxygen I do....

Drag Me To Hell is a movie that pretty much starts out great, but ends up being dragged down to hell by the third act, mostly because Sam Raimi can't avoid, well, convention.

It's got some great sequences, and is pretty frightening, enough to forgive the fact that it's mostly driven by things popping out and going "Boo!"

Unfortunately, what happens if you see a gun in the first act that doesn't go off in the third act? You wonder why they even let us know there is a gun in the first place.

Beginning: Kid is dragged to hell by a demon (the Lamia). Spiritualist devotes her life to stopping it.

Half way throug: The Spiritualist is back, but guess what? All she does is talk, die, and pad the film. Because hey, who wants that?

And then the movie just goes down the same beaten path every horror film goes down. So why bother? Why should I even care at this point, if I know what's going to happen next?

And, because it's a horror movie, our hero gets dragged to hell. Sorry, I know, it's a spoiler. But is it really? It's on the posters, in the trailer, and I went to the theater KNOWING it was going to happen. I just hoped I would be surprised. But hey, it's a typical horror movie and I guess they needed a typical horror movie ending. Instead of something original.


I don't need a happy ending. I just think a tacky, cliched, predictable unhappy ending is just as stupid as they typical Hollywood Happy ending... Because all horror films end this way. I want something fresh. If you must have an unhappy ending, at least don't give us the one we know will happen from the get go? Or at least, have more to it than that.


Quite frankly, it was a cop out ending. Actually, I screamed "Cop out!"

So it's a cop out that the very thing that was promised happened?

 

[Newski]

Many spoilers, but if you can't guess them from the previews, I want you to stop breathing the same oxygen I do....

Drag Me To Hell is a movie that pretty much starts out great, but ends up being dragged down to hell by the third act, mostly because Sam Raimi can't avoid, well, convention.

It's got some great sequences, and is pretty frightening, enough to forgive the fact that it's mostly driven by things popping out and going "Boo!"

Unfortunately, what happens if you see a gun in the first act that doesn't go off in the third act? You wonder why they even let us know there is a gun in the first place.

Beginning: Kid is dragged to hell by a demon (the Lamia). Spiritualist devotes her life to stopping it.

Half way throug: The Spiritualist is back, but guess what? All she does is talk, die, and pad the film. Because hey, who wants that?

And then the movie just goes down the same beaten path every horror film goes down. So why bother? Why should I even care at this point, if I know what's going to happen next?

And, because it's a horror movie, our hero gets dragged to hell. Sorry, I know, it's a spoiler. But is it really? It's on the posters, in the trailer, and I went to the theater KNOWING it was going to happen. I just hoped I would be surprised. But hey, it's a typical horror movie and I guess they needed a typical horror movie ending. Instead of something original.


I don't need a happy ending. I just think a tacky, cliched, predictable unhappy ending is just as stupid as they typical Hollywood Happy ending... Because all horror films end this way. I want something fresh. If you must have an unhappy ending, at least don't give us the one we know will happen from the get go? Or at least, have more to it than that.


Quite frankly, it was a cop out ending. Actually, I screamed "Cop out!"

So it's a cop out that the very thing that was promised happened?

No, because it's a typical horror film ending.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Many spoilers, but if you can't guess them from the previews, I want you to stop breathing the same oxygen I do....

Drag Me To Hell is a movie that pretty much starts out great, but ends up being dragged down to hell by the third act, mostly because Sam Raimi can't avoid, well, convention.

It's got some great sequences, and is pretty frightening, enough to forgive the fact that it's mostly driven by things popping out and going "Boo!"

Unfortunately, what happens if you see a gun in the first act that doesn't go off in the third act? You wonder why they even let us know there is a gun in the first place.

Beginning: Kid is dragged to hell by a demon (the Lamia). Spiritualist devotes her life to stopping it.

Half way throug: The Spiritualist is back, but guess what? All she does is talk, die, and pad the film. Because hey, who wants that?

And then the movie just goes down the same beaten path every horror film goes down. So why bother? Why should I even care at this point, if I know what's going to happen next?

And, because it's a horror movie, our hero gets dragged to hell. Sorry, I know, it's a spoiler. But is it really? It's on the posters, in the trailer, and I went to the theater KNOWING it was going to happen. I just hoped I would be surprised. But hey, it's a typical horror movie and I guess they needed a typical horror movie ending. Instead of something original.


I don't need a happy ending. I just think a tacky, cliched, predictable unhappy ending is just as stupid as they typical Hollywood Happy ending... Because all horror films end this way. I want something fresh. If you must have an unhappy ending, at least don't give us the one we know will happen from the get go? Or at least, have more to it than that.


Quite frankly, it was a cop out ending. Actually, I screamed "Cop out!"

So it's a cop out that the very thing that was promised happened?

No, because it's a typical horror film ending.

I can't deny I was hoping for some interesting twist, and I expected the ending, but with any other film maker I would probably have expected the happy ending to have stuck.

 

[Goliath]

No, because it's a typical horror film ending.

How so?

I have twenty-nine horror films in my DVD collection, ranging from classics like The Exorcist and The Omen to schlock like The Car and The Devil's Rain, and only one of them has an ending that even somewhat resembles Drag Me to Hell's.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

That's what I was going to say. Drag Me to Hell's ending was hardly typical.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

That's what I was going to say. Drag Me to Hell's ending was hardly typical.

It was typical for Raimi horror...

 

[Goliath]

That's what I was going to say. Drag Me to Hell's ending was hardly typical.

It was typical for Raimi horror...

Again: how so?

(That's not a rhetorical question, BTW: I would honestly like to know how you see it as typical, since it doesn't seem that way to me)

 

[Newski]

That's what I was going to say. Drag Me to Hell's ending was hardly typical.

It was typical for Raimi horror...

Again: how so?

(That's not a rhetorical question, BTW: I would honestly like to know how you see it as typical, since it doesn't seem that way to me)

Have you seen the movie Thinner? It's about a guy who is cursed by a Gypsy, gets thinner, and dies.

This is a movie about somebody who is cursed and Dragged to Hell.


It's just conventional horror movie crap. Often times in horror films, they go for the downbeat "scary ending" even when it's one we see coming miles away. Hence, Typical horror movie ending.

Twin Peaks had a better ending.... It was an unhappy one... But at least it wasn't what we expected. Nor was it simply "Haha hero dies bad guy wins" which, by the way, was what this was. It was a terrible ending that's become too common.

And we all knew it was coming. If you didn't, I really think you should tear up your high school diploma because damn, I really don't think you deserve it.