THE CRITIC-AL LIST
Reviews by Alan Jones
5 STAR FAB - 1 STAR RUBBISH

Salt
The Expendables
The Last Airbender
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Inception
Predators
The Twilight Saga:Eclipse
Toy Story 3
Hot Tub Time Machine
Iron Man 2
Repo Men
The Collector
Clash of the Titans
Shelter
How To Train Your Dragon
Kick-Ass
Shutter Island
Alice In Wonderland
The Crazies
Case 39
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Legion
The Lovely Bones
Black Death
Daybreakers
Avatar
Ninja Assassin
The Descent: Part 2
Amer
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
The Box
2012
Disney's A Christmas Carol
The Horseman
Solomon Kane
Pandorum
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs
District 9
An Education
G.I. Joe: The Rise Of The Cobra
Orphan
A Perfect Getaway
The Imaginarium Of
Doctor Parnassus
Up
Harry Potter
And The Half-Blood Prince
The Taking of Pelham 123
Transformers
The Revenge Of The Fallen
Antichrist
Terminator Salvation
Last House On The Left
Inglorious Basterds
Angels & Demons
Adventureland
Star Trek
Crank: High Voltage
Coraline
Dragonball Evolution
Let The Right One In
Drag Me To Hell
Race to Witch Mountain
Knowing
Monsters Vs. Aliens
Not Quite Hollywood
Lesbian Vampire Killers
Martyrs
The Children
Surveillance
Watchmen
The Unborn
The International
Friday The 13th
Franklyn
Push
Punisher:War Zone
The Good The Bad And
The Weird
Hush
Underworld
The Rise OF The Lycans
My Bloody Valentine
Bolt
Slumdog Millionaire

Directed by Sam Raimi. Starring Justin Long, Alison Lohman, Jessica Lucas, David Paymer, Reggie Lee, Fernanda Romero, Bonnie Aarons, Joanne Baron, Alex Veadov. Horror, USA, 90 min. Web Site.

Sam Raimi is back doing what he does best in the anything-for-a-gasp-comic-nightmare genre he used to own in the old EVIL DEAD days.

Clearly fitting the ratings-friendly modus operandi of his Ghost House Pictures Company, DRAG ME TO HELL isn’t a gore-drenched exploiter in the fine Video Nasty tradition the SPIDER-MAN man once used to epitomize. But it does resemble the gross encounters of the absurd kind as hysterically overdone in true EVIL DEAD II style. As with those fine classics in the EVIL DEAD trilogy, there’s no real story here, just a simple supernatural situation. Ambitious banker Christine Brown (BEOWULF’s Alison Lohman) refuses mysterious gypsy woman Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver) a home loan extension and gets cursed for her uncaring attitude. The legend of the Lamia means an evil goat-like spirit will stalk Christine for three terrifying days before finally pulling her to Hades for an eternity of tortured damnation. Can she escape her fate? Although this terror tale (concocted by Sam and Ivan Raimi) is nothing more than another adaptation of M. R. James’ ‘Casting the Runes’ (the basis for NIGHT OF THE DEMON), it hurtles along at Raimi’s signature maniacal pace with his trademark light and surefooted touch intact. It’s another live-action cartoon, refusing to take itself seriously, with exploding imagery and outrageous special effects matching the hyperactive camerawork and very funny script. The blatantly disgusting, but absolutely hilarious visuals, take in Christine being gummed relentlessly by Mrs. Ganush’s denture-less mouth, bug dreams including flies up nostrils, eyeball cakes and cute kitten animal sacrifice. An extended CGI nosebleed is the only gore on offer, which may upset Raimi’s hardcore, but proof positive that he can still startle without it. The whole tongue-in-cheek larky atmosphere reaches its energetic EC Comics apotheosis in the wonderfully staged Gates-To-Hell climax. Although it won’t surprise anyone to learn there is rather unpleasant twist waiting in the ‘Tales from the Crypt’ wings. Lohman plays it perfectly straight as the loan officer torn between doing the right thing and trying to get a promotional leg-up. Raimi couldn’t have known it of course during filming that an added layer of news headline villainy would get added to her nasty banker role. Yet that now does provide an extra edge to the deliberately old-fashioned eerie ambience.

Justin (JEEPERS CREEPERS) Long as her skeptical boyfriend could easily be Raimi’s new Bruce Campbell too if he wanted.  Silly, squirmy and hugely entertaining, DRAG ME TO HELL is a first-class comedy fright flick returning Raimi to the fan-boy fold. Groovy!

Alan Jones

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