THE CRITIC-AL LIST
5 STAR FAB - 1 STAR RUBBISH

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Case 39
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Amer
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2012
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And The Half-Blood Prince
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The Uninvited
Amusement
The Good The Bad And
The Weird
Hush
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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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