Post by Vits on Sept 1, 2021 7:31:02 GMT
DRAG ME TO HELL represents Sam Raimi's return to his horror/comedy roots after tackling different genres throughout the 1990s and the 2000s. It's entertaining, but it would be better if it didn't rely so much on jump scares. Alison Lohman's performance is good and she has a lot of chemistry with Justin Long. There's a good chunk of gross-out humor (I saw the Unrated Cut) and it's only funny when the focus is on the characters' "WTF" faces. Sam truly misses the mark when delving into the line between right and wrong. You see, a loan officer named Christine Brown tells an old woman named Sylvia Ganush that she can't extend her mortgage. It seems like the movie wants the audience to be sure that Christine isn't a villain (the characters point out on different occasions throughout the movie that Mrs. Ganush had already received 2 extensions; Christine is polite even when Mrs. Ganush is rude and intrusive; Christine offers alternatives and Mrs. Ganush rejects them for silly reasons; Mrs. Ganush makes a fool of herself at the bank but she shifts the blame on Christine and then tries to attack her), but then it turns into one of those cautionary tales where something supernatural happens to someone (Mrs. Ganush curses Christine) in order to learn a lesson, which is contradictory.
6/10
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During the last scene, Christine is talking to her boyfriend Clay at a train station and she realizes that the curse isn't over (despite her efforts). The shock makes her take a step back. Sorry, did I say "a step"? I meant to say she unrealistically walks in reverse for a couple of feet until she falls down onto the tracks. Why was this necessary for the script? Because some fiery demonic hands grab her and a train passes on top of her, implying that the evil spirit wanted to make sure there wouldn't be any witnesses (what would it have done otherwise?). Even for a purposefully campy movie like this, it felt very forced. One of the last things Christine does is acknowledge that she could've given Mrs. Ganush another extension. Aside from it being bullshit in this context where there's a clear villain, it feels like the movie is saying that her regret isn't enough to escape from punishment. I couldn't laugh at the poetic justice because it felt too mean-spirited. Look, I'm not the biggest fan of the EVIL DEAD franchise, but I don't remember being bothered by the moments where Sam would make a character suffer a darkly funny tragedy, because it wasn't part of a morality play. Those were just examples of irony.
6/10
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You can read comments of other movies in my blog.
