Thursday, July 2, 2009

Summer Fest Day One: Field Trip to Hell

Drag Me to Hell was better than I expected it to be. After watching it, I have to admit I was surprised to see the PG-13 pop up on the screen after some vintage Universal Studios ads. The movie doesn't feel PG-13 or play by PG-13 rules, and it's meaner (and funnier) than anything Ghost House has done so far.

What I dug the most is that Sam Raimi has been paying attention to all of the cheap tricks that make up contemporary horror - particularly the "jump" scare - and he toys with your expectations. There are clear setups for "jump" scares that elicit a quick jolt, and then Raimi hits you with the actually creepy shit. The fights are pretty brutal, especially between Alison Lohman and the Lamia (alive and dead). I thought the seance scene was well executed, down to the CG goat, and overall the film integrates shocks with laughs very well.

On the other hand, as Mr. Cranpire noted, the movie can drag at points, especially in lulls between the quite inventive scares. There's not anything that Justin Long did or could have done differently with his character, but he doesn't register much despite having a sustained presence. The opening "kill", where a child is dragged to hell, doesn't work as well on a visceral or shocking level as it probably should. If you know how the movie ends (and the one I put up in an earlier write up is 100% accurate), the surprise component of the ending is even more clear, although I'm betting many of you could see how it happens.

All things considered, this was a much better choice for Summer Fest Field Trip than last year's. Drag Me to Hell is a high energy good time horror movie made by someone I'd thought had left the genre behind long ago.

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