Drag Me to Hell

An utterly boring and plotless horror. From start to finish there was nothing scary; the only good scene was maybe the one in the car when the old lady started laying into Christine. The rest isn’t worth my breath and I can’t understand the high scores given by others. I couldn’t find a single excuse to give this even one dumb star... Complete nonsense... (06/01/2013)

With Drag Me to Hell, Raimi makes a partial return to “his” 1980s, but he doesn’t forget to also use what he has learned in the mainstream waters. I think this film is just the kind that can satisfy horror fans, while also entertain and scare a little the average viewer. The only little thing I could reproach is the exaggerated likeability. Fortunately, the scary scenes, the humour and the jump-scares are in the right proportion for the result to still be horror instead of comedy (the reviews had made me expect a lot more jokes and I was pleasantly surprised by the reality) – basically, it’s something between The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II. Both approaches work perfectly, when Raimi wants you to feel tense (or scared), you will feel tense (in the moments when danger is approaching), and he’s just as good at making you laugh (when the danger shows itself in all its beauty, expelling various bodily fluids). 8/10 (18/06/2009)

A masterful game with genre tropes that manages to thrill, frighten, and entertain, often all within a single scene. After Spider-Man 3, Raimi makes it clear that he hasn't lost his judgment and knows how to entertain himself and the audience. Anyone who gives it less than three stars simply hasn't understood that Raimi made a fool of them. 4 ½. (27/08/2009)

THE MINISTRY OF BODILY FLUIDS WARNS: DON'T EAT WHILE WATCHING THIS MOVIE! Hooray, hooray, four absolutely pure and honestly deserved stars! Sam Raimi has forgotten about the awkward Spider-Man and returned to where we love him best. Among the dead and the undead, in dark houses, in dug up cemeteries in a heavy downpour... Drag Me to Hell is almost a perfect horror film, which I ate up like a raspberry thanks to its reasonable length. Suspenseful scenes are interspersed with even more suspenseful ones, with every scare leading to the proverbial hand (you learn, for example, how to use a stapler in self-defense, or that goats can talk when it comes to them), and the whole film is conceived as a super-fun reminder of the work of the late 80s and early 90s. Moreover, Raimi can afford to employ actors who know how to act, and he was lucky enough to have a sensational atmospheric score. It should be noted that the gypsy witch is one of the most repulsive characters of all time. And being a person who hates any bodily fluids besides blood, I really preferred not to watch some of the scenes with this content. Disgusting. But I'll watch it again. (04/04/2010)

Figure skating through different film genres, with a boldness spiced up with a unique creative signature. Sam Raimi is a genius who has mastered everything from jump scares and spooky atmospheres to social humor and Hitchcock-like family dinners. But the combination of witty humor and polished horror is not to everyone’s taste. That’s why I prefer the first Evil Dead to the second for the reason that it is a pure horror movie... and I love Jackson’s Braindead for the reason that it is a pure comedy. I’ve never liked when these two genres get mixed. But I’m still giving this film four stars, mainly for Sam’s refined perfectionism. (08/07/2009)