Drag Me to Hell

Honestly, no horror movie has brought me as much joy since The Ring as Sam Raimi's latest piece. Although it may not be innovative like The Ring, it is a tribute to its genre, a well-made film that includes all the basic genre motifs and attributes. We have here an aggressive witch, exorcism, a demon, mysticism, occultism, desecration of a grave, various phobias, jump scares, and a carefully built atmosphere. Even the opening credits cleverly use visual motifs from medieval books on Satanism and witchcraft. But the most important thing is Raimi's ability to skillfully balance on the edge of the genre and constantly undermine it with comedic and self-ironic elements. It's not strictly a comedy, as the horror element prevails, but Raimi winks at his audience and makes it clear that he knows his fans aren't looking for an Oscar-worthy spectacle, but for a good dose of entertainment. It's been a long time since a director played with me like this, and his imaginative use of some classic horror props is simply delightful. For example, a cross, used in countless horror movies and borrowed from a gothic novel, appears for only about 20 seconds, but the heroine feels its presence overwhelmingly physically. Although I understood the twist as an experienced movie fan the moment the lips licked the envelope, the way Raimi brought his film to its finale was surprising. All in all, I think it's the best film in its genre in the last 3 years or so. Overall impression: 90%. If Raimi had omitted some elements of splatterpunk, my satisfaction would have been even greater. Nevertheless, it's a good return to his directorial roots. To confirm the film's quality, all I had to do was watch the enthusiastic faces of the audience in the movie theater - such reactions can only be caused by a fraction of horror films these days... (25/06/2009)

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)

It lacks atmosphere for a horror. On the other hand, it has too many jumps waiting which let you know about themselves long ahead of time. I jumped just once and that was when a friend brushed against my hand when reaching for his drink. I hope it was by mistake. The black humor scenes work nicely, but there aren’t enough of them to make this work as a comedy. Apart from the “Itchy and Scratchy" fights between Christine and Mrs. Ganush, not much memorable happened. And Raimi without Bruce... Those words just don’t fit together in one sentence. But it’s true and it’s doubly disappointing when you realize that the role of Milos would fit him like a glove. In fact, I can’t believe that it wasn’t originally intended for him. (21/06/2009)

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)

Excellent in terms of atmosphere, with good performances , and technically at least above average. Sam Raimi doesn't hold back and delivers a fairly entertaining, albeit simple, piece. Alison Lohman's delicacy beautifully contrasts with the unpleasant setting, the ominous sky, and the brutal performance by Lorna Raver. Only that green slime wasn't quite my cup of tea. (14/11/2009)