Plot: What’s it about?
You’ve got to hand it to director Sam Raimi. The man has been behind one of the biggest cult classics of all-time with Evil Dead II and at the other end of the spectrum, he’s helmed three of the most commercially successful movies with the Spider-Man franchise. Now, arguably the Spider-Man films came later in his career and I’m sure Raimi’s not hurting financially. So, it’s always nice to see someone return to their roots and give audiences more of what made them famous to begin with. Such is the case with Drag Me to Hell, a movie that defied my expectations and is destined to be a new cult classic right up there with Evil Dead II. Admittedly horror films are a dime a dozen these days and not all of them good. In fact the last two good horror movies I’ve seen are foreign in nature with “The Host” and “Let the Right One In”. And even those aren’t horror films in the traditional sense of the word. So is Drag Me to Hell worthy of a spot on your shelf? Read on and find out…
We meet Christine Brown (Alison Lohman), young and eager loan officer gunning for the vacant Assistant Manager position. But she’s got competition with new guy Stu (Reggie Lee), a more aggressive person than Christine. Christine is from the farm, used to be overweight and is dating Clay Dalton (Justin Long). As part of her plan to get the coveted position, Christine is faced with the worst of all customers. A woman with a glass eye who coughs up things we don’t even want to think about. She’s asking for an extension on her home loan and one that Christine must regrettably deny. The customer doesn’t take kindly to this sort of rejection and is dragged out, literally kicking and screaming. Later, in the parking lot, she confronts Christine in what might be the funniest (yes, you read that right) fight I’ve ever seen in film. Eventually Christine is cursed and she’s now only three days to live before she’s, you guessed it, dragged to hell. Will the mysterious psychic be able to help her? Will she sacrifice her kitten in hopes of staying alive? Will she get the assistant manager job?
Drag Me to Hell is so tongue in cheek (sometimes literally, I might add) that I had no idea as to what to think when I popped the disc into the player. Raimi is clearly having a good time here and some of the scenes are downright comical. Then there are others straight out of the “Horror 101” book with the scary images, loud sound and you jump. This is a different kind of movie, for sure and fans of the Evil Dead movies should be right at home as this is certainly in the same ballpark as those. Alison Lohman is a modern-day scream queen and she took the role over from Ellen Page just a few weeks before the shoot began. Would this movie have been as entertaining with Page as the lead? We’ll never know. But one thing is for certain, Drag Me to Hell is entertaining, funny and oh yeah – there’s even a bit of horror thrown in for good measure.
Video: How does it look?
This disc sports a new 2K remaster of the original camera negative and it shows. Literally. The 2.40: 1 AVC HD transfer sports a strong color palette and this palette includes plenty of red (Christine has one hell of a nosebleed in one scene) and even the phlegm has a very natural yellowish tone to it (you’ll know what I’m talking about once you see the film). Detail level is on par with today’s modern releases and I’m hard-pressed to find much, if anything, wrong with this transfer. If you’re looking for a top notch image, you’ve come to the right place.
Audio: How does it sound?
Audio wise, this seems to be the same DTS HD Master Audio track on the previous disc. But it really works here. Raimi seems to purposefully overdo it with the loud clanging noises and the high-pitched screams. The general ambiance is bumped up a few notches in some key sequences as well. Dialogue is as we might expect, very natural. As we might expect from a movie of this nature, the soundtrack does it’s job here. It rocks. While I feel that it was a bit too loud at times, I do think that was the intention. As we might expect, the ending act contains most of the action and your speakers will certainly get a workout. A nice job.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Disc One
- Production Diaries – These are the same Production Diaries hosted by Justin Long with some behind the scenes footage and the make up, and so forth.
- Vintage Interviews – Basically the same thing we’ve all seen before, the talking heads praising the film.
- Theatrical Trailers
Disc Two
- Hitting all the Right Notes – Composer Christopher Young, clearly a fan of Mr. Raimi, talks about his approach to the film’s score.
- Curses! – In arguably the best scene in the movie (in the parking garage) Lorna Raver, who played the gypsy, shares her experiences on the character as well as her prep for the role.
- To Hell and Back – In a treat, we do get a new featurette with Alison Lohman as she tells some tales as well as her admiration for Sam Raimi.
- Still Gallery
The Bottom Line
You either get Sam Raimi’s horror films or you don’t. Or maybe a better way to put it is that you either like/enjoy them or you don’t. Regardless, Drag Me To Hell is one I’d not seen since it first came out on Blu-ray. Scream!Factory, as they so often do, have given it a nice once over and even threw in an extra supplement. It’s a nice step up from Universal’s offering a decade ago.
