Universal Pictures
surface-to-air missile Raimi‘s yield over the preceding 20 years has been disappointingly low . Throughout the eighties and other ’ ninety , Raimi establish himself as one of the most distinct artistic voices of his generation . With films likeEvil Dead II , Darkman , andArmy of Darkness , he meld his independent filmmaking roots with his uniquely wacky , acidulent sense of humour to deliver horror and blockbuster experiences that are as confidently fashionable as they are mind - bogglingly ludricous . In the former ’ XC , he proved himself as a filmmaker subject of gain laurels - worthy musical style fare ( A Simple Plan ) and working with bona fide movie stars ( Sharon Stone inThe Quick and the Dead ) before becoming a beloved household name by directing2002’sSpider - Manand its subsequence , 2004’sSpider - homo 2 .
In the class since his artistically compromisedSpider - Man 3hit theaters in 2007 , though , Raimi has more or less faded aside from the mainstream consciousness . He ’s only directed a few films sinceSpider - military man 3 , include the ambitious , but disappointingOz : The Great and Powerfuland 2022’sDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness , which he seemingly did as a favor to Marvel Studios . That said , betweenSpider - homo 3andOz : The Great and herculean , Raimi did conduct the underrated 2009 spine - chillerDrag Me to Hell .
Universal Pictures
The film , which fete its fifteenth day of remembrance this calendar week , is one of the best horror comedies of the one C . Despite that fact , it is n’t useable to stream anywhere powerful now , and its praises have gone strangely unvalued in late years .
write by Raimi and his brother , Ivan , before the former made 2002’sSpider - Man , Drag Me to Hellis a deranged horror drollery that feel of a piece with some of its director ’s earliest movie — namely , 1987’sEvil Dead IIand 1992’sArmy of Darkness . Like those movies , Drag Me to Helladheres to its own cartoonish sensory faculty of system of logic ( or illogic , if you ’d choose ) that may be too odd for certain viewers , but which pave the way for some of the most audacious and brainsick narrative twists and visual muzzle that you ’ll likely ever see . Its heightened feeling is made apparent in the film ’s prologue , which follows two parents as they unsuccessfully prove to keep open their young son from a swearing by taking him to a local medium , who ’s forced to watch as he ’s remorselessly dragged into a fiery chasm by spiteful spirits .
The picture then thin ahead several decades and displacement its focus to Christine Brown ( a very secret plan Alison Lohman ) , a depository financial institution loanword officeholder who — in an endeavour to test herself able of making tough decision in front of her boss — decides to abnegate a mortgage extension to Sylvia Ganush ( Lorna Raver ) , an older European Roma cleaning woman . In response , Sylvia ambushes Christine and curses her to three days of torment and then eternal damnation for “ shaming ” her . This apparatus , which is expeditiously and exuberantly executed by Raimi inDrag Me to Hell‘s first human action , is play along by an hour ’s worth of increasingly demented , raucously silly episode of terror andLooney Tunes - esque resilient - action clowning .
Drag Me to Hellranks unwaveringly as Raimi ’s most modestly budget modern film , but its minuscule product budget ( a account $ 30 million ) did n’t finish him from bundle it full of harebrained set art object . These include a daytime attack on Christine by a shadow fiend and a centre séance that features physical transformations , move pieces of article of furniture , levitating bodies , and — most hilariously of all — a talking goat that call Lohman ’s terrorized loanword officer a “ disastrous hearted harlot ” to her face .
Raimi fills these sequence , as well as Sylvia ’s initial carpark attack on Christine , with gag - out - loud details and cutaway . From a daemon coughing up the stiff physical structure of Christine ’s drained cat like a furball to Sylvia ’s dental plate falling out when she ’s slam into Christine ’s car fascia , Drag Me to Hellhits you with enough clever visual jokes to effectively prompt you why Raimi felt like such a fresh voice when he first emerged on the filmmaking scenery in the early ’ 80s .
alfresco of its self-aggrandizing define piece , sweep up Me to Hellstill has passel of other memorable moments to put up , including an unexpected epistaxis that quickly sour into a full eruption of stock at Christine ’s workplace . The film is brim with grotesque twists that step up so rapidly that you ca n’t help but laugh at the absurdity of them along with Raimi . trail Me to Hellis as mean - spirited as a repugnance comedy can get , but it bewilder all of its many jabs and gag with enough stylus , vigour , and wit that it quick wins you over .
The film sees Raimi operating in complete tonal control all the manner from its legitimately creepy , faze opening to its last - minute of arc , all - time - with child punch line of an ending . The latter scene sendsDrag Me to Hellout on an appropriately sneering , craze high ( or low , depending on how you look at it ) and cements the movie ’s place as a repulsion comedy for the eld . In a mint of ways , it feel like the last true Sam Raimi plastic film we ’ve gotten . That ’s a frustrative reality to cope with , given that it ’s been 15 years sinceDrag Me to Hellwas released .
On the other helping hand , the studio apartment chore Raimi has done since only make it that much easier to appreciate the frantic greatness ofDrag Me to Hell , a film that walks a difficult tonal tightrope and emerge , unlike its characters , completely unscathed . It ’s a horror comedy that knows exactly what it want to do , and it does so with a belly full of acid and a wicked , bring down grinning on its face the whole sentence .
