"The action is hammered home with some of the most compelling sound ever found in a movie"
Sam Raimi, legendary cult director of the Evil Dead series returns with his first horror movie in nine years and it's one to remember; a relentless ride of thrills, shocks and breathless excitement.
Christine Brown (Alison Lohman), under pressure to make tough decisions at her local bank, turns away an old gypsy lady, Mrs. Ganush, who begs her for another extension on her housing payment. Mrs. Ganush doesn't take too kindly to her refusal for help and turns from harmless old lady to bile-spitting crone and curses one of Christine's buttons which summons the Lamia - a powerful demon which will drag her kicking and screaming to hell in three days.
What follows is a film which is constantly terrifying and relentlessly exciting without resorting to excessive amounts of gore. There's been a dramatic increase in films that rely on torture-porn for their shocks (Wolf Creek, Saw, Hostel) but Raimi manages to elicit pant-wetting terror without ever resorting to graphic detail. Like all good horror directors, he's aware that what you don't see is more important than what you do - even though the movie does have its fair share of gross-out moments. It's an absolute wonder that it's only a 15.
Its undercurrent of comedy prevents you from taking it all too seriously (those familiar with Raimi's Evil Dead series will feel right at home), but this never detracts from the unrelenting terror on screen - when you're not laughing, you'll be trying to hide behind your popcorn. It's exactly like a rollercoaster ride; you know something's coming, but you can't get off. And like every good rollercoaster, you'll be screaming in a mixture of terror, exhilaration and pure unadulterated fun.
The action is hammered home with some of the most compelling sound ever found in a movie. It's something that really has to be seen at the cinema to be believed. It's musically haunting and unnerving - violins screech across every nerve and the sound effects are so oppressive that you really feel that they could be forcing a way inside your head.
The film is absolutely unapologetic for what it is and that's a wonderful thing. There's a curse. In three days demons will come to drag Christine to hell. That's it. It plays this remarkably straight which is refreshing in the light of most modern horror movies which often try to ram social commentary down your throat.
Drag Me To Hell is a masterpiece of horror and an absolute must see this summer. It left me shell-shocked for several hours after I came out of the cinema and it's a rare film indeed that can generate that kind of reaction. Go see it immediately, or feel the wrath of a gypsy's curse.
