Advanced Search

Related News

Home » Feature » Events and TV

'Drag' proves to be wild ride

By Christy Lemire | June 7, 2009, Sunday | Print Edition

THE name alone, "Drag Me to Hell," tells you exactly what this is: an unabashed celebration of B-movie schlockery.

But the dichotomies director Sam Raimi presents within that familiar genre are what make this such a kick.

Raimi returns to the kind of cheeky horror that made him a cult favorite with the low-budget "Evil Dead" trilogy, but he applies all the high-tech tricks he's acquired with the blockbuster "Spider-Man" franchise.

He and brother Ivan Raimi have written a rather old-fashioned terror tale, full of curses and creaks, bumps and shrieks, but fortunately they've mixed in a heavy splattering of their trademark dark humor.

Some of the absurdly funny visual gags include creative uses for office supplies, a talking goat, a persistent fly and an unsuspecting kitty.

The physical comedy is cartoony, but in a clever, classic way, and it never detracts from the genuine suspense.

All these contradictions add up to one hell of a ride: you'll squirm, you'll scream, you'll laugh and beg for more.

Alison Lohman's character, the innocent Christine Brown, gets way more than she ever could have imagined.

A bank loan officer competing for a promotion, Christine denies a creepy old woman an extension on her mortgage loan, thinking it is the right decision to impress her boss (David Paymer).

Turns out she turned down the wrong customer: Mrs Ganush (Lorna Raver) is a vengeful gypsy who feels so shamed, she places a powerful curse on Christine.

Shadows start following her and gusts of wind blow through her doors and windows, violently tossing her about the house.

Raimi gets a little repetitive with the shock moments and their accompanying blasts of noise; but having said that, this is also where his newfound use of CGI comes in handy.

But we could have figured out something was a bit off with Mrs Ganush by the glass eye, rotting fingernails, jagged dentures and copious globs of phlegm she hocks up into her dainty handkerchief.

She may look frail but Mrs Ganush is fearsome; the Raimis have created one memorable villain.

Christine tries to extricate herself from this hex with the help of her skeptical but patient boyfriend, Clay (Justin Long), as well as a psychic (Dileep Rao) who's in over his head.

Rao gets some of the movie's best deadpan lines and represents just one example of the inspired supporting cast.

Chelcie Ross and Molly Cheek are perfect as Clay's WASPy parents, who look down on Christine for her farm-girl upbringing, and Reggie Lee brings unexpected unctuousness to the role of Stu, Christine's chief rival for the assistant manager gig.

As in Raimi's underseen but suspenseful "A Simple Plan," "Drag Me to Hell" tracks what happens when an ordinary person finds herself in an extraordinary circumstance, and how one bad move leads to another and another.

Lohman makes this crazy scenario almost relatable because she's just like you and me: she means well, but her ambition leads her down a dangerous path.

By the time the credits roll, you'll be glad you got dragged along with her.

Events and TV


 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend