"Drag Me To Hell" Provides Plenty Of Very Effective Jump Scares

Sam Raimi's long-awaited return to the horror genre, Drag Me to Hell, is a fun, frightening blend of terrified screams and disgusted, gut-wrench laughter that aims to recapture the genre-bending spirit of Raimi's pre-Spider-Man cult favorites like Evil Dead II. So if you're a member of the hardcore Raimi elite, rest assured that this is the film you've been waiting nearly a decade for. But despite its wild entertainment value, the film also begs a few important, if somewhat controversial, questions. At what point in a celebrated director's career do audiences simply become too forgiving? Is having a particular cinematic style or point-of-view, no matter how dynamic, sufficient to excuse a few notable shortcomings? And does it matter how something makes you scream or laugh, so much as that it made you react at all?

But before we tackle some of the bigger issues associated with Drag Me to Hell, we should say from the outset that this film is absolute, undiluted Raimi -- his love-letter to those fans who've waited patiently for a departure from the mainstream and a return to his kinetic, tongue-through-cheek brand of horror-comedy. The film is simultaneously loud, fast, brutal, hilarious, disgusting, dark and whimsical, combining legitimate scares with gruesome, almost slapstick gags to great and bloody effect. Drag Me to Hell is, without a doubt, the kind of film where, if you're pre-disposed to love it, you absolutely will.

For those less familiar with the film, Drag Me to Hell is the story of a young woman named Christine (Alison Lohman), who in an effort to get promoted at the bank where she works denies the pleas of an old gypsy woman (Lorna Raver) to extend the loan on her family home. After a violent, and distinctly Raimi-esque, attack in the bank's garage later that evening, the gypsy places a curse on Christine, calling down the demonic Lamia to plague her for three terrifying days before finally coming to drag Christine, quite literally, to Hell. This is explained to Christine by a palm-reader at the objection of Christine's more level-headed boyfriend, Clay Dalton (Justin Long).

From this point, the script written by Raimi and his brother Ivan, becomes a rollercoaster of emotion for Christine who seeks out the help of a psychic, Rham Jas (Dileep Rao) who breaks the bad news to her. Needless to say, hilarity does not ensue – but plenty of really, really bad things happen over and over.
Are there scenes in the film where the main character does something ridiculous and implausible? Plenty. Does she take an awful lot of punishment without showing any signs of wear? Absolutely. Do you jump out of your seat even when you can feel that Raimi is trying to scare you? Every time!

The genius of the script is that sometimes in films, bad things happen to random people without provocation. But he takes us through Christine’s psyche and moral center as we explore how she extricates herself from awful predicament.

While some of Raimi’s scenes are tremendously suspenseful, the director makes sure to balance the story out with plenty of humorous moments designed to take just a little bit of edge off of the story. Int the process, the film can be an enjoyable experience, especially if viewed with a group of friends. Reminiscent of classic 1970s horror films that were best experienced if one speaks to the screen, “Drag Me To Hell” may be one of the most entertaining horror films made in quite awhile.

Despite my historical reluctance to embrace these visual theme rides, “Drag Me To Hell” may not be the perfect scary movie but one thing for sure is that Raimi has a handle on his material from start to finish and while the story may go off the rails every now and then by the time it pulls back in the station you will enjoy the ride!