The Screengrab : drag me to hell

“Drag Me to Hell” (Scott’s Take)

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:30:00 GMT

Judging from last night’s screening of Drag Me to Hell, Sam Raimi’s long-awaited return to the horror genre gets the sort of reaction you’d imagine the director was after: screams of terror dissolving almost instantly into self-mocking laughter at having fallen for the director’s tricks yet again. This is a movie that goes bump in the night – if you want your date jumping into your lap, it’s the perfect choice for a night out. But let’s not get carried away equating its modest charms with the demented energy and deranged inventiveness of Raimi’s early work, most notably Evil Dead 2.

Actually, “charms” is not a great word choice, unless you find the prospect of a wizened Gypsy removing her rotting dentures in extreme close-up charming. (The Hungarian-American community is probably not going to be thrilled with the presentation of their culture on display here.) Said toothless crone is about to be thrown out of her house after missing several mortgage payments, unless she can convince loan officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) to extend her deadline. Normally, the kind-hearted Christine would do just that, but she happens to be up for a big promotion, and bank manager Mr. Jacks (David Paymer) would like to see her exhibit a little backbone.

So Christine turns the old woman down, and is rewarded for her fortitude with a Gypsy curse. She will be tormented by demons for three days, at the end of which she will be, yes, dragged into Hell, unless she can find some way of breaking the curse or passing it on to someone else. This makes for some rocky moments in her relationship with boyfriend Clay (Justin Long), particularly when she experiences a serious freak-out in the midst of dinner with his stodgy parents. Can the psychic Rham Jas (Dileep Rao) help her ward off the forces of evil..and win that big promotion at the bank?

Raimi relies heavily on (admittedly well-executed) shock effects; he’s not shy about slathering his jump-out-of-the-shadows moments with over-the-top musical stingers, all the better to get the whole theater hopping at once. He gets a lot of mileage out of bodily fluids and gooey innards, too, most notably when a Gypsy wake goes horribly awry. You can’t blame him for going to his bag of tricks so often if his only other choice was relying on Lohman’s acting chops to carry the movie. You’ll wait in vain for any sparks between her and Long, who reprises his usual lightweight “I’m a Mac” persona. No, Drag Me to Hell isn’t a compelling character study, but it’s entertaining enough in its squishy-squirmy way, and the payoff (which had me slapping my forehead wondering why I didn’t see it coming) delivers a little jolt of that old time Raimi magic.

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Screengrab Review: "Drag Me to Hell"

Nick Schager — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:30:00 GMT

Sam Raimi gets back to basics with Drag Me to Hell, serving up the type of comic-horror mayhem that defined his career-making Evil Dead trilogy, and which is here infused with a shrewd, gleeful strain of current-events topicality. Though equipped with the PG-13 rating that inevitably makes horror fans wary, Raimi’s film pulls few punches in the nastiness department, its action coated in spurting bodily fluids emanating from nasty orifices, and dressed up with plenty of rotten skin, fetid corpses, and demonic insanity to satisfy genre purists. It’s not the quantity of ickiness that makes Drag Me to Hell a madcap, go-for-broke entertainment, however, but the energy Raimi brings to his material, the director orchestrating his over-the-top gruesomeness with such joy that it proves infectious, each subsequent jolt-scare (replete with accompanying turned-to-eleven sound effect) and gross-out maneuver perfectly pitched to be both frightening and hilarious. That balance is considerably tricky to achieve, and unlike in his leaden, overstuffed Spider-Man 3, Raimi effortlessly pulls it off, with his swift pacing, whip-smart edits, and hyper-goofy cinematographic zooms, pans and twirls transforming the proceedings into a delirious haunted house carnival ride.

Without a second wasted, Drag Me to Hell establishes both its premise and its social commentary. Christine (Alison Lohman, alternately sweet, flustered and frightened) is a considerate loan officer at a California bank where she hopes to be promoted to assistant manager, a position that her boss (David Paymer) says requires a person who can “make the tough decisions.” When Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver), an elderly gypsy woman with scraggly fingernails, sharp teeth and one milky white eye, shows up asking for an extension on her mortgage payment, Christine reluctantly makes her boss proud by denying the request. This rejection quickly leads to public humiliation for Mrs. Ganush, who in turn attacks Christine in a dark parking lot, a gonzo car-set skirmish involving staplers, cinder blocks and one hilariously disgusting mouth-chin bite that concludes with the gypsy hag uttering ominous incantations. The next day, Christine has the promotion wrapped up (much to her co-worker competitor’s chagrin), but she’s soon beset by strange voices and visions, leading her – despite the protestations of loyal psychology professor boyfriend Clay (Justin Long) – to seek out the advice of a psychic (Dileep Rao), who breaks the bad news: she’s cursed, and in three days time, will take a one-way trip to the netherworld courtesy of a malevolent goat-demon.

The ensuing madness is of a feverish sort, with Raimi assuredly barreling from one creepy-amusing scenario to the next, whether it be animal-lover Christine’s attempts to ward off her unholy pursuer with a live-feline sacrifice (right after we spy a poster of a hanging kitty with the tagline “Baby, Hang On!”), a dinner-gone-awry with Clay’s rich, snooty parents, or Christine’s face serving as the recurring target for projectile vomiting. Raimi draws his characters in sharp, confident lines – notably with regards to his heroine’s past weight-related issues – while unwaveringly maintaining the focus on horror thrills. Drag Me to Hell has a swiftness that keeps anxiety and anticipation high. And by pivoting the story around mortgage loans, fiscal solvency, and the greed and selfishness that drives the financial industry, he jolts the film with a measure of hot-button relevance that complicates sympathy for his protagonist, who’s at once a nice, generous girl damned by a misguided decision, as well as a stand-in for the profit-over-all-else cretins who helped nearly tank the global economy. Raimi may take the easy way out with his conclusion, preferring a traditional gotcha finale to a more twisted, greed-run-amok available alternative, but as far as smart, scintillating genre efforts go, his Hades-bound trip is well-worth taking.

Sam Raimi Gets Back to Basics with "Drag Me to Hell"

Phil Nugent — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:30:00 GMT

Sam Raimi earned the love and devotion of geeks everywhere with the Evil Dead pictures and the original comic book movie Darkman, then rolled up his sleeves and proved to the industry that he could suck it up and direct Kevin Costner (in the sensitive Crash-Davis-at-midlife picture For Love of the Game) if that's what it took to get them to trust him with Spider-Man. Three web-slinger movies later, Raimi has finally gotten in a position where he can make another horror flick, this time with a budget and a highly regarded young actress, Alison Lohman, in the Bruce Campbell part. James Rocchi stopped by the set of Drag Me to Hell to observe. "It's a long-standing piece of trivia," he writes, "that Raimi wears a suit to the set every day, in the mold of Alfred Hitchcock, so I made sure I put on an appropriate suit-and-tie combo for our visit. When Raimi came over to meet us, though, he was wearing a T-shirt and blazer, unshaven, relaxed and happy. Looking me up and down, he laughs: 'I see one member of the press dressed appropriately.'"

The script, which Raimi co-wrote with his brother Ted, who could cure cancer tomorrow and still remain best known to most of the world as Joxer the Mighty from Xena: Warrior Princess, casts Lohman as a loan officer at a bank who chooses to deny an old woman the loan she needs to keep from losing her home because Lohman is angling for a promotion and wants to impress her boss with her ruthlessness. It turns out that the old woman is a witch who retaliates by cursing Lohman with an evil spirit. It's torn from today's headlines, though it's not immediately clear who we're supposed to root for. Raimi says that "my brother and I wanted to write a story about a woman who, like in a lot of morality tales, has a choice to do good or evil, makes a sinful decision, and ends up paying the price for it -- or not, if she can escape."

Raimi also believes that Drag Me to Hell "is a little more complex in some ways than the Evil Dead movies, but the Evil Dead movies were suspense and scares and gross-outs and trying to be fun and funny. This is trying to do the same thing, but we're also trying to base how it kicks off in a way that's ... I don't want to say 'a little more real-world', because, at the time, believe it or not, I was trying to make the beginning of those movies 'real.' All I can say is this is a PG-13 picture, so it's a little less assaultive than the Evil Dead movies, which were unrated films." For those of us with fond memories of Bruce Campbell pulling a demon's dick off and the infamous sexual assault by forest in the first Evil Dead picture, that PG-13 business is ominous; the greatest suspense element connected to the movie may be waiting to see whether Raimi can still do this shit, or whether his acceptance by the industry will inhibit his grisly creativity. There may be signs of hope in the words of special effects chief Greg Nicotero, who recalls that Raimi brought him on board with a pep talk: "Listen, this is back to traditional stuff ... I want to use animatronics and puppets and dummy heads. None of that CG stuff. Get that crazy crap out of here!" Instead, Nicotero says, "We were designing rotted corpses and demon makeup and possession makeup," adding, "In this instance Sam wanted to stick with the traditional prosthetics, like puppets." No crazy stuff there, for sure.

Screengrab Predicts Summer 2009: The Toss-Ups (Part Four)

Andrew Osborne — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:30:00 GMT

So, now that you’ve seen our consensus picks for the Top 5 Hits & the Top 5 Bombs of Summer 2009, here are the films that we didn’t know quite what to do with...

Andrew:

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (August 21)

This one hits theaters closer to Labor Day (and the start of the “quality” awards-bait season) than Memorial Day -- assuming QT actually finishes his grindhouse WW2 epic on time -- and the theaters it hits will probably be art houses rather than multiplexes, where nobody will be expecting the confusingly titled Basterds to rack up Pulp Fiction-esque "national sensation" numbers...but Tarantino’s latest seems like quite the odd duck nonetheless, with a promised ultra-violence sensibility that may have trouble finding its artsy splatter audience even WITH all the ass-kicking Jews and Brad Pitt’s funny southern accent.

BRÜNO (June 10)

Oh, sure...Borat was a national sensation, and the annoying guy in your office still says, “Niiice!” on a daily basis. But I’m guessing it was a lot easier for most Americans to feel “in” on the joke when Sacha Baron Cohen was making fun of them funny furriners than it will be to laugh at their own homophobic prejudices or their own knee-jerk PC responses to the heterosexual Cohen’s flouncing, mincing gay character. But then again, you know what they say about that whole “no such thing as bad publicity” thing...

Nick:

1) Public Enemies, because Michael Mann has yet to make an out-and-out summer blockbuster.

2) UP, because eagerness for Pixar’s latest has been especially muted.

3) Angels & Demons, because The Da Vinci Code craze seems to have subsided.

4) Julie & Julia, because its August release date implies that the studio thinks it has more limited appeal than Meryl Streep’s The Devil Wears Prada or Mamma Mia!

5) The Ugly Truth, because even though it’s the summer’s chief rom-com, it’s hard to imagine Katherine Heigl continuing to be a serious box-office draw.

Paul:

Drag Me to Hell- Sam Raimi fans are pumped for his return to horror, but will anyone else care? Will this be the film that finally lifts the box-office curse on summer horror movies?

Terminator Salvation- is there life for Terminator after Arnold? Will people pay to see the movie when they can just as easily watch the Terminator TV series at home? And can Christian Bale still reel in audiences now that his profanity-filled tirade has been heard by millions?

The Taking of Pelham 123- in a summer full of epic effects-driven movies, can audiences be bothered with an old-school hostage-negotiation thriller? And will MGM release a super-sweet new DVD edition of the original film just in time for the remake? Because they really should.

Year One- will a high-concept caveman comedy, even one starring Jack Black and Michael Cera, play in this age of improvisational laffers? And will there be zug-zug like in Caveman?

Public Enemies- is Johnny Depp really the box office draw Hollywood thinks he is after the Pirates trilogy? Can Michael Mann become bankable again after the subpar returns for Miami Vice? And in this era of Grand Theft Auto, will ticket buyers get excited for a fedoras-and-tommy-guns gangster shoot’em’up?

Bruno- can the least funny character from Da Ali G Show actually carry a film? Will people flock to laugh at the strange misadventures of a flamingly gay Austrian, or will they be scared off by the homosexuality factor?

Bandslam- is Vanessa Anne Hudgens still a draw even when she isn’t starring in High School Musicals? Will tween-friendly fare still do solid box office even during the summer movie season?

Taking Woodstock- is the August 14 release date occasioned by the 40th anniversary of Woodstock simply a symbolic gesture, or will nostalgia for the Summer of Love turn this into an unexpected late-summer hit?

Click Here For The Hits (Parts One & Two), The Bombs (Part Three) and The Honorable Mentions (Parts Five & Six)

Contributors: Andrew Osborne, Nick Schager, Paul Clark

Trailer Review: Drag Me to Hell

Paul Clark — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Can the director of one of Hollywood’s highest-grossing trilogies of all time return to his roots? This is the question that faces longtime fans of Sam Raimi, who began his career with gonzo horror-comedies before becoming one of Hollywood’s big-ticket filmmakers with the Spider-Man franchise. And while Drag Me to Hell looks to be slicker than his classic Evil Dead movies, it’s nonetheless a heartening development in Raimi’s career, a sign that despite the mainstream fare he’s made in the ensuring years, he’s not ashamed of his beginnings. As for the trailer itself, I think it looks pretty promising. The movie appears to have the same moral underpinnings as much of the best horror films- in this case, punishing the heroine (played by Alison Lohman) for trying to further her career at the expense of others. It’s a little hard to get a read on the horror stuff due to the jackhammer editing, but based on what I could make out, Raimi hasn’t lost his ability to go for broke in the interest of scaring the audience. In other words, I’m there. Only one question remains: where’s Bruce Campbell?

Morning Deal Report: Giamatti and Witherspoon Are Downsizing

Scott Von Doviak — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:30:00 GMT

Alexander Payne has finished his latest script, a “social satire” (aren’t they all?) called Downsizing. Paul Giamatti, Reese Witherspoon and Sacha Baron Cohen are all attached, and it’s clear from the plot description that Payne is taking the title quite literally. Giamatti plays “a man low on money who decides he can have a much nicer life if he undergoes a process to shrink himself,” Variety reports.

Atom Egoyan is remaking the French thriller Nathalie…, and naturally he’s calling it Chloe. The story “centers on a married woman (Julianne Moore) who hires a prostitute (Amanda Seyfried) to find out whether her husband (Liam Neeson) is cheating on her. The prostitute, however, cons her about the nature of her husband's fidelity, a move that puts the family in jeopardy,” per The Hollywood Reporter.

Sam Raimi and Jonathan Demme have been added to the upcoming SXSW roster. Raimi’s work-in-progress Drag Me to Hell will screen in the midnight slot at the Paramount Theater on March 15, while Demme will premiere his latest documentary, Neil Young Trunk Show. Yes, Jonathan Demme has made another Neil Young performance film. I can’t stop him.

Related:
No Venom for Sam Raimi
Scorsese Passes the Baton to Demme on Bob Marley Documentary

Raimi Runs Out of Ellen Page, Gets Some Lohman Instead

John Constantine — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:16:00 GMT

The news that Ellen Page was dropping out of Sam Raimi’s long overdue return to horror, Drag Me to Hell, was perturbing when it hit last Sunday. Would they be able to start production before the looming SAG strike starts. What would Sam do without the hook of new-it-thang Page? Looks like he didn’t waste time worrying about it. Word came out today that Alison Lohman of Matchstick Men fame will be picking up the slack. The Screengrab endorses this choice as Lohman’s a talented young lady. However, we’re still disappointed that Bruce Campbell wasn’t cast instead.

Morning Deal Report: To Hell With Ellen Page

Peter Smith — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:15:00 GMT

It girl Ellen Page will star in Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell. Drag Me to Hell sounds kind of cool — it's said to be Raimi's return to his budget-horror roots after a decade of blockbuster work.

Stephen Frears's next film is Cheri, an adaptation of the French novel. It'll star Michelle Pfeiffer, reteaming Frears with his Dangerous Liaisons star.

The writers' strike could end Wednesday, depending how its members vote on a possible settlement tomorrow night. No settlement probably means no Oscars at this point — a possibility that has a certain appeal. But let's hope it's over, for the sake of the writers and their coworkers.

Morning Deal Report: Tell Me Bruce Campbell's In It

Peter Smith — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 16:30:00 GMT

Sam Raimi returns to his roots, with a movie called Drag Me to Hell, cowritten with his brother Ivan. Now that is awesome. Key quote: "The appeal to Sam. . . was returning to what he had once done and loved doing, which was entertaining a very specific group of fans and providing a roller coaster ride for them." I think I hear a very specific group of fans salivating already.

Jennifer Hudson, Queen Latifah and Sophie Okonedo have joined Fox Searchlight's adaptation of the bestseller The Secret Life of Bees. Improbably, it's about "an eccentric trio of beekeeping sisters," not a quirky regional spelling competition. Dakota Fanning may also be involved.

Here come the big guns: now the Vatican itself has spoken out against The Golden Compass, instead of just letting William Donahue sputter about it on Fox News. Guys, chill — it's not even that good.