Drag Me to Hell

2009. Dir: Sam Raimi. Starring: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao and David Paymer. ●●●●○



I very rarely go to the cinema to see comedies, and horror films come up on my screenings with even less regularity, however Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell seemed interesting enough to go to a midnight screening at the local fleapit. Shock confession; I've never seen the Evil Dead trilogy, so I only really had the Spiderman movies to whet my interest in Raimi's powers. I'm really happy to say it was well worth the cinema ticket.



In a nutshell Drag me to Hell is the story of a loan officer, sweet Alison Lohman, who refuses to grant an extension on the mortgage of Mrs. Ganesh (Lorna Raver - great makeup). Naturally the thought of being repossesed make the old woman a bit peeved, so she uses a Gypsy curse to bring forth the Lamia, a goat-like spirit who will torment Lohman for three days before dragging her to hell!!!

It's quite clearly utter rubbish, but the trick to horror-comedies is not the story but the execution. And Raimi more than delivers in that regard.

In terms of the outright scares there are some splendid jump cuts and the possessed hankerchief (you have to see it) is genuinely frightening as it hits the car. There are also more unsettling creeps, rot and decay is a recurring theme for the Lamia to present us with. On the comedy side there's the general ickiness of being being gummed by an old woman, and I've never laughed so much at someone saying "Here, Kitty Kitty".

One aspect I found fascinating, especially from a horror, is how rounded Lohman's character is. Partly this can be put down to her down to earth performance and partly due to the film concentrating on her and not racking up a large body count like so many horror films do. Her refusal to admit the whole truth to her boyfriend, the ambition in her job, the steady change in her resourcefulness following the curse and even the highlighted attitudes towards class and equal rights in the workplace all helped to bring the audience in on her side. Of course we're implicit with the prejudices, if Lohman had played the homeless gypsy and Raver the cursed bank employee would we have felt the same? There's an interesting debate for the comments - should anyone get this far.


The performances are generally good, although I'd particularly highlight the baddies (Raver, Reggie Lee as her obsequious colleague and Molly Cheek as the Mother-in-Law) as the stand out performers. All of them manage to prevent their roles becoming the one-note monsters they could have been in lesser films.

Techincally the most impressive elements are the sound design (squelching and shocking) and the make-up department do a great job.

The double ending is a bit of a cop-out, I think it would have worked bteer if it was allowed to last longer. But overall a jolly good night out. Go and see it, or I'll get the Lamia on you!