Drag me to Hell

I was mid-way through typing a lengthy long-winded post explaining why I was left feeling so horribly disappointed by this film, but I just now read this guy's post on IMDB and he perfectly sums up for me exactly how I feel. So yeah, gonna save me the effort and let him do all the talking instead! :cool:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1127180/board/nest/139125340

I watched this tonight in the UK and I was hugely underwhelmed by it. I am a massive Sam Raimi fan, Evil Dead 2 is one of my favourite films. I was really looking forward to this but it was a big disappointment from Sam Raimi, after all the positive reviews it is getting.

The CGI effects were very bad, I thought Raimi was a keen on using practical effects and animatronics. The floating hankerchief, the flying eyeballs and the dragging to hell scene all used very poor and obvious CGI, which was distracting.

The film seemed to stop and start, with lulls of pointless dialogue in between the action. Raimi said he wanted it to be like a rollercoster, but it seemed to drag at times, despite being only 99 minutes long.

Alison Lohman was good in her role, but had poor dialogue to work with, although you don't go to a Sam Raimi film for the dialogue.

Evil Dead 2 is a much better film that DMTH, despite being made over 20 years ago. The pacing is much better, the effects are better, and it is much more exciting and funny.

One thing that bugged was the scene in the car that originally had Christine stapling Mrs Ganush's head multiple times, as was in the leaked footage from comic-con. They editted out one of these staplings so that the scene carried on with 3 staples in her head, even though she had only fired 2. It lost some of its impact and hilarity. I know I am being picky but I was expecting so much of this film and I hate to say it but I was disappointed.

EDIT: Evil Dead II made this film look positively pedestrian in comparison. Any of you that are under the impression that this was an utterly brilliant film, should go away, right NOW, and watch Evil Dead II (or The Evil Dead or even Army Of Darkness) and I promise you, you'll be coming back here with brand new eyes and a whole different perspective...
 
I heartily disagree. AOD is funny as hell, and while it wasn't as good as ED2 it's still Raimi on top form. All the quotes that people who are obsessed with the Evil Dead films quote are actually from AOD!

"This is my BOOMstick!"
"Hail to the king Baby!"

Just off the top of my head.

I like the fact that it was so different to ED2, if it was a carbon copy of the previous film everybody would hate it for being the same.

The only thing i agree with you on is that we do desperately need Evil Dead 4, the Spider-Man films are crap and Raimi shouldn't waste his time with a 4th SM film, even though he no doubt will...
 
Lol.

I haven't laughed so much since Crank 2. How many films can mix real fear and massive jumps with crazy laugh out loud humour?

Yes, it was basic with a load of no namers in it but you could tell it was a Raimi to it's core. Let the man have his fun.

Go see it, it's way better than a lot of other sh*te out at the moment.
 
I agree completely. I think it's a shame the PG-13/15 thing appears to have put people off- as Empire mag are claiming- because Drag Me to Hell was ****ing awesome.
 
Having been let down by the so called "horror" films out this year - The Unborn, Haunting in Connecticut etc - this was such a refreshing change, mixing horror and comedy perfectly. You can tell Sam Raimi was totally enjoying himself, going back to his Evil Dead roots, building up the tension and then delivering. The sense of dread in the audience as the spooky music stopped and you knew something bad was about to happen, and eventually did, was a joy. :)

My only complaint was the sound. I can usually put up with loud sound effects but this film was REALLY OTT LOUD!!!. I had to put my in-ear headphones in, it was so loud. Maybe it was the cinema I went to. Anyone else have that?

The ending was obvious, but no less fun wondering how it was going to end.

I heard there might be a sequel.:confused: Will they call it "Drag me from Hell" or something? :D
 
A lot of the people at the showing I saw had obviously never seen an Evil Dead movie as they didn't get how a horror film could also be full of slapstick. They didn't seem to get that it was put in there intentionally and just saw it as a failure to be scary.
A shame as this is a nice throwback to Evil Dead 1 and 2. I actually prefer my ED scary (like much of the first one) rather than 'Three Stooges with zombies' but the balance was just right here I think.
 
I went to watch it again tonight, as someone else wanted to see it too. Just as good as the first time - even with some of the jumpy bits!

The part where Christine first meets the psychic, and he sees the image of Mrs Ganush and the demon flash up on screen is truly terrifying! I even 'double-jumped' this time!

It's got loaRAB the classic motifs from the horror genre, but that is more of a good thing than bad (as some others on here are saying).

The sound on this film is excellent too. The surround FX at the cinema, and the deafening 'wall of noise' near the end really add to the effect of the film. (I can't imagine the effect being anywhere the same on a TV at home)

I'm definitely going to have to try and watch the Evil Dead films after seeing this...plus other films featuring the lovely Miss. Lohman in them :p (I'll stop now, before sounding stalker-esque! LOL)
 
I usually don't bother with horror films as i find them a bit tedious. Watched this due to its high imdb score and absolutely loved it. It has a clever theme running through it and was all the better for not taking itself seriously. Watch it, 8/10.
 
Hmmm...

That could be a good idea! I did wonder if they would maybe do one with just her boyfriend. Did he actually see the hell at the end or was it covered by the train? (I covered my eyes!).

I originally thought they worked the switch in the car but then thought they hadn't because you could see the 'button' in the envelope. Clever, so the ending was actually a bit of a surprise for me
 
I thought that this film was a huge dissapointment:(

An effects driven pile of 'pg' rubbish.
 
This film was a complete pile of steaming horse manure.

I can't believe I wasted two hours of my life on it.

It's just so unbelievably ridiculous. Why can't a film be tense and scary without being stupidly over the top?
 
How strange, I was about to come on here and post the same comments! I was expecting something scary and brilliant but it was pretty poor and some of the effects were really badly done :eek:
 
Saw this in the cinema several months ago. There were loaRAB of teens and tweens there. It was the most riotous atmosphere I've ever experienced going to see a film. Still a surreal memory and I thought it was quite entertaining for what it was.
 
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