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Drag Me To Hell (2009)
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Reviews Counted:204
Fresh:187
Rotten:17
Average Rating:7.6/10
Consensus: Sam Raimi returns to top form with Drag Me to Hell, a frightening, hilarious, delightfully campy thrill ride.
Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for sequences of horror violence, terror, disturbing images and language.
Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Theatrical Release:27-05-2009
Synopsis: After nearly two decades of successful detours into mature thrillers (THE GIFT, A SIMPLE PLAN) and superhero blockbusters (the Spider-Man series), director Sam Raimi returns--full tilt--to his... After nearly two decades of successful detours into mature thrillers (THE GIFT, A SIMPLE PLAN) and superhero blockbusters (the Spider-Man series), director Sam Raimi returns--full tilt--to his scrappy horror roots with DRAG ME TO HELL. Alison Lohman stars as Christine Brown, a soft-spoken Southern girl with a good heart, a PhD-toting boyfriend (Justin Long), and a job as a loan officer at a bank just outside of Los Angeles. When evicting a vile and negligent old woman named Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver) seems to be the only way to secure an important promotion, Christine pushes her moral flexibility about as far as it can go (not very far at all) only to dearly pay the price as the recipient of a rather nasty curse. The next three days of Christine’s life amount to an unimaginable endurance test in which she is subject to physical and psychological torture while a terrifying demon draws ever closer to take her to hell, where she would burn for eternity. Raimi manages to keep the feverish awfulness of DRAG ME's central concept palpable while layering on his distinctly disturbing and exhilaratingly kinetic macabre-meets-slapstick portraiture, and the result is an efficient celebration of the art of horror movies that’s campy, scary, and fun. Similar to HBO’s classic TALES FROM THE CRYPT series, HELL feels like a living, breathing EC comic. While it may come as a minor shock that Bruce Campbell, the beloved mouthpiece of the EVIL DEAD franchise, is nowhere to be found in this unabashed horror-comedy, Christine is an excellent twist on Raimi's genre-hero archetype. Fans will get a kick out of seeing her inexplicably leave her gob agape as putrid projectiles pour in, and hearing her, after a bit of pushing, spout a Campbell-ism or two ("I’m gonna get me some!"). [More]
Starring: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao
Starring: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao, David Paymer, Jessica Lucas, Adriana Barraza
Director: Sam Raimi
Director: Sam Raimi
Screenwriter: Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi
Producer: Rob Tapert, Grant Curtis
Composer: Christopher Young
Studio: Universal Pictures
Reviews for Drag Me To Hell
Drag Me to Hell is simultaneously gritty and goofy, brightly coloured and down-to-earth.
A movie that is slickly accomplished in its own dark arts, and one that never once resorts to the recent nihilistic faddishness for torture-porn. It will be a huge hit. The re-invention of horror begins here.
Raimi is a master at maintaining a particular type of cinematic tone: scary without being unwatchable, and revolting without losing wit.
Raimi’s return to the splatter genre is absolutely, unrelentingly mental. Terrifying in places, screamingly stupid in others, it’s a riot from OTT start to ADHD finish.
The superb Drag Me To Hell deserves to be seen on a large screen with a sizeable crowd. Much like a theme park rollercoaster ride, the synchronised gasping, screaming and relieved bursts of laughter can only enhance the experience.
Raimi keeps the gore flowing – Evil Dead fans will cheer a moment of eyeball zaniness and a séance that features a levitating demon– but what separates him from grunge meisters Rob Zombie and Eli Roth are the subtler flourishes.
Gaudy, ghoulish, this particular creepshow plugs into the EC Comics of the ’50s, laughing uproariously in the face of death. Forgettable, but groovy while it lasts.
Drag Me To Hell is the greatest horror film of the decade and is a must see for scare fans. Gore-geous!
Bad taste? Undoubtedly. And the slim storyline only just sustains itself to feature length. But if you're in the mood for this kind of impishness, it's extremely jolly entertainment.
Drag Me To Hell really is an unmissable experience, the sort of film that those with nerves of steel will want to see again and again. Scary, electrifying and very, very funny, you won't know whether to laugh or barf.
The great thing about Drag Me To Hell is that it is laugh-out-loud funny as well as scream-out-loud scary... and as one who has a hard time with horror movies, I must say it is darn entertaining.
Hokum and trash, but very entertaining hokum and a classy kind of trash.
Drag Me To Hell is surprisingly conventional fare that feels like an old Twilight Zone episode buffed up with lashings of bad taste for a new generation.
Drag Me To Hell proves it's possible to satiate gorehounds and scare them and make them laugh. It's a descent into the underworld that, for once, is worth taking.
Latest News for Drag Me To Hell
October 12, 2009:
RT on DVD: Drag Me to Hell and All of Futurama
This week on home video, we've got a couple of big winners (at least, in our book), a couple of overlooked films, some so-so new releases, and a couple of classic favorites... More...
May 31, 2009:
A spine-tingling adventure guaranteed to elicit blood-curdling screams and to make you jump out of your seat when you least expect it. ![]()
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May 28, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Up And Drag Me to Hell Are Certified Fresh
This week at the movies, we've got a high-flying house (Up, with voice work by Ed Asner and Christopher Plummer) and a demonic curse (Drag Me to Hell, starring Alison Lohman and... More...
May 28, 2009:
Favorite Films with Drag Me to Hell's Sam Raimi
This Friday, Raimi steps out of the Marvel trenches and returns to horror with Drag Me to Hell, which stars Alison Lohman as a meek loan officer whose comfortable life gets... More...
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