Movie Review

Hubby and I have had a good start to the summer. Movie-wise that is. And I'm really loving living so close to the theater.

Yesterday we went and saw Drag Me To Hell. It's the new Sam Raimi movie and reviewers have been calling it his "return to horror." For those of you who don't know, Sam Raimi did the Evil Dead movies. And as a reluctant-viewer-turned-fan of those, I was pretty stoked for this one. Then our local paper published their review and LIKED IT which is a shock around here. The reviewers here tend to hate everything that hubby and I love.

So plot in one breath: Christine is cursed by an old woman and tries to ditch the curse. That's the absolute simplest way to give it to you. And I don't want to spoil anything so I'll leave it at that.

I went into this knowing what to expect. Well, maybe not knowing, but hoping that it really was classic Raimi. And I think you have to go in with that in mind. It's definitely what I was hoping for. The scare that I like to call the cheap shot was there. A LOT. Ya know, where everything is quiet or almost quiet and then BOOM there's something jumping out and scaring the crap out of you. Plenty of that. There were total gross-out scenes (but not gory) that you expect. Hubby argues that there was one scene you could call gory. But we were both laughing because it was exactly what you watch a Sam Raimi flick for.

And that man and his camera work. Wow. It's very distinctive and it was in full force in this movie. I can't even describe it here because I know all my readers haven't seen his previous movies. But as hubby and I were watching we were laughing and elbowing each other because a particular shot looked EXACTLY as it did in Evil Dead or Army of Darkness. I'm actually ready to watch those movies now just to figure out which shots and angles I recognized.

Being such a fan of Raimi and his previous work makes it hard for me to review this. It was exactly what I wanted, exactly what hubby wanted, but will the average movie patron enjoy it? I'm not sure. I think people going to be creeped out will be disappointed. This movie has some camp to it. It's not like horror movies today that go straight for disturbing. You have to have an open mind if you aren't already a Raimi fan.

The story wasn't bad. I didn't feel any problems with dangling plot or continuity issues. Was it a predictable plot? A bit. But at the end, we had several guesses and weren't sure which we would see. Hubby even managed to be surprised (that's saying a lot when he finds something predictable). But it was fun. It wasn't elaborate and confusing.

And for those of you that are hoping to see our favorite Raimi hero, Bruce Campbell... sorry. He's not there. Hubby and I were holding out for him until the very end, but no Mr. Campbell. Apparently it conflicted with Burn Notice (which will be back soon!) so he couldn't do it. I'm a little sad still. But there was a piece of audio that sounded like it may have been him from another movie. Still trying to figure that out. Also, don't be too disappointed. There are some little gems for you Raimi fans to find.

All in all, I feel it earned an A. Hubby technically agrees, though he claims that since Bruce wasn't in it he'll only give it a B. Fun movie.