28 October 2009

Drag Me To Hell

Drag Me To Hell
The hugely enjoyable Drag Me To Hell is Sam Raimi's first horror film since his Evil Dead trilogy. It's a welcome return to supernatural horror, in contrast to the slasher remakes and 'torture porn' which have recently dominated the genre. It even references the silent vampire film Nosferatu, with a demon's hand casting a long shadow similar to Nosferatu's Orlok.

The plot, in which a curse is placed on a bank employee, provides plenty of gory set-pieces, though the tone is always tongue-in-cheek rather than truly horrific. (A director's cut, more violent than the theatrical version, has also been released.) All hell breaks loose for the final confrontation with the demon, and this scene includes a great moment in which a goat becomes possessed. The last-minute twist is actually revealed on the film's poster.

9 comment(s):

qiqo said...

just watched this over the weekend.. it's horrible..

Matthew Hunt said...

Oh, well I don't recommend The Evil Dead, then.

qiqo said...

I think the evil dead trilogy were better though.

Matthew Hunt said...

Me too (except Army Of Darkness).

Anonymous said...

hmm why did you remove your picture? you look very handsome in there.. and that's the only thing that reminds me of you himf. :(

Matthew Hunt said...

Thanks ;-) I wanted to limit my photo to Facebook and Skype, though.

Anonymous said...

oh i dont understand, anyway thanks.

Tony said...

Your review make me remind of Nosferatu. I've forgotten that I have seen this film before.

Honestly, I felt sleepy when I saw Nosferatu.

Matthew Hunt said...

Nosferatu uses a lot of real locations (not studios), which makes it less artificial than Caligari. It's quite slow, but that's partly due to the expressionist acting and partly to add suspense.

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