[The News Bot]

Reviewed by Chris McEneany, 19th October 2009
Although it is still perfectly apt to claim that the extras have, themselves, been dragged to Hell, the production diaries are fairly interesting and, in this case, it is most assuredly the film that sells the package … and your soul.

Alison Lohman seizes the role of Christine with absolute gusto, flying through all the violent and camp excesses that Raimi throws at her with such a devil-may-care attitude that she cannot fail to win you over. Lorna Raver creates one of recent cinema's most striking and memorable villains and the film piles on the scares with the typical set-piece progression of vintage Raimi. Sure, the plot-holes are big enough to drive the director's trademark Oldsmobile mascot through and the story borrows heavily from Night Of The Demon, but this modern take on an almost medieval theme strips away the protective veneer of hip sensibilities and self-conscious clichés to scratch away at some deep, dark fears.

Couple all this genre gold with a transfer that would entrance even the Devil and you've got a release that begs to be showcased.

Often hilarious, Raimi's jazzed-up, worm-ridden ode to eye-and-mouth mayhem is as potent and thrilling an example of a knee-jerk shock-a-thon as you can get. The screenplay is dealt in broad strokes, but the real class can be found in the performances and the chaotic detail in the overall exuberance. Sam Raimi is definitely heading back in the direction of his demented roots with this – gallows humour and slapstick horror aplenty. Let's just hope that, one day, he goes all the way back home to that blood-drenched cabin lost in the Tennessee woods and recites aloud from the Book of the Dead, once more.

Eventually, as with most of Raimi's fantasy/horror output, we can probably expect to see more versions of Drag Me To Hell, although, at least, Anchor Bay haven't got their assembly line greedily geared up to churn out edition after edition. It may not bring anything new to the screen, but there is enough energy, wit, character and sheer style to Raimi's throwback-chiller to have the floorboards give way beneath us and open-up a flaming tunnel straight down into the Pit.

Very highly recommended.


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[robbersdog]

Fantastic review. My compliments.
Added to my Blu-ray 'must-have's'

[Ske]

Great review!

Absolutely loved the film when i saw it in the cinemas & couldn't wait for the blu-ray.

As mentioned the extras are lacking but the film more than make up for it! Picture and sound are great (just need to find a good surround sound system)!

If you haven't seen the film yet it is a must watch! Great script, action & hilariously scary too!