DRAG ME TO HELL Post Release - Page 16

Since when do professional film critics get to say "I'm not going to see that because I'm not a fan"?

When they're shit and hand out copies of the movie instead of reviewing it.

Picked this up today and watched it as soon as I got home, and I think it still holds up. Some of the scares are lacking without the full power of a movie theater behind it, but some of it might have to do with my shitty home entertainment set up (or lack thereof). I watched the unrated version and really can't remember any big differences. There may have been a little more blood with the cat, and I've heard someone say that there is less hesitation when Christine kills the cat, but the unrated version is mainly to get the people who stayed away to take a shot with it. It's dumb, and pointless.

Also, while Zombieland and Watchmen are getting a ton of praise for the opening credits (and rightfully so), I think these deserve a little attention too. And Chris Young's score is really great, especially during the main title. So yeah, I still love the movie and hope this isn't the last we see of Raimi in the horror genre.

Yea, nothing beats a viewing of this film in a packed theater. Definitely.

I'd rather they skipped the Unrated version and just gave me more special features dammit. I wanna 2 disc atleast.

Just finished watching it, and I wish I'd have seen this in a packed theatre. My loss, it was fantastic. Any movie that kills a kid and a cute kitten and has you laughing out loud minutes later.....gold. And yes, it's good to see someone who values the importance of great opening credits.

I've often lamented about the death of the opening credits sequence in modern film. I'm always thrilled when I see a filmmaker keeping the tradition alive, especially in a creative fashion. That's why I still have to like Tim Burton. He still believes in the opening credits.

This is still my favorite opening credits sequence of the decade.

Ignoring the obligatory ones in the Bond movies, it's made a bit of a resurgence in the last near-decade. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like Spielberg's use of it in Catch Me If You Can is what brought it back. It reminded people of how great opening sequences can be for establishing a tone/mood/style before starting the film proper. And not just films, of course. TV shows have some great ones.

Totally agreed, though as nooj points out it seems to be making a bit of a resurgence. But you know what bugs me inordinately? Seeing an opening credit sequence that's been moved to the end of the movie. I know it's a silly thing to get hung up on, but credit sequences do such a good job of setting the mood for a movie, and when I see them tacked on to the end credits it seems like the filmmakers or studio types think we don't have the patience to sit through them. What are we going to do, march out an demand a refund before the movie even starts?

Can you name some examples? I can't think of any at the moment.

Continuing my thoughts on opening credit sequences: It's SUCH valuable real estate! And it doesn't even need to be all that fancy. Whatever you may think of the films, I think it's great that Shyamalan uses the opening credits to let James Newton Howard loose with the main themes for Unbreakable, Signs, and Lady in the Water. They're great themes, but I love them even more when they come back at each film's climax. That sense of recall works great for me.

EDIT: And you'd think that people who are late to movies would really appreciate more opening titles. It gives them a little more grace period to get to a movie and find seats. Though... they shouldn't have been late in the first place!!!

I think Iron Man and I wanna say the Harry Potter movies also do the same thing. Maybe Speed Racer? Raimi seems to try to do something with the opening credits, the Alex Ross Spider-Man 2 opener comes to mind.

Oh god... Spider-Man 2 opening credits! LOVE. So good that the one for the 3rd movie felt really lazy with the use of generic promotional photos.

Mmm... as for the others, they don't strike me as opening credits that were actually MOVED to the end. Harry Potter movies always begin a certain way. And the end credits for Iron Man feels right being at the end.

I think what he means is that the flashing of one name at a time, which would normally happen in the opening credits is done at the end, in guild-mandated order with director last, then the names are repeated all over again for the end credits directly afterward.

As so often happens, something I hate can be laid directly at the feet of things I love. Star Wars and 2001: A Space Odyssey, in this case.

Cronenberg often speaks in interviews how he hates wasted opening credit sequences.

Can you link to any of these interviews? I'm interested.

Well, like almost anything in film, the non-use of something can be just as important as the use of it. There are lots of movies where I like that it just hurls me into the story. I just don't appreciate it when opening titles or the lack thereof are done in an obligatory way.

I think he was talking Dead Ringers or Naked Lunch or some shit, so they probably predate the internet. you were shitting in diapers when i read them.

In Korea, where I was born and raised, I shat my naked lunches into sharp cornered diapers made from such movie magazines!

Goddamn heathen.

He talks a bit about it on the Naked Lunch commentary track (wow, 20th Century Fox logo!).

And now, thanks to you I know my Criterion non-anamorphic Dead Ringers DVD looks like shit on an HDTV. Thanks, dick.

EDIT! He really gets into it on the commentary track of the Canadian Existenz DVD. He calls a good title sequence a "vestibule or an anteroom that takes you from the street to the movie", calling it an aid to get you into the film's world, which (he feels) is especially important for his films.

300 and A Series of Unfortunate Events both spring to mind.

So sorry. I totally understand how much is sucks when you find out a DVD you've enjoyed on a regular TV just wasn't meant for widescreen TVs. I had a similar episode with my Criterion Charade DVD.

I recently had to pick up the Universal Halloween II disc since my old Goodtimes DVD of it was non-anamorphic.

Biggest non-anamorphic crime for me: The Abyss.

And we have officially skewed super off topic.

I'm not going through 16 pages of stuff so if this has been said or argued 100 times by now, I apologize for the repeat.

I think the film is pretty good but IMO the female lead hurts it. As shitty and deserving as she was, I didn't have much fun watching her get knocked around all movie. I just think there is something more sympathetic with a female in that role that makes it less "fun" to watch than seeing a dude get roughed up. I'm getting soft in my old age.

Um....you're not supposed to "enjoy" seeing her suffer.

I certainly enjoyed it. While empathizing with her plight too, of course!

Yeah, the lack of an anamorphic Abyss sucks.

Well, I enjoyed seeing Ash "suffer" and this film seemed to be going for a lot of the same beats as the Evil Dead films. I'm not directly comparing the quality of the two films, as I would consider that unfair but its a clear demonstration of how a lead can affect your enjoyment level of their abuse. This wouldn't normally be a complaint one would have for horror films but this is one that is clearly going for some comedy and fun. It hurts the film for me and affects my enjoyment overall.

Just an opinion. I don't fault any of the praise the film has gotten. It just didn't bat a thousand for me, that's all.

Sure you are. Yes, you feel bad for her and get scared too, but it's not a serious movie and you're definitely supposed to have fun watching her plight, increasingly so later in the movie when she starts to get cocky and less sympahetic

Agreed on those counts, but to detriment her for not being as easily punchable as Ash seems silly.

Now you can get the Warner DVD to go with it, which has different features (like a Jeremy Irons commentary).

Agreed. What's cool about Drag Me to Hell is that Raimi subtly and skillfully toys with your sympathy throughout, whereas Ash is ultimately a bit more of a straightforward lovable oaf (albeit a badass one that you root for)

That is silly. I'm glad I didn't say that.

ETA: italics

I think he's saying that Raimi/Ash recipe doesn't transplant onto a female lead as easily, specifically because of the enjoyment we're meant to derive from it. I get that to a point - imagine Raimi orchestrating this kind of beatdown on Spider-Man's Mary Jane character- but it's also sexist in the most well-meaning way possible. Like the way I want to have sex with black girls is, at its core, racist.

That was my initial point. The female lead just hurt it for me because I find a female too sympathetic to get the necessary "enjoyment" out of her punishments... as well deserved as they may be (in a horror movie, that is).

And you're right, it is sexist... and I enjoy sex with black girls so I'm racist too. Can you stop now? I have to leave the house at some point today!

Wait a minute, NONE of the Abyss releases are anamorphic? I could've sworn mine looked fine on the widescreen TV. Fuck.


Oh, and uh... I still love Drag Me To Hell. Looking forward to forcing it upon all these horrible people who didn't want to go enjoy it in its proper environment.

Got this one out of the RedBox last night, just wanted to offer up my thoughts and reactions:

I'll start with the good, move on to the 'OK' and finish up with the bad


The Good:
Some very scary moments, though for me unfortunately one of the scariest came in the first two minutes of the movie. The shot of the shadows of grasping arms shown through the yellow glass of the skylight above the Mexi-kid's bed was very creepy. I feel the film never managed to find imagery more unsettling than that. There were other creepy moments though

I liked the basic concept for the film. Easy to follow, yet a set up that can lead to an infinite variety of scary moments. The built in 3 day ticking clock also helps ratchet up the tension without feeling artificial.


Justin Long collected coins! As something of an amature numismatist myself, it was cool to see this hobby displayed in a film by someone who is the epitome of modern hipsters. Makes all my two dollar bills and such seem less lame now

Ramm Dross! He was pretty cool, I liked him. I liked the eastern influences present in his little home office, it added a nice ambiance to the film

I like that the film was not afraid to push the PG13 limit, though, with the director of Spiderman at the helm, I bet the MPAA was more than happy to bend their own crooked rules for him.

The OK:

Alison Lohman. She is alright. No great talent, but was serviceable enough in most scenes. I saw her in a film called "Where the truth lies" and as in that film, she was clearly trying her best, just not always finding success in the end. Some of her line readings were far from convincing. However, she threw herself into scenes that required her to get covered in gross goo and other icky stuff, so you have to give her an 'A' for "A"ffort (effort).

Justin Long. He really surprised me in that I was not constantly thinking of him as the Mac guy. He managed to disappear into his role fairly well, not an easy task when he is on my TV every few minutes hawking electronics. The one part of the movie where the illusion was broken was the tight in shot of his iPhone when Christine tried to call.

Much of the horror just did not work for me. I found it silly and campy rather than scary. Now, I am not including this with "the bad" because I know that is how some people like their horror. That is fine, to each their own. As far as my own tastes go, I like my horror to be grim and super-serious. Many of the "comedic" moments, reaction shots, or one liners really pulled me so far out of the reality of the film it was difficult to find it scary again. I understand that Lohman was playing kind of a female version of Ashley Williams from Evil Dead One, but it just did not work for me.

In some scenes the cinematography was dark and scary, but other times the film looked like deleted scenes from a very spooky Octoberween episode of "The Office". Hahaha, look, Pam just vomited blood all over Steve Carell! Hilarity!

I liked the look of the "DRAG ME TO HELL" title card, but the title does not work in the context of the film. Drag me to hell? No single character who ends up dragged to hell in the film desires that fate, so the title makes little if any sense . No one spends the film looking to be dragged to hell, in fact, it is just the opposite.



The Bad:

The film seems to have a strong disdain for working class people. I am not kidding about that. In the dinner scene with Mac's (My name for Justin Long ) family, his mother seems really disgusted with everything working class. That's fine, her character was supposed to be something of a bitch. The movie is not saying she is right about her attitudes.... Oh, wait, maybe it is. When Lohman starts to talk about working at the bank, the mother derisively asks if she is a bank teller. Justin Long, the character the film depicts as sweet and honest and dedicated, is quick to assure her that "No! She is more important than that!". Frankly, as someone who knows a few bank tellers, I'd have liked to have seen Mac stand up and say "No, she is not. But if she were, would there be a problem with that? As long as she works hard at her job, isn't she just as important as the next person? If you have such loathing for the working class, mother, I'd like to see how you plan to do your banking in the future without the assistance of tellers". Instead Mac buys into the whole "If you don't have a fancy title at your job, you're less of a person" argument hook line and sinker. Depressing.

But... the scene took place... in an office.

Not that I'm comparing it to this film, but The Shining showed that often times it's scarier to have the "horror" take place in a more "realistic," or well lit environment than to have spooky/gloomy lighting = scares all the time. That gets old and becomes entirely too predictable.

There's nothing horrifying about the expected.

I'll add the drab mundane look of Japanese horror films before they got carried away. Though I prefer Verbinski's take on the story, I think the original Ringu has a much better sense of dread due to its lack of slickness.

This is not to say that the scenes in the bank were meant to be scary. They weren't. They were supposed to be mundane. Scary/creepy/frightening scenes are enhanced if there is some contrast around it. That first shot of Christine walking into the parking garage had a fantastic reaction in my audience simply because it was so different from the scene in the bank that came before. People were immediately going, "Oh shit..."

Christine's boss getting soaked in blood was played for laughs/ick-factor, not scares. Instead of being horrified, the boss asks, "Did I get any in my mouth?"

Yeah, and then there's that. I was going to say it sounds like she's never seen a Raimi film before, but then she tipped her hand.

Sigh.

So differences between the theatrical and unrated versions.... more explicit cat-killing, more goo during the anvil scene, different blood vomit? Not sure about the last one. Did I miss anything?

I have no problem with scenes being set in an office. The problem is those scenes looked like they were from 'Office Space'


The overlook may be well lit, but the vast emptyness of it, with the cold and snow outside, makes it unsettling and creepy. If it was full of people going about their hotel buisness, you can bet it would have a different impact. There are ways you can make the mundane creepy, but this film was not successful at it.

I've seen all three evil dead films. I enjoyed them, but mostly because of Bruce Campbell rather than how camp they were. I did state in my mini review that this was just a matter of personal taste. I am not complaining that the film was campy, I am just saying that I'd have prefered it was more spooky. Rami made a very successful attempt at a campy horror movie, I just prefer to be scared rather than grossed out/amused. To each their own..

But Christine doesn't believe that. That's the key to that scene. She isn't happy with her status, and wants to be upwardly mobile--not the fat farm girl she was before. And she's so desperate to get there, that she invites the torments on herself. It's...kind of the whole point of the movie. It's what makes it, essentially, an EC morality tale.

I do get that. I am just saying that even though that is the point the film was trying to make, I felt some genuine disdain for the working class slipped through. Yes Christine was too greedy and brought the curse on herself, but the Long character who was supposed to be one of the few "pure" people in the film revealed alot when he reacted to the comments about being a bank teller. That is all I was saying. At the end of the film at first I even thought she was getting on a train to leave the immoral banking world behind for the country (the way it was cut together I thought she was rejecting the job offer), but then realized "Oh wait, no, she is just going to visit her rich boyfriend's cabin"

Raimi wears a suit and tie to work every day just to rub his elite status into the crew's face. FACT.

Well, I could see how doing that would just be an example of him acting professionally, which I would applaud him for. I think it sort of shows respect, that he is serious about his work and shows it by wearing a suit.

Did he actually say that his reason is to aggravate the working poor??

Jesus Christ.

Raimi may very well have a Messiah complex as well Matt M i mean spiderman 3 died and the franchise is gonna be resurrected again

Fuck, now I'm imagining J. Jonah Jameson writing attack articles about Jesus and it's killing me at work.