zondag 7 juli 2013

Drag Me to Hell (2009)

Summary
Christine Brown is a loans officer at a bank but is worried about her lot in life. She's in competition with a competent colleague for an assistant manager position and isn't too sure about her status with a boyfriend. Worried that her boss will think less of her if she shows weakness, she refuses a time extension on a loan to an old woman, Mrs. Ganush, who now faces foreclosure and the loss of her house. In retaliation, the old woman place a curse on her which, she subsequently learns, will result in her being taken to hell in a few days time.

Genre : Horror
Country : USA

Cast :
Alison Lohman : Christine Brown
Justin Long : Clay Dalton
Lorna Raver : Mevr. Ganush

Director :
Sam Raimi

My opinion

Woehaa, I got a flash back here for a minute. It reminded me of the old days when I used to hire VHS tapes from the local video store with totally unknown, strange, low budget horror movies. Everything you could see in those movies occurs in this flick ... the tilting filming at critical moments (yep also used in "Evil Dead"! The mother of all horror movies for me), the meat maggots, the whirling autumn leaves, the plopping eyes, puking a dead cat, the arm penetrating a mouth.... etc.

Some scenes are just slapstick material: the scene in the car where old Mrs. Ganush loses her false teeth and then lies drooling on the lower jaw of Christine ... magnificent. Death Mrs.Ganush tumbling out of her coffin in such a way that the putrid drool runs over Christine's her face and she starts gagging ... masterful. The fly that causes a terrible nosebleed ... irresistible.

Yes, I've seen it all before. All these scary moments are used a zillion times before. And the ending was so predictable. But nowadays a real horror/scary movie (small nuance) are sparse. It's always some found footage film and paranormal nonsense. "Drag Me to Hell" is a fresh wind in horror-land and a guarantee for a raunchy evening of shuddering and chuckling.

I really had to laugh when Rham Jas proposes to make an animal sacrifice after which Christine starts protesting in a bewildered way, saying : "I'm a vegetarian ... " Hehehehe priceless.

Conclusion: Every horror enthusiast should see this one. Pure nostalgia.