Drag Me To Hell

[matt35mm]

This was absolutely the best time I've had in a cinema in a long time.  It is HILARIOUS (intentionally), and the scariness is of the funhouse haunted mansion sort.  Really goofy and just so much fun.  I had a big smile on my face the whole time.  Great gross-out stuff, too.

And uh, holy shit, Alison Lohman.  I never really thought much about her before but she is beautiful in this movie, and so game for all the ridiculous stuff that she has to do in this movie.

I can't think of anyone who could have made this movie other than Sam Raimi.

[RegularKarate]

I can't think of anyone who could have made this movie other than Sam Raimi.

Exactly.

I LOVED the first half of the movie.  The second half kind of disappoints, but overall, I really like it and it's one of the best horror movies to come out in a long while.

I think once the movie grew in its ridiculous nature, I was pulled out.  Some of the stuff was super silly and I'm fine with silliness, but a lot of the silliness was too over the top for this movie. 
My biggest issue was that as the movie escalates... and pacing wise, it escalates perfectly (take note, horror writers, it shouldn't be a list of scary things with no thought to the order) the lower budget became more obvious and the effects got distracting.  There's a super big tease in the first half that never really gets paid off and I think it's because of the budget.

But really, I'll go see this again.  I guess when something gets this close to amazing, I get mad that it didn't quite make it.

[Gamblour.]

SOILERS

There's a super big tease in the first half that never really gets paid off and I think it's because of the budget.

What are you referring to?

I saw this at the drive-in on a double bill with Land of the Lost. It was weird, because both films use the old Universal logo. Thought that was a funny zeitgeisty thing to happen. Anyhow, it was really great. I really thought/wished they were going to drag Justin Long to hell, but I guess they made they right decision. Man, it would've been better to me if she had to live with watching her boyfriend go to hell, but whatever. Still ruled.

I really loved the idea behind the film, too. I love how mundane the impetus of the film was, foreclosing on a old lady's house. I'm sad this movie hasn't made a fucking dime because in addition to being awesome, it got ridiculously positive reviews.

[RegularKarate]

SPOILERS

What are you referring to?

The creature that is after her.  We see its shadow as it gains on her and that scene is super spooksville.
While I didn't necessarily need to see that incarnation of it, I wanted to see it in some scary form other than when the dumb goat got possessed.

[Gamblour.]

Haha, oh yeah. The goat. Totally forgot.

[cinemanarchist]

I didn't find anything dumb about that goat! As soon as that scene started, I was on my seat waiting for that goat to get possessed. Pure (non-Spiderman 3) Raimi.

[Pas]

God I loved this!!! That was fucking great. As soon as the title appeared with a bang I knew I would love it. And then at the end it does the same thing, wow that's a nice touch.

Towards the middle there was about 20 minutes when nothing interesting happened, that was the low point of the film. But there are so many great moments. I loved the goat, loved loved it. I loved the ''Choke on it, bitch''. I loved the actress that played the spanish medium. I loved the tone of the film.

Man, I think I should get into Sam Raimi. The same script directed by a hack could've been worthless. It's the director's touch that made it what it is, in this case Raimi.

[Alexandro]

I can't give this a pass. I wouldn't say it's too bad, but the reviews and the opinions here baffle me. It felt to me the whole time like it's about to be really funny or really scary or really shocking but never quite gets there. And after a while I became a little frustrated by this.

The acting was particularly bad. You may say that was the point, but it was BAD bad acting. No one seemed to be even trying to do ANYTHING at all with this stuff. The lead actress was the main problem for me. I felt no empathy nor disliking enough for her. Nothing. She was just exasperating because there seemed to be nothing going on with that character. I don't know. My guess is that a better actress, or a more daring one who would more emphatically question Raimi's approach would serve the picture better.

My theory for this not working in general is that you can't recreate the low budget aesthetic on purpose. Well, maybe the aesthetic you can recreate, but not the charm. The film is so into doing this it doesn't try to be it's own thing. And yes, there were definitely a good 20 reeeeeaaaaallly long and boring minutes here where not much was happening. I kept waiting for this to take off. So did the audience around me. No one seemed to get it. Yeah, I know most people are idiots, and I know most of those mentally challenged individuals at the theater never understood that this WAS supposed to be funny. But I partly blame the film for that also, since it's so timid in it's attempts at both horror and humor. SPOILER Specially what after a while becomes tiresome: every time there's a big scare, it turns out to be one of those "fantasy" scares, meaning the girl was just imagining something. So everything would get quiet, and then I would say: "Ok, another one of these 'you'll see what she sees but it's not really there' moments", and it was just lame.  END OF SPOILER.

Anyway, I can't see this becoming a fun classic or something to rewatch with pleasure from time to time like the Evil Dead movies. It is a step back into the good stuff for Raimi, but still.

[Pas]

-About the acting I disagree, thought it was ok, though I bit too wooden. SPOILS I liked the acting when the evil spirit possess the spanish lady medium END SPOILS The actor that played the guy medium was really lame though. I actually hated that character

-About not feeling empathy nor dislike for the main character, I actually had sympathy for her because of how she got dragged into the whole thing. She did something wrong in the way all of us do at least once in our life (or week) and not something terribly evil that we can't relate to. That's why I felt sympathy. I also once had the same job she had and I know you have to be pretty heartless (thus I quit after a tough year).

-I liked the whole premiss (sp?) of the character being a from a small town and trying to have a bit of ambition, well demonstrated in the first moments when she's seen trying to get rid of her accent. And then in the really intense moments she talks really differently than from when she's at work. Nice touches.

-It's true that it never achieves maximum funiness or scariness though... I haven't seen any Evil Dead so maybe my point of reference is lower! (I've seen like 10 horror films in my life)

[Alexandro]

Yeah the guy playing the medium was horrible. Probably the worst. While Adriana Barraza was great as the female medium. The main role I felt another actress could have give it so much more personality and weight. I realized the character had potential but she just did it by the numbers and boring.

Anyway I went in really in hopes of enjoying myself but felt a pronounced let down.

[SiliasRuby]

This is an extremely well done horror film, really fun and exciting. Out of this world disgusting and ridiculous in the best way. I wish Sam Raimi would stop doing spider man's and do something more interesting like this again. I know, short review.

[MacGuffin]

I Loved This Film!!! It was Raimi back to form. I really wish he would use more of his unique camera techniques for the Spider-Man films (not just in moments like the Doc Ock operation scene). He takes what you think will happen as cliches in other horror films and puts his own twist on them (none of that, "Oh, it's just the cat" type scares here). It was scary, it was hilarious and a rollercoaster ride of fun. Even if you could see what was coming, Raimi made you want to see how it would turn out. There was a lack of chemistry between Lohman and Long, but this really wasn't the type of film where you could nit-pick things like that when the film knew it had its tongue in its cheek.