Drag Me to Hell (2009) starring Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao, David Paymer, Adriana Barraza, Chelcie Ross, Reggie Lee directed by Sam Raimi Movie Review

Drag Me to Hell (2009)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Alison Lohman as Christine Brown in Drag Me to Hell (2009)

Raimi has his Christine

Let me tell you how Sam Raimi's "Drag Me to Hell" made me feel; bored, bored, hilariously shocked, bored. And the thing is I am not alone because having spoken to others there are many people who found "Drag Me to Hell" boring but spiced up by some hilarious shocks. In all honesty I expected more because whilst the scares are brilliant the rest of the movie just wasn't interesting or entertaining and at times reminded me of an episode of "Charmed" which is probably down to the fact we are talking a 15 certificate horror and so it's quite tame.

With the assistant manager's position vacant, loans officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman - Flicka) has her eyes on it and her only opposition is a brown nosing colleague. To prove she is capable of making the tough choices Christine refuses to give an elderly customer an extension on her loan and before the day is out the old woman places a curse on her. As strange things start to happen Christine seeks out the help of a psychic to try and rid herself of the curse.

Lorna Raver as Mrs. Ganush in Drag Me to Hell (2009)

"Drag Me to Hell" opens with a scene in the 1960s where a mystic is presented with a cursed boy which as the title suggests sees him dragged to hell with the mystic declaring she has unfinished business with the demon which took him. It is a dramatic but not spectacular opening which sets up an inevitable scene later on in the movie where we known the mystic will get another shot at the demon. And that is the thing about the actual storyline as everything is very predictable and actually uninteresting as Christine gets cursed and has to find a way to rid herself of it within 3 days.

The knock on effect of this that "Drag Me to Hell" becomes all about the horror and to put it bluntly there was never a moment which scared me but plenty which had been shocked and amused. There is no denying that "Drag Me to Hell" is full of fun horror from eyeballs in cakes to being gummed by a woman who's lost her dentures and I lost track of the number of memorable scenes thanks to this funny horror. But because what goes on in between ends up uninteresting it makes "Drag Me to Hell" a movie which struggles to keep hold of your attention.

As for the acting well most of the cast is under utilised with Justin Long having little to do as boyfriend Clay. It means that this is a movie which relies on Alison Lohman to keep you watching and unfortunately whilst Lohman is fun to watch when it comes to the comedy shocks is boring when the movie is trying to tell the story.

What this all boils down to is that "Drag Me to Hell" just didn't work for me as the storyline just wasn't interesting or entertaining enough to hold my attention. But if you can put up with periods of boredom the comedy horror on show is first rate and well worth a watch.


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