Drag Me To Hell review
Sam Raimi’s incredibly daft Drag Me To Hell has a deliberate old-school horror feel to it. But where you might forgive those old-school films for being daft as low-budget, ramshackle affairs thrown together by over-enthusiastic kids (as Raimi’s cult Evil Dead essentially was), it’s hard to be as forgiving here, with such polished production. And CGI doesn’t fly through the air quite as well as offal and corn syrup.
But are the filmmakers serious or are they taking the piss? Clearly a bit of both, but the boundaries of comedy (possessed handkerchiefs? Talking goats?) and scares (by numbers: OK… it’s quiet now… BAM! BOO! OOGA-freakin’-BOOGA!) is too blurred and there are more laughs to be had than screams.
There’s a modicum of attention paid to the script, however shallow it may be, and production is tight and snappy, but subtlety becomes the main victim as forthcoming plot developments are taped to a sledgehammer and smashed in the viewer’s face. It’s mindless fun that holds together well but it’s not very original, is extremely predictable, and, really, about as scary as a kitten in a bee costume.
28th May 2009
