Drag Me To The Movies

When I was 9 years old, if you had asked me what my favourite movie was, I would have offered the unlikely answer of "Evil Dead II". This was mainly thanks to my brother (10 years my elder) forcing me to sit through countless horror movies and the "Revenge of the Nerds" series while he was babysitting me. I had lots of nightmares and sex dreams; a disturbing combination for a 9 year old boy.
Still, out of all these movies, nothing quite stayed in my memory as vividly as the "Evil Dead" Trilogy. Something about it's slapstick, over the top, gross-out violence and horror that made it more endearing than your run-of-the-mill scary movie.
Yesterday, 18 years later, I left the cinema feeling as giddy as a 9 year old with all those old memories renewed and once again I had Sam Raimi to thank for them.
With "Drag Me To Hell" he really went back to his own old school approach to directing horror movies. It's slapstick. It's silly. It's gross. It's amazing!
After telling an old gypsy woman that she will be evicted from her house for failing to pay her mortgage (in a pathetic attempt to achieve that dream promotion), bank worker Christine Brown befalls a curse that will see her tormented by a demon spirit for 3 days before being dragged to hell for tea and biscuits. Torments that will include being covered in various sticky substances, beaten up, thrown about, loud noises and dinner with the in-laws. That is unless, of course, she can find a way to escape her horrible fate!
The movie never pretends to be something it's not. It's dialogue is amusing rather than hard hitting, and the plot sits on the rail tracks and heads towards it's destination without any surprise stops but these things do not prevent it from being a really fun watch.

As far as the acting goes, everyone really did their part. Justin Long playing the ever suffering boyfriend, Lorna Raver as a really disgusting old woman, but they can not take attention away from the performance of Alison Lohman as our hapless heroin. She is cute without being really sexy, strong without offering much resistance and defiant without really getting anywhere. She really does look just like a rabbit in the headlights, the poor lass! However, come the new year I will be expecting an Oscar nomination in the new category "Actress with the most things vomited upon her in a motion picture".
Unfortunately, I think this review may be coming in a bit late as I believe the movie will stop showing at most cinemas soon. However, you still have time! Grab a couple of friends and a few girls and this will be an unforgettable movie experience.

8/10