Drag Me to Hell

DRAG ME TO HELL (2009) - May 29, 2009
About a woman who offends a gypsy and winds up with a curse that will, after three days, literally drag her down into hell, this was Sam Raimi's return to the genre that made him famous. It's clear almost immediately that the years spent making dramas and superhero films have done nothing to dull Raimi's horror movie directing chops; if anything, he's just gotten better over the years, as I think this may just edge out any of the Evil Dead films in terms of pure effectiveness. The film is exceptionally fast-paced, and features a lot of "boo!" scares -- a tactic that generally comes of as laziness in most horror films, but which seems to go perfectly with what Raimi is going for here. Raimi isn't trying to reinvent the wheel or do anything particularly innovative, he's just trying to make a really fun movie, and he succeeds with gusto. I should also mention that the film's awesome final moments are probably my favourite since There Will Be Blood's "I'm finished!" I definitely need to watch this again, both because I enjoyed it so much and because the crowd I saw it with was kind of crappy. ***1/2