Drag Me to Hell Disappoints
June 1st 2009 20:54
After the abysmal Spiderman 3 I was convinced that Sam Raimi had totally lost his ability to make a decent film. So I was not really that excited to hear that he was making a new horror movie (especially since it wasn't Evil Dead 4).
That changed when the advance reviews started rolling in. Everyone loved it - even the serious horror blogs. So I made the mistake of believing the hype and getting all excited.
Well, I saw Drag Me to Hell this weekend and it was a huge disappointment.
First up, it's PG-13. You've got to be kidding me. Sam Raimi built his early career around geysers of blood and gore and for his triumphant return to the genre we get a watered-down kid's horror film? Ugh.
And this at a time when mainstream Hollywood remakes like My Bloody Valentine 3D are upping the gore level through the ceiling!? Makes no sense to me and was incredibly disappointing. I mean aside from a nose bleed scene and a cut lip the film is entirely bloodless. Inexcusable.
Add to that the terrible computer generated effects, lack of comedy and the wooden, unlikeable Alison Lohamn as the star and you get a pretty weak film.
Sure there are some nice cheap scares that make you jump, great make-up effects and some good slimey scenes, but ultimately this is a horror film for kids and non-genre fans. That would be fine if it was just another fluff movie, but for Raimi's return to horror it's tragic.
From the reviews it's getting most people disagree. What do you think?
That changed when the advance reviews started rolling in. Everyone loved it - even the serious horror blogs. So I made the mistake of believing the hype and getting all excited.
Well, I saw Drag Me to Hell this weekend and it was a huge disappointment.
First up, it's PG-13. You've got to be kidding me. Sam Raimi built his early career around geysers of blood and gore and for his triumphant return to the genre we get a watered-down kid's horror film? Ugh.
And this at a time when mainstream Hollywood remakes like My Bloody Valentine 3D are upping the gore level through the ceiling!? Makes no sense to me and was incredibly disappointing. I mean aside from a nose bleed scene and a cut lip the film is entirely bloodless. Inexcusable.
Add to that the terrible computer generated effects, lack of comedy and the wooden, unlikeable Alison Lohamn as the star and you get a pretty weak film.
Sure there are some nice cheap scares that make you jump, great make-up effects and some good slimey scenes, but ultimately this is a horror film for kids and non-genre fans. That would be fine if it was just another fluff movie, but for Raimi's return to horror it's tragic.
From the reviews it's getting most people disagree. What do you think?
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Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
I thought the trailer to this movie looked promising, but PG-13 puts me right off. There are very very few PG-13 horror movies that are genuinely impressive; Poltergeist being one of them, Jaws being another (although curiously the PG-13 rating didn't exist for either movie when they were released, they were rated PG, narrowly avoiding a soft R).
Comment by Cliff Daigle
Midnight Movie Screenings
Horror Movie News
As for the PG-13 rating - yeah, it's damn near impossible to make a decent horror film with that rating; at least the kind that I like. I suppose some ghost-stories like The Changeling might have been a PG-13, but they're not really my thing.
The only one I think of that I really enjoyed, aside from the two you mentioned, was Gremlins. But, that said, it would have been much better with the R-rating the script intended.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
I love a good ghost story, The Orphanage was excellent, and I'm a fan of Blair Witch Project as well (I was lucky to see it months before it's Australian release and so was under the spell of its brilliant marketing).
I'm looking forward to Paranormal Activity at the Sydney Film Festival tonight.