New post, first post…
Having been a closet horror film fanatic for many years I have finally decided to out myself. I love modern horror films (Wolf Creek, Drag Me To Hell), old horror films (Halloween, The Omen), very old horror films (Dracula, House of Wax), popular horror films (A Nightmare On Elm Street), obscure horror films (Count Yorga, Razorback) and the just plain bad horror films (not much beats Goblins II for awesome awfulness).
Thusly I have decided to share my opinion (for what it’s worth..) about the good, the bad and the in-between horror films I have seen over the years, and hopefully have others provide me with their views on this topic so close to my heart.
It is an exciting and sometimes controversial time for horror film fans. Classics have been or are being remade, or *cough* re-imagined (Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween I and II, Friday the 13th, Prom Night, Last House On The Left), originals are being given the Hollywood treatment (Let The Right One In, any moderately successful Japanese/Korean etc etc horror film), and amongst all the flotsam and jetsam, new, challenging, inspired horror films are being created.
My reason for beginning this exposition is my recent viewing of Sam Raimi’s return to form in ‘Drag Me To Hell’, starring Alison Lohman, Justin Long and Lorna Raver. If you are bothering to read this, I assume you have seen the film, or are intending to, and I will therefore bypass providing you a detailed plot outline (see IMDB or wikipedia for that…), and go straight for the jugular a.k.a. my review.
One scary mother...
‘Drag Me To Hell’ is a pleasure of a horror film for the simple reason that it is a straight-forward supernatural horror, devoid of distractions and absurdly contrived plot lines that can (and have) ruined many promising recent efforts in the horror genre. In this film, Lohman’s character is cursed by a gypsy, and will be dragged to Hell by a demon (the Lamia) in three days. It’s nice and uncomplicated, and who doesn’t love a good demon story. ‘DMTH’ is a tight, entertaining and at times horrifying film, that, while not groundbreaking, is a delighful return to a simple style of horror reminiscent of classics such as Raimi’s own ‘Evil Dead’.
Lohman’s performance as Christine Brown is wonderful and sympathetic, and she perfectly portrays a woman realising the unbelievable- that she is cursed and going to Hell (it helps that not only is Lohman a solid actor, but is also beautiful in a ‘real person’ way, not a Hollwood ‘my kneecaps are the only original part of me’ way). Raimi had originally wanted Lohman to play Christine in a much more unsympathetic light than Lohman eventually did, and I have to say I’m glad Lohman went with her instincts- granted, her character does a shitty thing- but does it really warrant being condemned to Hell for eternity? Long is out of type but well cast as Christine’s confused but ever supportive boyfriend, and Raver is wonderfully vile and terrifying as Sylvia.
There are also signs of Raimi’s off-beat sense of humour, which, unlike in, say, Army of Darkness, does not distract from the unfolding horror of Christine’s plight (*Disclaimer* That comment should not be interpreted as a slight against AoD, which I sincerely LOVE. I do however find the film occasionally more humourous than frightening). It also must be said that the film is fairly light on gore and blood (though heavy on ‘gross out’, look for the maggots scene, awesome!), but as with other good horror films, sometimes the real terror is in anticipation of what we don’t or can’t see.
To conclude, ‘DMTH’ is a truly fun, frightening 99 minutes that has restored my faith that, when the elements come together, great horror films are still being made.
If you enjoyed my review (or even if you didn’t, I’m always open to other points of view!) feel free to make a comment. If you too share a love for all things horror, drop me a line, let me know what films I need to see, need to avoid, etc…
Until next time…
CS.
