Browse Categories

• The FIR Vault
• Columns
  • Editorials
  • Camp David
  • Holiday Specials
  • Indie Corner
  • The Soundtrack
  • Glenn's Nitrate Lounge
• Features
  • Film Festivals
  • Obituaries
  • Interviews
  • Film Awards
  • In Our Opinion
• Film Reviews
• At Home
  • BluRay/DVD Reviews
  • Book Reviews
  • Misc. Reviews
BROWSE BY AUTHOR
Website Archives September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 January 2002 December 2001 November 2001 October 2001 September 2001 August 2001 July 2001 June 2001 May 2001 April 2001 March 2001 February 2001 January 2001 December 2000 November 2000 October 2000 September 2000 August 2000 July 2000 June 2000 May 2000 April 2000 March 2000 February 2000 January 2000 December 1999 November 1999 October 1999 July 1999 June 1999 April 1999 0

Feeds

• RSS 2.0
• Atom Feed
• Comments RSS
• 


Now available, 6 Reels Under, David Del Valle's followup to Lost Horizons.
ORDER FROM AMAZON

DRAG ME TO HELL

Share This: Tweet Sam Raimi does not cheat us. I believe in curses and after Drag Me to Hell, so will you. I certainly believe in demons, Hell, spirit possession, and curses. After I cursed someone by email (that went all around the UFO world), the cursed – who deserved it – went immediately to […]

• Latest Articles

  • A SIMPLE FAVOR
  • THE PREDATOR
  • OPERATION FINALE and THE ICONOCLAST
  • LEGEND OF THE LOST
  • THE GREAT SILENCE (FILM MOVEMENT) 1968
  • THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS
  • LAND OF THE DEAD

• Recent Comments

•

Film Reviews

DRAG ME TO HELL

By Victoria Alexander • May 30th, 2009 •

Share This:

Tweet

Sam Raimi does not cheat us. I believe in curses and after Drag Me to Hell, so will you.

I certainly believe in demons, Hell, spirit possession, and curses. After I cursed someone by email (that went all around the UFO world), the cursed – who deserved it – went immediately to the ICU and was, supposedly, at death’s door for a week. I was blamed, but it was merely a coincidence!

I have a home shrine to EXU*.

Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) has a good job as a loan officer at a bank and a devoted boyfriend, Clay (Justin Long). Christine’s farm-bred wholesomeness is working against her especially with Clay’s class-conscious parents. There is an assistant manager position open at the bank and Christine is competing with brown-nosing Stu (Reggie Lee) for the position.

When elderly, one-eyed crone Mrs. Ganush (Lornia Raver) arrives at Christine’s desk for an extension of her mortgage, she is rudely dismissed by Christine. With two previous extensions already, Christine makes the decision to reject her appeal and impress her boss (David Paymer). The promotion is on the line.

Mrs. Ganush gets on her knees and begs Christine. Furious with being shamed by Christine, Mrs. Ganush takes a button from her coat and puts a curse on her. Let the game begin! Christine is soon attacked by Mrs. Ganush in the parking garage in a no-holds-barred fight.

Passing a psychic storefront, Christine goes inside and is told by Rham Jas (Dileep Rao) that she has been cursed by a gypsy and has 3 days of attacks before a demon comes for her soul to drag her to hell.

Director Sam Raimi knows what the Compassionate Buddha taught about our relationship to our bodies: Yes, we are driven by its sensual compulsions but everything that leaves the body is considered by us to be disgusting. Think about it. We are horrified by bodily discharges. Mrs. Ganush is physically repulsive and vomits and spits up gallons of vile phlegm and gunk all over Christine multiple times. It’s more terrifying than a lonely midnight walk through a deserted forest.

Movie audiences can watch bodies hacked to pieces and extended torture, but this display proves to leave people gasping. I hid my eyes from it.

Gypsy curses work fast. Christine and Rham Jas go to a trance medium to try to sweet-talk the demon. It doesn’t come cheap.

I was willingly possessed twice by “The Great Uncle” in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

The demon turns up but is not in the mood for conversation or negotiation. It shows off admirably and ramps up Christine’s hysteria. She’s on the fast track to hell. (When I was in China, I got a Hell Passport, Hell Money issued from The Bank of Hell, and the deed to a condo overlooking The Lake of Fire. I’m prepared.)

The only thing left for Christine to do is gift the curse to someone else. Ah, the perfect conundrum!

Thank you Sam Raimi for not cheating us! The screenplay by Raimi and brother Ivan gives us a complicated Christine trapped in her own social pressure bias but she cannot sympathize with the old lady. She wins the garage fight and threatens a waitress. Justin Long has the girlfriend role.

---

* Exú is an orisha, and one of the most known deities of the Yoruba. He has a wide range of responsibilities: the protector of travelers, deity of roads, particularly crossroads, the deity with the power over fortune and misfortune, and the personification of death, a psychopomp. Exú is involved within the Orisa, as well as in African diasporic faiths like Santeria/Lukumi and Brazilian Candomble. Since Umbandists believe that all that exists arises from the interaction of two opposite forces, they maintain that these forces permeate everything. Thus, when dealing with Exú, they conceive of two divisions, the male Exú, and the female Pomba-Gira, or Exú Woman. Innumerable Exús and Pombas-Giras exist because each represents a distinctive aspect of the entity’s potency. Exú is the intermediary between the gods and humankind, the messenger of both good and evil.

Comments are closed.