Wouldn’t dream of drafting a proper review of Drag Me To Hell. On the other side of seeing it for the first time, all I’d want to report is that it’s fantastic. Oh, did I love this movie.
Go see it! Don’t read about it. Go in blind, and go with the biggest audience you can. This movie works on an audience in such a primal way. It’s old-fashioned in all the best senses of the word – Raimi and his producers described it in all the pre-release press as a “spook-a-blast,” which is a William Castle-style appellation which totally fits. It’s a spook-a-blast! And that’s all you need to know about it beforehand – you wouldn’t read a review of a roller coaster before you hopped on, would you? There’s not much I can add to what is already exactly right on point, except of course my own absurd observations and iconoclastic reflections.
Here’s just a few:
n Hey Justin: Why the Long face?
(If I’m the only guy who laughs at that one, I’m still good.)
n Along those lines: Drag Me To Hell turns out to be the rare cinematic argument AGAINST dating nerds. I will not explain, but let’s just say that a guy’s hobbies can undo his major life goals.
n On the plus side, Drag Me To Hell will hopefully incite a spike in generosity and kindliness towards ethnically ambiguous old crones. Be nice to gypsies, young’uns.
n A lesson Sam Raimi has absorbed after nearly thirty years of filmmaking: As wonderful as terrorizing Bruce Campbell is, it’s even more enjoyable to throw tons of water and mud at a pretty girl in a tank-top.
n David Paymer has sad eyes. [That one is TM & © my movie-going compadre, but it’s too apt an observation not to share.]
n Repeated threatening of cats makes a movie good.
n So do goat puppets.
n I can’t wait for the transvestite community to embrace this movie. Expect a lot of “Drag Me To Hell” parties across
n Since the movie was rated PG-13, I can’t be too bothered by the parents who brought their baby along. But I would enjoy the opportunity to speak with that baby a couple decades from now, just to see how this early developmental influence takes root.
n Again, you MUST see this movie with a crowd. Some of the audience reactions I overheard were nearly as entertaining as the film itself. One in particular is likely to become my new battle cry:
“Put your hand on the goat! Put your damn hand on the fuckin’ goat!”
Drag Me To Hell is now playing in wide release.
So am I: