Cinema Hall

USA, 99 min, color
Sam “Evil Dead” Raimi (Director)

The Evil Dead along with a series about a nightmare on some tree street are films due to which we remember the 80s as a good time. Evil’s good time.
Those who grew up in the 70s still keep in their hearts the memories about Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Last House on the Left. Those who were lucky to go to school in the 90s will remember Scream.
But for us, the scholars of 80s all three series of Evil Dead are the same as that true green grass and that true delicious vodka which of course no one really does now.

Recollections of the greenest grass were slightly spoiled by the author himself – Sam Raimi, who dropped those dead deeper in the cellar and fed us stories about Spider-Man during the recent years. So it’s not necessary to describe all those feelings that I was concerned when first time I heard news about Raimi returns to the country of Fear and Demons and shoots Drag Me to Hell.

When it came to American film distribution I’ve got two more news: one is good and another is bad. Let’s start with the good: all critics feel untypical for horror enthusiasm, the movie got 93 points on Rotten Tomatoes. The bad news is that Drag Me to Hell made as a family movie with rating PG-13, which means I have as little chance of seeing artistic chainsaw carving or ripping out the ears as of seeing my own … em … ears. Yeah.

In the end, I went to the cinema hall with a pretty fat set of hopes and doubts. All these hopes and doubts were confirmed: from the so-called art point of view the film was succeeded, but as horror attractions it was not.
Drag Me to Hell is close to movies for kids. Actually, the third Dead (which are Army of Darkness) were not terribly scary, but it was a tie scored magnificent wild and comical scenes. For new canvas Drag Me to Hell perhaps this is not true. But there is something different and tasty.

The movie introduces us to the young and promising female bank clerk, who in her efforts in making the career offends some weird old lady. Aggrieved old Gypsy puts a curse on our character and now the demon regularly visits the house of hapless girl in order to catch away her into his infernal underground dwelling.

As a result Raimi gets something average between the typical adult chiller of Stephen King (short story recalls Thinner, which is also about Gypsies) and atypical kid’s shocker Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. All the necessary ingredients for a family horror at the scene: digging out the tombs, vomiting of insects, rotten fangs and sharp-clawed shades in the style of Murnau.
Moreover, the film beats like a Peter Jackson’s Dead Alive: scary beginning, then young romance story of love, journey to the prophet and even dinner at which our character feels extremely uncomfortable.
Here’s just the huge lack of chainsaws, grass-cutters and grotesque madness. It seemed that each stage would have just a little bit done and will be excellent, but the absence of this “little” puts the pleasure off till kingdom come.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Post a Comment