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Sam Raimi leaves the superhero nonsense alone to return to his horror roots.

If you are anything like me then you were very happy at the beginning of the summer.  After many long years Sam Raimi finally returned to the world of horror!  Yeah, everyone loves the Spider-Man films and all, but where is that madcap scary fun that audiences were thrilled with in the 80s and early 90s with The Evil Dead trilogy?  Bloody worlds of demon possession were cast aside for a superhero web-slinger.  Now that Raimi finally had a break in his schedule he could set out to make another horror film, one that he had written years earlier but never got around to.  What we were treated to is a chill inducing, yet funny, journey with a girl cursed in Drag Me to Hell. 

A young woman named Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is having a hard time trying to get a promotion at work.  The bank manager has it narrowed down to either her or a jerk coworker who does whatever he can to paint her in a negative light.  Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver), an elderly woman, comes in looking for help with a loan extension so she does not loose her house.  The decision is left to Christine so she takes the tough approach and denies it to show her boss that she has stones.  As you can imagine Ganush is not too pleased and after work they have an altercation in the parking garage where she places a curse on Christine.  Soon strange things begin to happen and Christine heads to a psychic, Rham Jas (Dileep Rao), for help much to her boyfriend Clay’s (Justin Long) chagrin.  She soon learns she has been cursed with a Lamia demon which will torture her for three days before it, wait for it… drags her to hell.

After waiting seventeen years for Raimi to return to his horror roots (unless you count The Gift which I’m not) you wonder if it will be worthwhile or a letdown.  I am happy to report that it really lives up to what you were hoping for.  The PG-13 rating is a little off putting at first but the excessive gore of Evil Dead II was not really necessary here.  Still there are plenty of gross-out style moment to soothe you gorehounds, more than you would think with that rating.  The scares are plentiful and often as are moments to make you laugh with horrific glee.  You really get the same feeling you did with Raimi’s other films and the reason why you loved him/them in the first place is remembered. 

Though this DVD touts itself as having the “unrated” version of the film as well as the theatrical, I’m not too sure what’s different.  Granted I only saw this once in the theater the day it came out, but it seems the same to me.  Even the running time is the same.  I can only guess that on some of the more visceral scenes that there is a second or two more of gore. 

The one real downer with the film has to be the mixed bag that are the FX.  There is a blend of practical gags and CGI used to enhance or create the demonic disturbances throughout the film.  Sometimes this works well, other times not so much.  For the most part I have a big problem with CG FX in films today, especially when a lot of stuff could be done practically.  When computers are used to enhance the practical FX it works much better, but there are a few moments in here where the gag looks like if came from a “Best of Sci-Fi Channel FX” compilation.  Bah.

There is one lone featurette on the disc, the production diaries.  Clocking in at just over thirty minutes this goes around to the majority of aspects of filming this fright flick.  Interviews with famed FX artist Greg Nicotero about his work on the film and how he tortured Lohman with a blood tube up her nose.  Wire work, props and post production are also touched in the feature, and broken down into sections so you can watch whichever part you would like.  I wish they would have at least included a trailer but oh well.  If they treat this like Raimi’s other horror efforts there will be a new DVD out every six months or so. 

Horror fans will probably not even have to bat an eye to decide if they should buy or rent this.  It should be a no brainer, this needs to be in your collection.  The replay value is just as high as the Evil Dead films.  I already knew the ending but was still glued to the screen for every minute and loved it as much as the first time.  Sam, don’t stay away from horror so long this time.  We miss you.

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