It's interesting how a lot of people (and I don't just mean on here) claim that this film wasn't the least bit scary ... and then they turn right around and admit that there were plenty of "jump scares" (which I guess is the term people are using) throughout. Okay ... so if suspenseful music/tension and misdirection leading to an inevitable, shocking "scare" isn't what "scary" is, then I'd really like to know what IS.
Of all of the horror thrillers I've seen in the last decade or so (1408, The Mist, The Others, Skeleton Key, The Descent, The Ring, 28 Weeks Later, Hills Have Eyes, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, House of Wax, etc., (too many more to name ... those are just off the top of my head)), Drag Me to Hell is BY FAR the scariest. If this film doesn't qualify as being "scary," then I really don't know what else in the entire damn world would qualify as such, because every single one of those other movies I just named (and pretty much every horror film ever, especially slasher-types) watch like the Care Bears movie compared to Drag Me to Hell.
Honestly, do people even think before they post reviews on sites like IMDB and Metacritic?
Yes, the movie IS full of cheap, "misdirect and then jump out at you" shock-scares ... that's what SCARY IS!
Of course, as with all horror thrillers (including survival horror video games such as Dead Space), how "scary" it happens to be really depends on how, where, and when you watch/play it. For instance, if you watched this film with other people around during the daytime ... or even in a movie theater surrounded by other people, then it probably wouldn't come off that scary at all. I, on the other hand, watched this film by myself, in a dark room, in the middle of the night (I purposely wanted this type of atmosphere). Big difference. I actually considered closing my eyes at one point, but then I realized that the scares would have been even worse, as the loud, out-of-nowhere SOUNDS in this film are half the scare. At least with my eyes open I could see the nasty, crusty, hag of an old woman pop out out of nowhere and be expecting the loud-ass shriek that accompanies it.
It's one thing to NOT like the film, but to actually say that this movie wasn't scary is just plain ridiculous and stems from pure bias and spite. Because I can think of no other horror thriller in the last decade or two that even compares in terms of sheer fright and tension. If Drag Me to Hell isn't scary, then nothing in the world of cinema is. I pretty much cringed for the entire 100 minutes.
And yeah, there are still people who classify this as part "comedy," but until Sam Raimi himself openly says that (which he has NOT), I call bull. The fact of the matter is, a "comedic" horror film would be quite obvious in its tone and atmosphere. I've seen "comedic" horror films before, and this watches nothing like those. This was a film that took its plot very seriously,where exactly did it say "spoof" or "parody" to you? Drag Me to Hell was tense and unnerving the entire time. If you laughed during this, then that's something to get checked out. Because there was nothing even remotely funny about this movie. Disgusting, shocking, and terrifying? Yes.
Bottomline is, most horror thrillers slightly entertain but do not end up impressing me much. This one shocked me to the core.
On another note, I happened to LOVE the protagonist of the film, portrayed by Alison Lohman. Most horror thrillers feature annoying characters that I actually WANT to see ripped apart of taken to Hell. I was actually rooting for the girl in this movie. The plot (as well as the ending) really makes one wonder how sick Raimi's mind has to be to come up with something like this.
Log in to comment