I already saw writer-director Sam Raimi's impish and triumphant return to pure horror, Drag Me To Hell, during its theatrical run and I loved it. I love it again on DVD… though I do think what little restraint was exercised for the big screen release actually makes for a more solid viewing experience. The added gunk and goo during the dinner scene only serves to as a reminder of the old Canadian kids' show, "You Can't Do That On Television!"
But still. It's a super-effective film in its scares, suspense, comedy and gross-out factor. I love Raimi's humor-fueled horror so much more than I do his superhero movies (his multi-million dollar earning superhero movies, of course. There's a reason I'm not a Hollywood Studio Exec, huh?).
The present-day story follows young, insecure yuppie Christine (Alison Lohman), after she's cursed by an angry elderly Russian woman (Lorna Raver) at the bank where she works in the loans department. The first several minutes of the movie, setting up the source of the curse, Christine's conundrum and the witch's wrath, flies like bats of out of hell. The pacing settles down then, letting us catch our collective breaths as Christine, her boyfriend Clay (Justin Long), and the local psychic Rham Jas (Dileep Rao), race against time to keep the curse from coming to fruition. For a denser rundown of the film itself, please read horror.com's review of the Drag Me To Hell theatrical release.
As I mentioned, the DVD is unrated and has more sticky, icky stuff included. (Though technically the Director's Cut is a bit shorter than the studio's cut.) And maybe there is a more Lohman-nip seen in the wet tee-shirt scene. But aside from that, it's the same (already great) movie.
The featurettes on the DVD are simply icing on the harvest cake: the making-of featurette is hosted by Long, who is absolutely delightful with his droll sense of humor and deadpan delivery. He's shooting his intro and interstitials on the set, and so you can see the filming unfold around him as he talks about the making of the movie and we go behind the scenes with Lohman, Raimi, Raver, KNB effects guru Greg Niccoterro, and everyone else. It's very well done and covers topics such as "The Bloody Nose", "Inside the Psychic World", "Alison in Mud" "The Goat", and 10 more. I was amazed at the lengths the crew went to, to reflect authenticity (Jas's authored books are actually bound, and artists were commissioned to illustrate them) and how committed the actors were to back-story (Rao and Raimi collaborated on the décor of the psychic's den).
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson