Drag Me To Hell, created by Sam Raimi, is a return to the demonic camp of the Evil Dead trilogy for the director. It’s mischievous and full of gross-out and “Gotcha!” gags. Like in Teeth, another camp-tastic horror film, the lead is a young, pretty, blonde-haired woman who seems to do everything right. Her name is Christine, and Allison Lohman plays her with believable sincerity. Christine is a simple farm girl who has left her roots to move to the big city and try her luck. The film opens on her as a nice, sympathizing loan officer at a small company bank. She is competing to become the assistant manager of the branch. Her boss explains to her that sometimes leaders have to make tough, unsympathetic calls for the good of the bank. Christine takes this to heart; she knows that her competition, the other ambitious young loan officer, is making all the right moves—denying extensions, bringing in new customers and kissing the boss’ ass with finesse. Deciding to make the tough choice on the very next loan extension that comes across her desk, she is resolute no matter who may stand before her. The problem is that the person is a creepy old woman with a foggy eye and dirty claws for fingernails who looks suspiciously like she might know a few spells and curses. It’s her third mortgage extension and Christine denies it, leading to a lengthy physical confrontation at the end of which the old woman snaps a button off of Christine’s coat. Button in gnarled hand, the old woman casts an ancient curse upon Christine. For three days, the young woman will be tormented by evil spirits before eventually being dragged to hell by demons.
What ensues is diabolic fun in the manner that only Raimi could pull off. After the first outrageous haunting that Christine experiences, there is little doubt that the old woman’s curse is real. And as the encounters become more wicked and physically thrashing, there is little Christine will not resort to in order to save herself from certain eternal damnation. Soon, there are dead kittens, creepy and bodily-invasive flies, sly hints at eating disorders, a demonic horned spirit, a possessed goat, and an extremely shocking and comical séance scene. There is little that Raimi holds sacred, including the burial of the dead. Christine is made to endure and stride through it all to get back the button that will save her from the hell fires. There are some tired tropes that Raimi touches upon—gypsy curses, socially ambitious women, fears of aging, “native” mystics—but he does it with such gleeful abandon and quickness that we are left falling over ourselves to keep up.
It seems likes Raimi’s intent to pick the nicest, prettiest and most moral possible victim for his special brand of mayhem. This could happen to anyone in his universe, including those who appear like the most undeserving of being dragged off to the netherworld by demons. As the inevitable nears, we find out that Christine abandoned her drunk and sickly mother along with her rural past. She has even used tapes to aid her in dropping her country accent. The fateful decision to deny that old woman her loan extension was not the first time Christine had made a sketchy moral choice; perhaps there are other instances of this mentality that Raimi only hints at. Maybe she isn’t the most undeserving of this curse. Each of us has a few troubled choices in our lives, some worse than others. Raimi is winking at us and our assumption that Christine could be all good. Near the end of the film, she is resolute that any one be saddled with this curse as long as it isn’t herself. She will go to any length to get that button back; she will not bear the blame for her bad decision. Raimi finds this struggle delightful. It’s kind of a cosmic joke to the director, but a well-done and shockingly horrific joke.
No comments:
Post a Comment