I couldn't wait to get to Hell

I just recently picked up Iggy Pop's Lust for Life, which is a really excellent album. I can't stop listening to The Passenger, specifically. It's pretty popular now thanks to movie trailers/commercials/etc. so I'm sure everyone's heard it. I had no idea it was Iggy Pop until a year or two ago. I don't know what it is about it. I love the almost carnivalesque sound to it. It's not that fast but it still exudes energy. Give it a listen if you're reading this!



3 hours of sleeeeeeeeeep. I NEED TO FIX THIS ASAP.

The Passenger will get me through the day. Oh, and memorizing this effing script.

#11: Drag Me To Hell



I saw this trailer long before the film's release date and I had been amped for it since then. Virtually anything with Sam Raimi's name attached to it is a good idea. If he started to market Mayonnaise filmed gummy bears I'd probably buy them. I wouldn't eat them, but I'd buy them; that's how much respect I have for this man.

The critical reception of this movie was fairly positive but I really haven't met many people who liked the film. The problem comes down to how familiar the viewer is with Sam Raimi's approach. The horror/comedy/B-movie kind of thing going on in movies like this and Evil Dead is intentional and masterfully done.

I get the feeling that Raimi might agree with the philosophy that there's no such thing as a good horror movie. When he makes his horror movies, however, he holds the perfect shield: self-awareness. Truly bad horror movies don't exhibit any awareness on the part of the creators regarding the bad acting, haphazard plot, and hackneyed conventions. Raimi, however, chooses to laugh with the audience rather than risk being laughed at. By playing into the inherent far fetched nature of horror, he diverts the critical eye in an effort simply to create a fun experience for the audience.

Drag Me to Hell was an incredibly entertaining movie. It was loaded with shock scares to the point where you were cringing in your seat in anticipation of the next one. You knew it was coming, but it got you every time. The utilization of bugs and bodily fluids, as well, just heightened the already repulsive atmosphere. Once that old woman turns nasty her image and some of the things she does are tattooed on your mind for the rest of the day. Despite the playfulness of the film there are some genuinely scary moments.

I don't know about everyone else but once I turned 17 I stopped checking movie ratings since it didn't matter anymore and I could get into anything. This one can't help but catch your eye, though: a legitimately scary PG-13 movie. Sure, Raimi pushes the rating to its limit, but to accomplish what he did without excessive violence or gore is laudable. His creativity is boundless.

The last 15 minutes of the film was so very intense that the entire theater had erupted in the stereotypical horror movie chants: "WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT?!" "BEHIND YOU! BEHIND YOU!" etc. And the very end, specifically, gives Raimi the last laugh. The way the events unfold at the end is so predictable that you have to question it because it seems almost too obvious. Everyone knew what was coming and yet I still found myself thinking, "No way. It can't happen. He's hiding in plain view. That's just what he wants you to think." As it turns out, it IS what he wants you to think; the ending is exactly what you expect to happen but it still tortures you. That's the mark of a good movie.

The cast in the film did a really great job. Justin Long was his usual likable character and the lovely Alison Lohman does a fine job as a knowingly bad actress in a purposely B-movie. One scene in the cemetery towards the end of the movie is just so intense and over the top that even if you weren't a big fan of the film I imagine you'd appreciate it for the part alone. It's that typical scene of the protagonist's vindication, but Raimi's over the top nature makes a scene like that incite strong emotional reactions from the audience who, at this point, is struggling to not start cheering. It also doesn't hurt that for all of the scenes where Lohman is meant to be pretty, she somehow never looks better than when she's drenched from head to toe, covered in mud in street clothes looking like she's just itching to bust some skulls. What's not to love?

I can absolutely see why people wouldn't like the film. As I mentioned yesterday, I'm not a fan of mixing genres. For this one, though, the absurdity is integrated so well into the horror that the marriage of horror and comedy just seems natural. Fans of the Evil Dead series may not have found a Bruce Campbell replacement in Ms. Lohman (or is it Mrs.? Was that wishful thinking?) but they certainly found a comparable movie so fun that it's over before you know it.