All She Needs is a Mani and a Dentist

I know this is late. I really should have posted it yesterday. But I was too busy being in pain, staring at the ceiling, while being mocked on the phone by my ‘friend’. All in all not the best of days. It is all due to the move that I was complaining about before. No it didn’t go swimmingly but on the upside it is over. Now I gotta find places for everything.

But before the move commenced of Saturday morning, I needed to feel better about my own impending doom. I needed to know that someone out there had it worse than me and I wanted to be entertained at the same time. Up came out on Friday as well and I did want to go see it but that was going to be too much happy for me. I needed to watch something dark but not depressing so I can get my mind off my own worries. I have to say I picked right.

I am not a fan of horror but Drag Me To Hell is not a regular horror. It is by Sam Raimi so I knew walking into the theatre I was going to experience something different. I must admit I was a little worried simply because Raimi hasn’t directed a good horror since Army of Darkness and he may have lost his touch. But I had nothing to worry about.

Drag Me To Hell is a great ride right from the start. It is filled with characters that you understand, genuinely scary scenes, things that are disgusting, and serious camp. It is just pure fun from beginning to end.

Christine Brown, Alison Lohman, once a fat girl who grew up on a farm she is now a slim but meek loan officer at a bank looking for a promotion. But in doing so she decides to take a stand and make the tough decision. She does this with Mrs. Ganush, Lorna Raver, an old Gypsy woman who is sick with bad dentures and in desperate need for a manicure. Christine denies Mrs. Ganush’s request for a loan extension and shames her in front of everyone in the bank. This frail looking old woman transforms into something fierce and vengeful and curses the young Ms Brown. Her soul will soon be dragged to hell for eternity. Awesome.

Alison Lohman plays sweet and freaked out really well. Her cheeks are rosey and when she smiles you can’t help but sigh. The way she dresses is conservative but not frumpy. But when she gets scared you swear you can feel her horror. You get that gut twisting freight in your own stomach as she screams waiting for what is happening to be over.

This fear is totally understandable because Mrs. Ganush is one freaky lady. She’s got one messed up eye, some gnarly teeth, horribly stained and cracked nails, and a nauseating mucus problem. But she is no weak old woman; this movie has the best old lady fight scenes I have ever seen. I know that sounds ridiculous but it is not. They don’t make it so stupid that you laugh at it and not with it but they make it a plausibly weird crazy encounter.

The ensemble cast does a great job as well. There is Justin Long who plays Clay Dalton, Brown’s boyfriend. David Paymer, a greatly underappreciated actor, played Brown’s boss Mr Jacks. Reggie Lee, Brown’s vindictive, manipulative, and spineless co-worker Stu Rubin. And Dileep Rao, the psychic Rham Jas who tries to help Brown get rid of her curse.

Even though Drag Me To Hell was clearly made with a good budget it never felt over done. There was the use of CG but it was well placed and utilized and in some areas you could see that Raimi used some of his old tricks to pull it off. This gave the movie big budget bang with an endearing B-movie feel.

Even if you are not into horror movies you will love this. The mix of comedy, scares, and a good story makes this a hell of a great movie.

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