Off The Marquee

by offthemarquee on Jul.24, 2009, under Arts

Drag Me To Hell (2009)

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Returning to Tucson this week at Grand Cinemas Crossroads 6 is Sam Raimi’s latest Drag Me to Hell. Crossroads 6 is a great second run theater that has dollar days and dollar shows after 9PM. I realize stadium seating and advertisements blaring in your face is the wave of the future, but Crossroads is clean and well run and I like it because it is reminiscent of the theaters I am used to going to. It’s a cheap, fun place to go.
And this week they have:

Drag Me to Hell (2009)
Can you never go home? Going to the movies to see someone’s “return to form” is almost always disappointing. But Sam Raimi’s latest proves he has still got it in a big way. If you have seen the commercial, the plot is already established. If you haven’t seen the commercial, the tag line on the poster can catch you up. “Christine Brown has a good job, a great boyfriend and a bright future. But in three days, she is going to hell.” Brown (Allison Lohman) is a loan officer who denies an extension on an elderly (and gross) Hungarian woman’s mortgage. The woman lays a heavy curse on Brown that you wouldn’t wish on anyone except perhaps a loan officer. I won’t give away the ending, but the ride is what is important here and Raimi has provided 99 minutes stuffed with dancing corpses, loud jumps, unreasonable blood spurts and goo accidentally flowing into orifices. Although it is sad that there is never a Bruce Campbell walk-on, (Raimi’s famous car does make an appearance), all the elements his fans would expect are there. Raimi seems to have re-defined his thing for a new generation. Hell is a diamond during a time when there seems to be no room for big budget horror movies with a shred of originality. Although we have seen some of this before, it comes across as refreshing. A real triumph for the genera and for the Raimi cannon.
 Grand Cinemas Crossroads 6
4811 East Grant Road, Tucson, AZ

Off the Marquee is meant to be a forum for reviewing and promoting overlooked classics, cult movie screenings, second-run viewing opportunities, and unique independent film experiences in and around Tucson. If you have anything in that vein you would like to share or promote, I would be psyched to hear about it.
groovetomb@hotmail.com
www.billupsallen.com


3 Comments for this entry

  • Art Jacobson
    July 24th, 2009 on 9:19 am

    Hey…
    Maybe not quite on topic but I was delighted to find that “Last Year at Marienbad” is at last available on DVD. Got it through NetFlix.

    Reply
  • bjay100
    July 24th, 2009 on 11:53 am

    I love the Crossroads.  They have pretty good snack bar deals too.
     
    I saw this movie.  It was pure entertainment.  It’s one of those horror movies that is extremely suspenseful and will give you a really good scare yet will make you laugh.  It has those moments where you wonder if you were supposed to be laughing but your laughing anyway at the classic campy special effects.
     
    The movie has a folkslore-like feel – like what is supposed to happen if you say “Bloody Mary” into the mirror with the lights off or how our local banshee legend, La Llarona, is supposed to snatch kids who stay outside too late after dark.  It took me back to those fearful feelings of sheer panic in my childhood if I was outside after dark and thought I heard the distant beating of La Llorona’s drum or her sobs.
     
    Alison Lohman who plays the main character and the antagonist Lorna Raver have to get a lot of kudos from me.  Especially Loman, she helped make the movie scary, funny, and a little goofy at times.  Don’t get me wrong…it’s not like “Scary Movie” or Mel Brooks goofy – they find just the right balance to keep you in the suspensful mood.  It’s very subtle.
     
    I think classic horror movie fans, who have been avoiding scary movies lately because they mostly rely on just throwing disturbing images up on the screen, should go see this.
     
    I figure a movie is a good value if I think about it (or even remember it or the plot) later.   Many movies I pay my 9 bucks, and never think about the experience again.  This movie has stuck with me, and I think about it a lot.
     
    I may have to take hubby to see it this weekend.  Thanks for the post!
     

    Reply
  • mistercrispy
    January 1st, 2010 on 1:53 pm

    Read your best of for 2009. Some interesting choices there. I heartily disagree with this one, though. Drag me to Hell was one of the big disappointments for me in 2009. The problem wasn’t Raimi- it was the material. If a movie is going to have a twist, or secrets that are revealed, or a revelation, my only request is that the writers make the material smart enough that I can’t figure out the “surprise” ending 45 minutes before the movie ends. The reason for this is that it makes the last 45 minutes excruciating, because I’m oscillating  between hope that my deduction of the lame surprise is incorrect, and dread that my hunch was right and the movie is crap. Unfortunately the latter occurred with this one. The problem was the writers decided to make the boyfriend a coin collector for no reason whatsoever. It wasn’t tied to the story, integrated in a way that made sense in any substantive level to the protagonist, and as a result stuck out like a sore thumb. Call me cynical, but when there was suddenly questions pertaining to a coin and a curse, I saw the “surprise” a mile away. It was because of the writer’s inability to find a way to make the boyfriend’s coin collecting a part of the story beyond it being necessary for the plot as written to work. Raimi did a good job with the direction; he was just directing a two star movie from the start.
     
     
     

    Reply

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