| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
damalc 
"last watched: Sausage Party"
|
 Posted - 05/30/2009 : 23:06:39
|
loved it! Sam Raimi can still do his thing if those asshole studio suits just leave him alone (i'm talking to you Spider-Man 3).
an older guy and two teenage girls -- dad, daughter, daughter's friend, i think -- were sitting behind me and about 10 minutes in, one of them said in a quivery voice: 'dad, can we go?' that's when i knew it was a winner. |
|
|
demonic 
"Cinemaniac"
|
Posted - 05/31/2009 : 01:53:01
|
Hmm. Thought it very very ordinary - a shame given I was hoping for something a little more Evil Dead 2. I wanted to like it more, and tried, but got increasingly disappointed. The direct references to Raimi's earlier work just reminded me of better times weakly reflected.
Problems: the script is utterly dire and the plot formulaic.
Alison Lohman is a good looking, but rather boring actress who manages to look pretty fresh faced at all times even after being violently attacked by shadowy goaty demons. (Cheap CGI. Please, please God - make these directors realise horror CGI is and always has been waste of time and money...)
Deafening noises on the soundtrack and sudden images of screaming gypsy women do not make a horror movie. They just make you jump. Where was the scary?
Entertainment junkies will scoff when I say much of the plot was bone headed in the extreme, as that's not really the point of a PG-13 horror comedy, but a little logic can go a long way... eg. all well and good having a corpse spew green liquid all over the head of your heroine, but please at least have her stand up with something in her hair or on her face afterward. Or if you have a sacrifice a small animal, why on earth kill your own beloved kitten when there must be available wildlife or alternative creatures to hand without the emotional attachment?
It was definitely funny, I will say that much. As has been pointed out elsewhere on the internet - why is a gypsy with the power to send a person to hell not able to pay off a mortgate? That's funny. |
Edited by - demonic on 05/31/2009 01:54:53 |
 |
|
|
BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
|
Posted - 05/31/2009 : 08:33:03
|
quote:
Originally posted by demonic
As has been pointed out elsewhere on the internet - why is a gypsy with the power to send a person to hell not able to pay off a mortgate? That's funny.
Yeah, I can't wait till I pay off my mortgate!
|
|
|
|
MisterBadIdea 
"PLZ GET MILK, KTHXBYE"
|
Posted - 05/31/2009 : 14:01:39
|
Look, I say this as one of the biggest defenders of Spider-Man 3 -- the humor and serious stuff was not mixed well at all. Except for the opening scene and closing scene (both of which haunt me so bad that I could not sleep last night, keep in mind), I really did not like this movie much at all. He couldn't find the balance between his Evil Dead stuff and the actual horror. I'm not a humongous fan of the Evil Dead trilogy, but at least in the first two of that trilogy, the tone was consistent.
The Final Destination and Nightmare on Elm Street movies do it right. Final Destination is both funny AND terrifying because death's machinations are so bizarre and absurd. Nightmare on Elm Street's humor humiliates its victims. But Drag Me to Hell... the comedy just distances you from the horror. She drops an anvil on the gypsy. Give me a fucking break.
As a side-note, if you think Spider-Man 3 was the result of studio interference, you clearly don't understand Sam Raimi. |
|
|
|
demonic
"Cinemaniac"
|
Posted - 05/31/2009 : 21:29:22
|
The anvil was purely for the eyeball-pop-into-mouth schtick though wasn't it -he was desperate to get it in somehow - but just compare the gleeful kinetic artistry of the original Evil Dead eyeball flight to the half hearted one in DMtH...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyutmULetAw |
|
|
|
damalc
"last watched: Sausage Party"
|
Posted - 06/01/2009 : 08:48:11
|
quote:
Originally posted by demonic
Problems: ...
Deafening noises on the soundtrack and sudden images of screaming gypsy women do not make a horror movie.
i agree on the shock "scares," and also noticed the point made in inviso-text. the handkerchief fight was dumb too. but those weren't enough to ruin it for me.
i never claimed to be a Raimi expert, but it was never his plan to cram 3 villains into SM3 (one of its biggest problems), or use Venom. that's why Venom was only in the film for about 5 minutes. those were forced on him.
|
|
|
|
benj clews 
"...."
|
Posted - 06/02/2009 : 01:32:53
|
quote:
Originally posted by demonic
Deafening noises on the soundtrack and sudden images of screaming gypsy women do not make a horror movie. They just make you jump. Where was the scary?
That's a very simplistic way of putting it- kind of like saying a rollercoaster goes up and down. Why should that be scary?
If the deafening noises and suddenly flashes are timed well (and gawd knows I've seen enough unscary Hollywood 'horror' films over the years to realise it isn't as easy as just slapping them in willy-nilly) then it can be a pretty unnerving experience, leaving you paranoid in expectation of the next sudden crash. I genuinely had the spine-tingling/ skin-crawling on several occaisions and I don't scare easy. Sudden unexpected noises or sights can really get under your skin- anyone that's walked around an unfamiliar house in the middle of the night and heard or thought they saw something can attest to that, so why shouldn't a horror film feed almost entirely off that? I actually think Raimi should be applauded for successfully (in my opinon anyhow) bringing back the classic horror film with such a pure approach.
My only real issue with the film was that it wasn't complete horror- it couldn't maintain the intensity of the scares all the way through because Raimi just had to get his comedy jollies off. For my money, whether it's psychological or crash-bang-flash horror, it should be something you agonizingly endure along with the characters (like, say, The Descent or The Eye)- if there is a light moment it should only be to throw you off the scent of the next big scare, thereby leaving you even more distrustful of what the film might do to you next.
quote:
It was definitely funny, I will say that much. As has been pointed out elsewhere on the internet - why is a gypsy with the power to send a person to hell not able to pay off a mortgate? That's funny.
I'm no expert, but generally in folktales doesn't the lore go that you can't use magic to benefit yourself? Or you can, but it'll come back and bite you on the arse 10 times worse? If not, why would you ever see any gypsies trying to flog you lucky heather and living in caravans? |
|
|
|
MisterBadIdea
"PLZ GET MILK, KTHXBYE"
|
Posted - 06/02/2009 : 02:14:02
|
I, too, think jump scares are an underrated skill, but I don't think they were particularly well used here -- they were too easy to laugh off, even if they weren't trying to be funny. The idea that eternal damnation is being meted out not by an almighty being but on the whims of random people, though, that scares the living shit out of me. Theologically unsettling, too -- there is a hell, but no god.
As for Spider-Man 3, whatever the studio forced on him, it's still the Sam-Raimiest of the Spider-Man movies. In fact, I'd say Spider-Man shows the most signs of studio interference. For better or worse, both Spider-Man 3 and Drag Me to Hell are the works of a director who is immensely enjoying himself. |
Edited by - MisterBadIdea on 06/02/2009 02:53:04 |
|
|
|
Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
|
Posted - 07/07/2009 : 01:55:04
|
Drag Me to Hell
Spoilers: As demonic points out, why would she kill her own kitten rather than just go and buy a mouse or goldfish or something? After that, I had no sympathy for her at all and was just looking forward to her getting her just deserts. I was therefore not very affected by the scares either, not identifying with being in her position.
Also on animals, the C.G.I. goat is indeed awful and how likely is someone from a farm going to be a vegetarian?
The button-in-envelope mix-up was far too obvious and annoying.
The scene of the old woman attacking the car was hilarious, though, especially her horrible teeth being false and then gumming the girl. |
Edited by - Demisemicenturian on 07/07/2009 01:55:53 |
|
|
|
rabid kazook 
"Pushing the antelope"
|
Posted - 11/04/2009 : 13:42:08
|
The movie was way too entertaining for that kind of an (pessimistic) ending. Dammit, why do that!?!?
Now the only horror of the year I liked is Pontypool. |
|
|
|
silly
"That rabbit's DYNAMITE."
|
Posted - 11/04/2009 : 19:32:55
|
This movie didn't do it for me, I think I just don't quite "get it." Perhaps I'll try some of his older stuff and see how that grabs me.
I did get a good review out of it, so it was time well spent. Kinda. |
|
|
|
randall
"I like to watch."
|
Posted - 11/25/2009 : 12:53:19
|
I also distain the "startle" kind of jolt [like John Carpenter said, just roll some black leader with two frames of white and a big noise, and you can make people jump, nothing to it], but this picture had such a, I'll call it cheerful attitude that I let it go. It was fun from start to finish, and I appreciated the PG level of grossness. I can't imagine the whole crew not cracking up after a typical non-CG Lorna Raver attack.
People who try to shove logic down the throat, as it were, of films like this, are giving themselves a tough job. Why'd she kill the cat? Maybe the Raimis thought that was one more little bit of selfish, unnecessary evil that helped justify her fate at the end.
I really enjoyed it. |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
Drag Me to Hell
