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Wish Number two:
My review of Drag Me To Hell.
This is the first real and true horror movie in years. It is not the torture porn we've seen recently, it's not Cloverfield in that it has a giant monster. This is a movie with interesting characters, an only slightly larger than life villain, and most of all likable characters. That is one of the most important aspects of this movie. You do not want the Hero to die. This isn't a film where you like the Villain more than any one else.
Christine is a protagonist that you genuinely feel bad for and can(for most of them) understand her decisions. As you watch her go through the motions in during the first ten minutes or so, the film really starts to push her up a tree, and worse than the old adage, it starts to try and cut the tree down to get her out of it. And then she falls in a hole and is trying to climb her way out but the hole just gets worse to bear.
We watch as things seem like they might be okay, but then they get worse than they were before. It almost always feels like there is something trying to stop Christine. But unlike in a drama, in this horror film there actually is something trying to stop her. This isn't to say Christine doesn't make some bad situations that just get worse and worse for herself, but you will find yourself concerned for her safety.
This is one of the few horror films where the really scary moments are downplayed and instead moments that would feel incredibly frightening to a character in a situation like Christine's are played up creating a far more real to life experience. There aren't to many movies where horror is used as an expression and communicative tool of a character's emotions, but here it is and it is done effectively.
For a film with such a small budget, you would never know. It may have even worked in the film's favor for every set, every costume, and most of the makeup looks realistic. I don't think they built any sets for this movie. I honestly think they are all location shots. This creates an effect that makes the world the film is showing us seem very close to our real world. This is important because in most horror films the world created feels very much like a created world and not the world we live in. When we think of it as the world we live in suddenly the terror is not only for the events of the movie, but for ourselves and the (far gone) possibility that the events could befall ourselves. The horror itself is more suspense than anything. Raimi is very good with his use of sound and every day ordinary occurrences being scary when you are placed into a fearful mindset. In all honesty, I would consider this movie a masterstroke in crafting a horror movie.
The acting in this movie is far and beyond fantastic. Most of the time Alison Lohman is acting with nothing yet can convince you that something is happening around her. The old woman in the movie(whose name escapes me) does a good job being at times vulnerable and often creepy. The man who plays the psychic(whom I'm seeing more and more in roles and am enjoying his work) really portrays a certain amount of character that makes him seem different than a similar character in the movie Poltergeist. The two men that work at Christine's bank do a good job coming across as men, and not just caricatures of men. The low point in the acting is the parents of the boyfriend. They just don't do too much. But the one that steals the show is without a doubt Matt Long. With this performance and his role from Zach and Miri, he is proving to be a real rising star. In this movie he is playing the loving boyfriend, but more than any character in this film he is realistic. He is at times supportive, and at other times disbelieving. He has quirks and character traits akin to real people.
The biggest flaw is the director's cut. It doesn't add anything to the story and just shows a few alternate shots in certain scenes. And it doesn't need it. So skip watching the directors cut and just watch the theatrical cut(its on the same disk). Bonus features are scarce but this is one of the few times where the movie outweighs any extras. the Audio/Visual components look great and just as rich as they we're in theaters.
Score: 8.9
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