Growing up horror was always my first love of the film genres. I relished that feeling of fear knowing that outside the doors of the cinema, away from the screen there was the comfort and safety of the real world. My ninth birthday, or maybe my tenth involved a marathon of the Nightmare on Elm Street series, culminating in the newly released Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare 3d. My pre-pubescent cohorts and I gathered around our 14 inch, flimsy cardboard glasses in hand and let the fear embrace us. And so it went for many years.

But recently I have become jaded by the trawl of Craven wanna-bes and grotesque packages that the studios have latched onto as the definition of current horror. I want the fright, I want to sit glued to my seat both craving as much as dreading the next scare and tensing until my muscles hurt. What I don’t need to see someone being flayed alive while having their genitals shredded by ravenous dogs. I don’t want the dull brainless bombardment of gore in place of a story line. It’s not horror, it torture and it’s entirely different. It’s just lazy and insulting.

There was something surrounding the lead to Drag Me To Hell that told me to expect something different. Whether it be Sam Raimi’s return to what Sam Raimi does best or the kitsch factor of the trailers, I just couldn’t wait to see the movie and…I am happy to report that this this is the film I’ve been waiting for. Drag Me To Hell is an excellent demonstration of what can be achieved without resorting to the “torture porn” trapping of relying on vicious gore to get a reaction. It’s a return to the nostalgic glory days of fun horror flicks.

The plot:

The movie revolves around Christine played by Alison Lohman an ambitious loan officer who in an attempt to prove her back bone to her boss declines an extension on a mortgage to a mysterious and comically grotesque old woman. As dumb luck would have it, said old woman turns out to be a bitter and remarkably spry gypsy woman who places an evil curse on Christine, giving her only three tormented days to live before an evil spirit comes to claim her soul and as the title would suggest, drag her to hell.

With the assistance of her skeptical boyfriend played by Justin Long and a local seer, Christine sets about saving her soul from firey damnation by either reversing or breaking the curse. As evil forces close in, Christine must consider how far she is willing to go to break the spell.

Lohman’s timing is excellent however Justin Long is a little absent. It felt to me that he was only in the movie as the token name and he merely went through the paces as if merely to tick off another contractual obligation.

I’ll say it now Sam Raimi is a genius. “Genius” is the only explanation for the crafting of horror and comedy in such a flawless manner. As reviewer Mark Kermode put it Raimi manages the technique of build-up tension-boom-shriek- boom-laugh like no-one else.

The shocks start out immediately and continue at a steady pace thought the film. Without giving too much away, the first proper scare comes within the first ten minutes of the movie, following some preposition and the change of atmosphere in the cinema was palpable. People shifted in their seats, coughed uncomfortably, reached for the comfort of their sweetheart’s leg. I still have a pain in my face from squinting to hide behind my eye-lashes.

There is very little blood on screen and Raimi captures that elusive gem of great horror movies where your mind is convinced that it is seeing more that it actually is. Drag Me To Hell is the perfect mix of physical slapstick, dark humour and gagg-inducing ick, paying homage to Raimi’s early baby The Evil Dead while still being fresh and timely.

I came out of the screen hopping with excitement and wanting to go back in and see it all over again.

Oh yes, Sam Raimi is the man.

Reblogged from here.

A Genetic Opera

Dark.

Kitsch.

Funny.

Sexy. (Well it does star Anthony Stewart Head)

Gruesome.

And definitely worth the wait.

Kitsch.

Funny.

Sexy.

Gruesome.

And definitely worth the wait.

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People

Make a movie like this. Shame on you Simon. Shame  shame shame!

It gets one kiss because Gillian Anderson looks great, there is one funny moment, I want to give Simon Pegg the benefit of the doubt and I turned it off half an hour from the end so there’s a slim chance that it may have gotten better.

I doubt it though.

It’s has to be the best movie I have seen this year. Beautiful. Dark. Satisfying.

Looks like Hollywood have set their eyes on it so unless your highly averse to subtitles I highly recomend getting your bum along to this or getting a copy of this  before it’s slaughtered by an LA studio.

A really enjoyable movie that won’t change the world.

Looks shit right.

Unimaginative graphics on the cover. A title that sounds like a computer programme or a sexually transmitted fungus.

And it stars He who should never be nominated for a Golden Globe, Jean Claude Van Damme. I mean total shit. Right?

But claw out my eyes, scald my ears with hot oil and call me ma a whore, I really enjoyed it. God damn it all to hell anyway! Turns out there’s this big secret that Jean has been hiding for so many years – he’s funny and he can actually act (a bit).

It’s an action comedy drama kung-fu documentary and so far he most surprising movie I have watched this year. Or maybe I just had too much wine. You decide.

However, I have seen a few movies in the past week and decided in the void of blog inspiration (I was going to go with blogspiration but it sounds a little filthy) to critic them.

Quantum of Solace.

One word springs to mind. FAIL.If this was a generic action movie it would never have seen release. Boring. Poor story line. Cheap action cutting and not nearly enough naked Daniel Craig.

Even as a Bond movie this doesn’t register.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was more memorable in that at least it had the guts to be spectacularly bad. This was just boring. I think M had more dialog than Bond butI would have to watch it again to be sure and that is not going to happen.

Zach & Miri make a Porno.

This film hurt. A lot. But in a really good way. I’m a huge Kevin Smith fan, Dogma probably being my all time favourite film so I might be a bit biased but I genuinely can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard at a movie. At one point I seemed to totally forget that I was in a packed cinema when I began to scream “Oh God Oh God Oh God” (comedy remember) aloud much to the disgust of the woman beside me. But she got hers. One word. Poo.