| Author | Message | ||
     Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Went to see this last night and had an absolute blast. The film is pure high-class hokem, like a modern update of an Amicus film. It's done with so much skill and integrity that you forgive it all the silliness and just go along for the ride. Loved it. As did the audience - I can't remember the last time I experienced a cinema audience respond to a film like that, screaming and laughing and giggling nervously. My wife hated it.  | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.177.5.57 |
I thought you'd given up cinema going, Zed, for fear of violence (on your part, not that of others'!). This looks to be great fun, though, with some very good reviews. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
First time I've been in years, Mick. I did get a bit anxious, but managed to settle down after a bit. Although if I wasn't suffering from mild food poisoning and feeling rubbish, I probably would've ranted at the two stupid girls behind us who were unable to shut their gobs for 5 frigging minutes... I'll not be going back to the cinema in a hurry. I much prefer the peace and quiet of a DVD in my lounge, lights off and headphones on.  | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Audience 'participation' rather diminished my enjoyment of this film, but it's a lot of fun. I agree with Zed's comments. Some unnecessarily disgusting moments aside, this is the POLTERGEIST of the current decade: a superficial EC comic tale of an unreasonably vengeful curse leading to escalating mayhem, with a skilful twist ending that leaves you wondering about the meaning of certain previous events. While not without intelligence, this is not repeat not a profound and cutting-edge exploration of supernatural themes. It's an old-school horror train that doesn't miss any station: good acting, sound production values, some great visual effects (as well as some yecch ones) and a soundtrack that won't quit. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
I agree completely with the Poltergiest comparison - good one. The sound effects are rather brilliant, and as Joel says the soundtrack is relentless. Basic good fun, as far as I'm concerned. JLP should love it. | ||
| Jonathan (Jonathan) Username: Jonathan Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.143.178.131 |
I still say the title makes it sound like a film about a bunch of transvestite Satan worshipers. | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 80.163.6.13 |
Looking forward to this one. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.196.145 |
Glad to hear you liked this, Zed and Joel - I'm hoping to see it soon. I've seen nothing but good reviews so far. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.208.214.54 |
Can't wait. I'm off to see it next weekend. The credits alone make me feel as if I'm back in the 80s (Raimi, Music by Christopher Young, SFX by KNB, well, NB. Oh what grand if occasionally rubbery days those were). | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.244.91 |
The reviews are universally great - everyone's saying it's a return to Raimi's roots, and better than ever - I heard some local respected film critics waxing exuberant about it on the radio today, obvious Raimi fans, and guys who are quick on the trigger to call out shit - this one's going to be a good 'un.... | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.230.142 |
Well, it's not a masterpiece but it has a lot going for it. Not least performances that have less ham than a kosher butcher. Raimi understands that the way to get genuine comic effects is to play it dead straight. Often 'old school' horror films either camp it up mercilessly or choke on their own pomposity – this film miraculously does neither. Even the Morning Star praised it, while identifying a topical theme in the mortgage storyline. | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.4.20.22 |
I've just seen 'Drag Me To Hell' and thought it was a great horror comedy (though not a scary horror film) and positively inspired in its use of the credit crunch/mortgage fiasco/bankers really are the wankers we always thought they were (and then some) theme. Loved it - especially the nods to M.R. James and Jacques Tourneur. Still think Sam Raimi, apart from the first 'Evil Dead' movie (the success of which had as much to do with his equally inspired collaborators at that time - you all know who I mean), isn't a natural horror director. I was pissed when I wrote this (the best way to see this movie) hence the rambling use of brackets... | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.201.173 |
There's a run on punctuation on the RCMB just now. I'm hoping Ramsey will contribute a thread on the en rule in Liverpool writing (known locally as the Mersey dash). | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
I was actually a little disappointed. I thought the opening scene was the best part, but I saw the ending coming a mile away (though I did love it) and there were far too many "Boo!" moments. By the end I was rolling my eyes a bit at those. Don't get me wrong: I enjoyed the film overall and thought it was loads of fun (and the soundtrack is brilliant - Christopher Young, hooray!), but the trailer made it look better than it turned out to be. | ||
| Steveduffy (Steveduffy) Username: Steveduffy Registered: 05-2009 Posted From: 86.159.105.54 |
Jonathan, you have no idea how much I would pay to see a film about a bunch of transvestite Satan worshippers. Films like this don't come round nearly as often as they should, in my opinion, and I can't understand why this should be. (Memo to self - draw up pitch for tranny remake of RACE WITH THE DEVIL...) | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Poor trans demons... can't go anywhere without zombies jeering: "Hey, are you an incubus or a succubus?" | ||
| Jonathan (Jonathan) Username: Jonathan Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.143.178.131 |
Wasn't there a Pete Walker film where the guy who played Compo in Last of The Summer Wine played a transvestite axe-wielding maniac? Think it was called The Comeback or something like that. If it's still on will definitely be catching Raimi's new movie later in the week. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
It was an entertaining, if not scary, little film. It was all too obvious and formulaic really. Good to look at and the fact that the lead character shares a name with a friend of mine from St John Ambulance who we all nickname Dr Death is an added bonus. But this sadly slides into the good but not great category. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.253.174.81 |
Well I caught up with this in the presence of some delightful company this weekend and, while the film itself was entertaining, I must say I found the somewhat youthful audience even more so. Some poor young man behind me was evidently terrified by most of it and kept gasping 'She's behind you!' while a girl further back had a cackling laugh far more disturbing than anything in the movie. I must confess to finding 'Drag Me To Hell' passable entertainment rather than an out-and-out rollercoaster classic. The blandness of most of the acting (that villainous old lady aside) being most responsible for this, and the style reminded me of those US 1970s TV movies directed by the likes of Dan Curtis, which weren't bad, but lacked a level of quirkiness and quality in the character parts that make movies like this so much more enjoyable. The writing felt like a first draft as well and if everything else had been polished enough to sweep me along I wouldn't have minded but as such the repetition and inconsistencies became all the more obvious. Either that or I'm getting old and serious (surely not????). Jonathan - you're quite right - Compo is indeed a transvestite axe murderer in Pete Walker's The Comeback. Finally, I watched Phantasm II last night and spotted an in-joke that connects it to Drag Me to Hell. Anyone know what it is?? | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
Er - no... I thought Drag Me to Hell was fun, and in a way that's the problem. When Jenny and I saw The Faculty she remarked at the end that it had been fun, and it occurred to me that we wouldn't have said that of any of the first three Body Snatchers films (I avoided the Nicole Kidman version, I'm afraid). Evil Dead has a real edge to its excess (and A Simple Plan, which I think is Raimi's finest film, bites pretty deep), but I don't think his new one is any more than a ride. It's certainly more Three Stooges than M. R. James. I also couldn't understand why he shot it so widescreen. Corman and Robert Wise use the format to display their atmospheric sets, and Carpenter's early horror films use it to approximate peripheral vision to considerable effect, but in Drag Me to Hell there's seldom much going on visually to justify it that I could see. I laughed quite a bit, and I wasn't bored, but I think Evil Dead is Raimi's only real horror film. | ||
| Richard_gavin (Richard_gavin) Username: Richard_gavin Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 67.71.37.81 |
Though I haven't yet seen Drag Me to Hell, I would agree with Ramsey that The Evil Dead is Raimi's only true foray into horror. As much as I enjoyed the other films in the Dead series (Army of Darkness had me doubled over with laughter at points), I think it's incorrect to place the original 1982 film in the horror-comedy subgenre. When I first saw The Evil Dead around 1986 or so, I was so unnerved by it that I had to leave the room once or twice. I still find it ruddy and disturbing. The older I get, the less use I have for films that are the cinematic equivalent of an ice cream cone: tasty, but fast-melting and hardly nourishing. I'd much rather put my mind in the hands of a director who cuts away the safety net. Martyrs, Vinyan, Inland Empire; these are the kinds of movies that remind me of the power of horrific cinema. Sorry, folks, didn't mean to derail this thread. We now return to Drag Me to Hell already in progress.  | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
Am I the only one who loved The Gift? That one certainly spooked me and while it's not "horror" in the same sense as Evil Dead or Drag Me To Hell, the clairvoyant element makes it more than just a mainstream whodunnit. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
I like The Gift a lot too, Niki. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.109.101 |
I agree with Ramsey and Richard on the Evil Dead films. As for Drag Me To Hell imho a lot of the humour felt incongruous when compared to the dramatic elements. I know humour often comes from the juxtaposition of expectations but most of the gags seemed to come from a different film from the "scary" bits. Offhand the only scene where the humour felt like it stemmed naturally from the drama was the "Kitty, kitty" line which also managed to be creepy at the same time and for me was all the more effective for it. Overall I didn't feel that DMTH balanced the humour and dramatic elements anywhere near as well as An American Werewolf in London. But like pretty much everyone else I saw the film in a cinema where no one in the audience realised that they should shut the hell up once the film starts which did impact quite a bit on my reaction to DMTH. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.248.16 |
I think I wrote about that thing: "Sam Raimi’s artistic career arguably peaked at the age of 19 with THE EVIL DEAD, a film so influential, so innovative, that in years to come it will be required viewing on any film studies curriculum. While it takes artists of the stature of David Lynch and Paul Thomas Anderson to experiment with the grammar of film, Raimi’s contribution to the vocabulary of cinema is permanent. THE EVIL DEAD’s effects on the last quarter of a century of popular culture cannot be overestimated: from first-person-shooter computer games (looking down the barrel of a shotgun) to kinetic camera work that treats the camera as a prop rather than a coolly detached eye. Raimi didn’t reference shots from other films –- he invented them. A single glance at the poster will tell you all you need to know about DRAG ME TO HELL, except the fact that it isn’t particularly good. Disappointingly, the film relies on LOUD sound effects –- a tiresome modern technique barely a notch above William Castle’s electrified cinema seats (“The Tinger!”). It also runs out of steam 2/3 of the way in during a séance. Rituals on film seem to be as fatal to story momentum as musical numbers. Raimi doesn’t lose any points by making DRAG ME TO HELL, but nor does he gain any. The best moments of the last two SPIDERMAN movies show he still has that 19-year-old’s heart beating in him. Let’s hope he can find it again." Another thing about a different thing: "Brrr... The less you know about this film the better. It suffices to know that it's an unusual friendship drama between two children in a frozen corner of Scandanavia sometime in the 1980s -- the shy, troubled Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) and off-kilter Eli (Lina Leandersson). (Some minor spoilers ahead...) Pale and delicate as the snow that falls through the opening frames of the film, Oskar is quiet, bullied at school and -- to our eyes -- seriously troubled. He keeps a knife under his bed and talks to a tree as Travis Bickle might address a mirror. The muffled white landscape lends the films a magic that almost mocks the grimy, dead-end lives of the characters. It feels as if the people of the town have given up; everything they could achieve or create will be covered by snow and ice, frozen over even before they die. Eli (frozen in her own way, too) must see humans as snowflakes: unique, delicate and something that dies in the palm of her hand. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is beautifully filmed with marvellous production design and acting, but as there's nobody in the film with whom we can really identify, it remains a film more to be admired than liked. By the end of the film, though it may seem in the short term like a happy ending (at least for some of the characters!) there's a dread that comes from knowing that eventually Eli will shed every human being she meets like a snakeskin. The curse of the vampire is not that it consumes blood, but that it incrementally, mercilessly, drinks entire lifetimes." | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.248.16 |
First line should be "A thing I wrote about a thing." Shame, that typo ruins a beautiful sentence. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.248.16 |
Correction. It should be "A thing I wrote about that thing." My ambition is to be a best-selling typist. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.241.143 |
I still maintain that DMTH was pure, unadulterated fun - exactly what Raimi is good at. Raimi's no great artist - at best, he's a gifted director of in-your-face popular cinema. Which, of course, isn't a bad thing. I loved The Evil Dead, but rewatching it a couple of weeks ago, it hasn't dated well. My fifteen year-old eye adored it; my 40 year-old eye thinks it's skilfully crafted rubbish. What scared me then only makes me chuckle now. And I agree with Ramsey that A Simple Plan is the man's finest work to date. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.213.68 |
Really? THE EVIL DEAD still scares me in places. The gurgling laugh of that thing in the cellar with the slash of light across its face still fills me with dread. | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 80.163.6.13 |
I always preferred the second Evil Dead picture. The first one turned out to be unintentionally comic at times (still to great effect), and then the filmmakers realized this I think and used it to full effect in the sequel. I'm looking forward to catch Drag Me To Hell next friday when it opens here. I also think that A Simple Plan is Raimi's best picture. It was also a powerful novel. I remember picking up the book in hardback at random in an airport, just because of the great cover- a vast white snowscape and just the feather with a single drop of blood. Do they even sell debut hardback novels in airports anymore? I also liked The Gift. It had its own atmosphere going and I was struck by Giovanni Ribisi's role-who then went on to play the medic in Saving Private Ryan- in which he was really amazing. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.241.143 |
Don't get me wrong, I love The Evil Dead films - I'm a big admirer of Raimi's work, But what were people expecting from Drag me to Hell? Bergman? I was expecting a big, loud, brash, stupid, yet wonderfully entertaining horror film, and IMHO that's exactly what the man delivered. Two hours where I could turn of my intellect and have a mental rollercoaster ride. Job done. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.241.143 |
The gurgling laugh of that thing in the cellar with the slash of light across its face still fills me with dread. The mask coming away from the actor's face sort of ruins the effect for me these days, but I'll admit that it was scary as hell back in the day. | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.60.106.5 |
 Thats like in Hellraiser 2 when Kirsty rushes down a corridor in Hell and accidentally knocks into a wall. The tilework kind of creases like a big piece of material or latex- but you still feel that the filmmakers have sucessfully brought you to a terrifying space indeed. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.104.245 |
"big, loud, brash, stupid" Well, that describes the audience the night I saw the film. Not only did they chat to each other all the way through the film they laughed and screamed and hollered IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES. Totally ruined the film for me. Consequently, if I see DMTH when it comes out on DVD I will probably find it a much more enjoyable experience. Still, there's the niggling doubt that a lot of the moments of grossout humour felt like they belonged to a different film than the dramatic elements. I know Raimi used grossout humour in the Evil Dead films but there it fitted into the overall tone of the story, here it felt like he started out doing a tribute to Night of the Demon and Poltergeist then after a while got bored and started splicing in deleted scenes from Scary Movie. For me, and YMMV, I feel this made the feel much less satisfying than say An American Werewolf in London or Shaun of the Dead. Still, as I said before, my attitude to DMTH will probably soften if I ever get round to watching it without a bunch of braying idiots ruining the whole thing. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.192.126 |
Life is a process of steadily lowering ones standards until you feel happy. Like sinking into a warm bath of mediocrity. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Not for me, it isn't. I'm constantly trying to raise my standards. Unfortunately, it alienates almost everyone I know.  | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
Life is jumping off cliffs and relishing the terror until someone finally catches you and tells you off for being so silly. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.135.176 |
Life is inadvertently stepping off cliffs, then looking down, seeing the ravine below and unfeasibly jumping back into the arms of your sworn enemy. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Life's a learning curve, baby. | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.60.106.5 |
Is that a rock lyric? (Places foot on guitare monitor) | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.32.39 |
Life is scrambling up the cliff as waves pound the rocks below you. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
Life is swimming through a stinking pile of shit interspersed with brief falls into an even deeper chasm of shit. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.26.61.140 |
Life is the name of the game and I wanna play the game with you. -- Sir Bruce of Forsyth, great English nobleman | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
Life is a pirate video transmission of your own death. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.26.61.140 |
Life is a sexually transmitted disease. Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. Then again, at least we have telly. | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
And Tubby!  | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.244.196 |
Life: one damn thing after another - E. Hemingway Life: waiting to do something else - B. Stoker | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.22.230.36 |
"This is the strangest life I've ever known" - Jim Morisson | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
sleep, those little slices of death, how I hate it... - EA Poe more a reason to love it IMHO | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.203.130.78 |
Life is catching people who jump off cliffs and telling them off for being so silly. Love is when you keep catching them when they keep jumping off anyway. Happiness is when they stop jumping off. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.247.125 |
Bless. | ||
| Simon Strantzas (Nomis) Username: Nomis Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 38.113.181.169 |
I like to say: "Life is a string of mistakes strung together by short naps." Or, when I'm feeling more blunt: "Life is like a punch in the throat" | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.177.181.123 |
"You're born, you keep your head down, you die. If you're lucky" - Eddie Hitler. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.32.39 |
'Life is a pirate video transmission of your own death.' Deep. When I die. I don't want to die in my sleep but with a sword in my hand fighting for a worthy cause. You can film it if you like. Take me down to the sea and throw me in. Funnily enough I never want to die indoors - perish the thought. And never now in bed. Bed is for sleep and something else. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.32.39 |
Or - I'd like to die in Italy. They don't seem to be afraid of death judging by the way they ride their scooters :>) No - I must have dark clouds and rain when I go, or snow, cold climates or in the midst of a winter storm. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.26.61.140 |
You live in the right county, Ally. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.32.39 |
:>) True. And if I was in Whitby there would be no problem but for a person who loves the sea so much why am I up here on top of the moors? Daft. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.5.15.182 |
Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale, Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man, And bitter shame hath spoiled the sweet words' taste, That it yields nought but shame and bitterness. - Shakespeare, "King John" (III,iii) | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.32.39 |
Sigh...sweet words. | ||
| Steveduffy (Steveduffy) Username: Steveduffy Registered: 05-2009 Posted From: 86.159.105.54 |
Life is what you mistake it for. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.208.206 |
The last Titanic survivor just died. Does that constitute tragedy + time? http://www.partyusa.com/titanic.htm | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.228.1 |
Speaking of originals doing horror (i.e., Raimi & DMTH - a weak segue, but I've no where else to put this): this appeared on a private script tracking board, that lists new spec scripts going out to readers, producers, etc... just fwiw.... ----- 11:09 am June 12th, 2009 **OUT TO SELECT PRODUCERS FOR THE WEEKEND** HOLLY McC Representation: David Boxerbaum (APA) Written by: David Schow (THE CROW, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE) You know that one girl at the end of every horror/slasher movie that escapes (from the prom gone bad or the babysitter home alone). Well, what if four of them teamed up to catch the killers that wreaked havoc on their lives. Stacy Maes [JUMPER] attached to produce. | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
Wes Craven's Sex and the City! | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.211.163 |
David Cronenberg's Sex and the City. Alan Bennett's Alien. | ||
| Steveduffy (Steveduffy) Username: Steveduffy Registered: 05-2009 Posted From: 86.159.105.54 |
Went to see DRAG ME TO HELL last night - thanks, all those who recommended it! I thought it was great fun: in fact, going by the various moans and groans from the exiting punters, I reckon I enjoyed it more than anyone else in the auditorium. But what do they know? They probably think horror films began with SCREAM, beardless youths and giggling infants that they are. DMTH is clearly a love letter from Raimi to his influences - and "love" is the operative word here, because it seems to me a film that was made with love, by which I mean a deep understanding of & affection for the genre. Oh yeah - and it's got the best anvil joke since Wile E. Coyote... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.241.143 |
lad you enjoyed it, Steve. And got it. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 89.19.91.155 |
I got it. I just didn't like it. I thought the operating theatre scene in SPIDERMAN 2 was a much wittier homage to his earlier work. | ||
| John (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.24.1.217 |
Went to see this last week. Quite the ride, but not much more than that. There were a few jumps, a few laughs, but it was altogether just a bit too silly for my tastes. But it was good fun. It got a decent reaction out of the audience I saw it with, who seemed to be having a ball. Loved the possessed goat - that was the most Evil Dead moment for me. | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 80.163.6.13 |
So I finally caught a screening of Raimi's newest. My partner found this film very disturbing, maybe because of all the insect body invasion horror stuff- she can't bloody stand it.I was mostly entertained all the way through. I don't know if its me, but I had expected more physical comedy, more gags and escalating horror, more set pieces etc. The sound effects were out of this world- I didn't think they always worked with the slickness of the production. The look of the Mexican woman once possessed was great, as was all the shadow play- particularly the hooves that turn to hands under the door. But did I expect a more outrageous horror film- certainly. And the last train CG effect wasn't so great- puppets and rubber would have worked fine for me. But still, an entertaining picture. The coin gimmick BTW ruined the whole cemetery scene for me, as it was obvious. But wonderful scenes with the dead hag who continues to vomit and tear away at hair etc. Thank God for the garage and stapler scene then. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.231.114 |
Saw this tonight - hee-hee. Comic-book of a horror film, an extra long "Tales from the Crypt," but what the hell - I liked it. Not bored, saw where it was going every moment, enjoyed the ride the whole way. I think I'm just much more forgiving of late... that or I give a lot of leeway when I can tell the filmmakers are having fun, and encouraging the audience to just say wtf, have fun too. The film opens with the old 60's/70's era Universal logo - this is obviously intentional - what does it mean? I did notice that the film has no strictly R-rated material: it's very gross, but not at all gory (killing is off-screen, or not at all) - let alone no bad language, sex, nudity, etc. You could show this film to grandma! Hey, Sir Lord John - so what was the in-joke to PHANTASM II you mentioned way up above?... | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.179.38.197 |
Ooh, a chance to disagree with almost everybody - I finally saw this yesterday and for all the comments above about Amicus and the like, I found it uninteresting and obvious to say the least. The main character was completely unsympathetic, the story obvious, the "oh dear I've dropped the envelope; ah, this must be the one" a huge drop off - could have been handled a lot better. I was hoping I'd like this in the way I love things like THE FOG, but it wasn't to be. I think Raimi's lost what he had, or at least hidden it very well. EVIL DEAD it ain't. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.5.3.85 |
You didn't find her sympathetic at all?!... Seriously?!... Granted, her establishment was heavy-handed - I actually appreciated this aspect though, and was noting it as I watched it, how heavily telegraphed things were - but the heavy telegraphing in this film, Mick, WAS intentional - again, like with TRICK 'R TREAT, I thought it both nodded sagely to the "jaded" amongst us, while delivering good old fashioned thrills-n-chills to the not so jaded. And going right to your second point as an example..... SPOILERS ... we as a knowing audience know - kinda "duh!" know - that there's not that button in that envelope. But the director knows we know this, so he plays with us in another way - this time not heavy-handed, but super-subtle. The owner of the button will be "dragged to Hell" - clearly, her goody-goody husband has it, so will he be dragged to Hell, the innocent victim? Those final minutes, we're sort of tense, wondering which of the two will get the bum's rush; then it's resolved by being her, naturally, in this very Just universe - where we hearken back to her never having, actually, gone to "beg" the old lady for forgiveness, where she might have been saved - and so the whole ends like a grand, satisfying "Tales from the Crypt"/EC Comics finale..... Anyway, it takes all tastes to make a world - even ones like yours, Mick.... | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.178.157.128 |
Ha! Trouble is, both she and her partner were so uninteresting that I didn't care which 'got it' in the end anyway - I'd have been happier if he'd grabbed her hand and they'd both been pulled under! | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 88.202.211.71 |
Craig - in Phantasm II there's a scene in the mortuary where one of the Tall Man's servants pours someone's ashes into an urn. The urn is labelled 'S Raimi'. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 80.43.214.156 |
Finally, and as usual - last, I saw DMTH last night. Loads of fun. It is that sort of film where you know what is going to happen if you have seen the Evil Dead films but it doesn't matter. You go along for the ride. The eye in the cake - excellent. I was cringing in all the right places. |