DRAG ME TO HELL trailer looks kinda (or not so kinda) scary? by DARK SIDE

Posted on March 11th, 2009

I don’t know about you guys, but gypsy curses rank pretty low on my Scare-O-Meter. Steven King’s “Thinner” did little for me except make me want to go eat a sandwich. Compared to Hannibal Lecter, Cloverfield monsters and Jane Fonda, curses seem pretty tame by comparison.

Sam Raimi’s pretty keen on the idea though and while I’m not excited about the concept of “Drag Me to Hell,” I should point out that this is the first horror movie that Raimi has directed since “The Gift” back in 2000 (which was more supernatural thriller than horror actually). Might I remind you, Raimi’s the genius behind the “Evil Dead” trilogy which includes “Army of Darkness” for those of you not in the know. Raimi invented the signature horror style lovingly referred to as “Spook-A-Blast” due to it’s fun, zany, cartoon-like action. He has promised that “Drag Me to Hell” will feature the Spook-A-Blast tone and the trailer certainly confirms his claim.

“Drag” concerns a bank loan officer (Alison Lohman) gunning for a promotion who upsets an old gypsy woman by denying her another extension on her mortgage payment. The gypsy curses the young woman by unleashing a vile demon upon her with the promise that the spirit will torment her for three days before finally dragging her off to a realm where nobody wants to go. Thus a race begins for the mean little loan officer to reverse the curse before the promise embedded within the title is fulfilled.

I’m glad to see Raimi directing horror instead of merely producing it or lending his name to another lousy Ghost House label release. Let’s hope “Drag” will prime Raimi for “Evil Dead 4″ (because we can’t get enough of that Bruce Campbell guy) or quite possibly a serious and scary remake of the original “Evil Dead” like he’s been hinting.

Until then, I’m avoiding gypsies. Curses and clowns don’t mix.

Click here to view the “Drag Me to Hell” trailer over at Yahoo.

Also, for those of you not familiar with Raimi’s Spook-A-Blast style, check out this wild scene from “Evil Dead II” (one of my personal faves)…

See? Even I can be scarier than a curse.