Drag Me to Hell 4K 2009

Horror or, as they are now commonly called, horror movies are probably the most inherently universal genre in cinema. Think about it, it is equally enjoyable to scare with both mysticism and realities from Europe, America, Asia and even Africa. It is the one genre that poses no language barrier, for scare has no dialect. You can scare in English, French, Spanish, Norwegian, Russian. The main thing is that the viewer is scared, the main thing is that the viewer is afraid of the next frame. Unfortunately, many of the horror films of our time lose this ability somewhere in the middle of the way to the theater screens, because to frighten a man of the 21st century, with his steel nerves, it is hard enough (unless you take fans of “Twilight”, of course). What kind of movies are there, if there is such a nightmare going on around, someone will say, and he will be right.

Sam Raimi, no matter how strange his last name sounds, is a native of America, the creator of a series of children's tales about Spider-Man, a mediocre western “The Quick and the Dead”, a wonderful “Simple Plan” and a couple of other not so significant things. But Raimi's main and most beloved work by all movie lovers around the world has always been the greatest lulfest called “Army of Darkness,” with its forefathers “Evil Dead,” of course. “Drag Me to Hell” is a direct return to the roots of the genre, to the roots of the very '90s cinema that made people uncomfortably so wince in their chairs in front of the TV.

Raimi clearly feels the rhythms of this instrument, starting everything banal, with a backstory, letting the viewer know about the existence of higher powers, evil forces, about which the narrative will go on. A monotonous shot in our time and we already observe a bank clerk, who has everything usual in her life. The usual work, the usual desire to rise a step higher in the career ladder, the usual boss, the usual intellectual boyfriend from a rich family, played by the usual Justin Long. Ordinary such a routine life, one day disturbed not quite ordinary old Russian witch gypsy, asking for just the third time to extend the loan to pay off the house. Begging on her knees. In the middle of a white day, in a bank, changing her dentures and blinking her glass eye. From this vividly evocative note, the very same frightening technique beloved of all moviegoers working in the horror genre kicks in. Namely, abrupt, crushing scenes of something scary seemingly out of nowhere. And here, I personally give Sam Raimi five points out of five, for it all works.

Don't get me wrong, “Drag me to hell” is as scary as it is funny. The director has very clearly guessed the right proportions of humor and fear here. Every, absolutely every episode in the movie is filled with an oppressive feeling of some kind of uncomfortableness in anticipation of a frightening moment, while not forgetting to amuse the crowd here and there. A very rare occurrence in current cinematography, don't you think?

How would I neatly describe “Drag Me to Hell”? Let's put it this way: if “The Exorcist” had been dreamed up by Bugs Bunny it would look something like this. Raimi feels too comfortable in the director's chair to miss the slightest flaw in the details. Sound. God knows, the sound effects in this movie take a huge chunk of the entire intertainment offered, as they are done at the highest level coupled with computer graphics. Shadows, camera angles, wind effects, fire effects, and the beautiful musical accompaniment by Christopher Young all impose a complete harmony of horror on the screen. Raimi manipulates today's fashion for “torture porn,” proving that graphic brutality is not the answer at all. All it takes is talent. Talent to make movies professionally, no matter what genre they take on.

“Drag Me to Hell” is the very, fleeting moment in filmmaking that fans of true, original horror have waited so long for. Many directors have tried. Raimi has succeeded. This is, if I may say so, fresh air and truly the closest approximation to the best side of the genre. One of those rare, really rare movies that makes you feel with your whole body the very feeling that gave us pirate VHS tapes with horror movies playing in dusty video tape recorders.

Scary, funny, high-quality and original. And most importantly, it works. Undoubtedly one of the best horror movies in recent memory.