Went to the premiere last night and it was better than I expected. It really pushes the PG-13 envelope with some of the effects--one funny, gory scene involving a bloody nose, in particular. The audience seemed to love it, including the jaded UTA agents sitting in front of me. Although Uni expects a soft box office, it might surpass expectations.

Has anybody else seen it?

Michel 8)

No but I read the script, and I loved it, good return for Raimi after the horrid Spider-Man 3, the ending was great, remember the big reveal/twist just before the end? Genius

do you have the script?

I have read the script -- it is floating around -- but I did not save it.  Sorry.

If you do track it down, it is probably best read keeping an "Evil Dead" mindset in place.

Some of the scenes, like a séance or digging up a grave, read "just OK" on the page, but if you are familiar enough with his style to imagine what Raimi really intends to do with it, it will read far better.

Early reviews seem to bear this out -- that he goes much further on the screen than on the page.  While he may refer to a "nosebleed" in the script, he actually means a heckuva lot more than that.

As for the final "twist" -- I thought it was a bit lean to build an entire feature around it -- but I will wait and see before passing judgment.  

I've got the script Michel, PM me your email :)

Done.

Thanks Toby

Yeah but I mean

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILER SPOILERS

[deleted]...that was a great twist, I thought it read just fine on the page. But it was kind of predictable that she would go to hell at the end, until the grave scene. Good thing Ms. Ganush (whatever her name was) aka the old lady dies, freaking creepy, you can just imagine what Raimi would do with that character

[bert's edit: dude, that is way too big of a spoiler for a movie that isn't even out yet.]

The best horror film of the year hands down. And here I was thinking that PG13 horror couldn't be good. Very good mix of scares and humor. The ending was perfect.

~Zack~

I guess it was more humorous in the movie because I didn't really find anything funny in the script. Bert, I put "SPOILERS" before I edited that, not sure if that should have been deleted but I shouldn't argue with a Mod

Quoted from Aaron Bert, I put "SPOILERS" before I edited that, not sure if that should have been deleted...

People read those anyways -- even if they kick themselves later -- and that was bigger than a spoiler.  You should have labeled it, "The big twist that the whole script is riding on."

Kind of a dirty trick to read a horror script then spill all the beans in a public forum before the movie is even released.

Please try to scale back your enthusiasm a bit in the future.

Quoted from bert Please try to scale back your enthusiasm a bit in the future.

Will do. So how do you guys think this will do this weekend at the box office?

I didn't think the script was anything outstanding, especially the ending. I think there is a much better way of ending it than what they went with.

Saying that, I will go to the cinema next week and check it out.

I saw this the other night and loved it! Easily the best horror film in a long time. Scary, gross and funny! Well worth the admission fee!

P.S Toby_E could u please send a copy of the script to me at - robertmccallum@hotmail.co.uk

thanks

Quoted from Bates P.S Toby_E could u please send a copy of the script to me at - robertmccallum@hotmail.co.uk

Done.

And I thought the script was alright... Story was cool, but it wasn't a very well written script IMO. But I will go and see it sometime in the next few weeks after my exams finish.

I realize I must be in the minority here, but I thought this film was mediocre on all levels. It's too serious to be funny, and too hokey to be serious.

I'm not saying it was a waste of money -- I did enjoy it. But people are raving about it like it's the best Horror film in a long time -- it's far from it.

But then again, I might be a little overly critical with this film because it gave me a bad first impression in the opening scene. Every single bit of dialogue in Spanish was HORRIBLE and badly acted on a Z movie level. I'm not exaggerating here. If you don't speak Spanish, it shouldn't be much of a problem, but it really bugged me.

And what "twist" is everybody talking about here? I only saw a half-assed shock-ending. Nothing more.

The special effects: Laughable at best, and not in the good way. Specially for a theatrically-released Horror flick.

And why on Earth was the demon in the movie referred to as a "Lamia"? A Lamia is supposed to be a child-killing monster that looks like a beautiful woman with a snake's lower body. There was no reason to call the monster by that name. That's like calling a werewolf a vampire.

Last but not least, the film left me with a bad taste in my mouth because it was advertised as a straight-up Horror film. This was not the case. I felt tricked. It's like an inverse Slither here -- that film was advertised as a comedy but the film itself only had about two comedic scenes. Drag Me To Hell is backwards -- it was comedic all throughout its running time.

I rather enjoyed the movie in the theatre. But in retrospect, its low technical quality, badly-written script and its distributor's false advertising angers me to no end.

I really don't like saying this, but Sam Raimi is just a washed up has-been now.


5/10

--Julio

(edit) Hell, i never thought I'd find a film more overrated than The Dark Knight. Drag Me to Hell has an 8.2 rating on IMDB and a 94% Fresh on rottentomatoes. Don't make me laugh. This alone now makes me hate this movie with a passion. It does NOT deserve that reception. Don't be fooled by it if you're want to watch the film.

Sorry, dude, but I thought this was totally kickass. Completely blew away any expectations I had. After sooo many years, the Americans finally make a horror movie that measures up to the films from the eighties.

I do agree that the advertising was misleading but in my case, I was pleasantly surprised as so rarely nowadays to directors retain any of their old styles. Everything that made The Evil Dead awesome is here. The splatter, cheesy dialogue/bad jokes, slapstick, old hags, dancing ghosts, talking livestock, evil inanimate objects... all but Bruce Campbell is here (the movie does lose some points for that). And yet, it's all done in a non-throwback fashion. The darker mood and atmosphere from the first Evil Dead is still here but it's cleaner and up-to-date. Something that actually progresses the genre rather than be blatantly throwback like Tarantino's stuff. It's also waaay more gross than anything in the Evil Dead series. The first grossout moment where the old lady spits diseased yellow phlegm into her handkerchief just about sums up the rest to come.

This is probably the last really good film Raimi's gonna make. I think even if he quit wasting his time making Spider Man movies, he wouldn't be able to make another thing like this. But it was great to see that one of these old school directors still has a little flair in them, even if he probably washed up.

So yeah. Kickass! Best American horror movie I've seen in a looong time and probably the first that's really worth a damn in the long run. Probably have to wait another ten years to see another of these babies.

Quoted from ReaperCreeper its distributor's false advertising angers me to no end.

Dude tons of films do that. Yeah I'm surprised it's that high on RT, myself. Thought it certainly would get a Rotten score but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Btw you also said it has bad dialogue....most horror movies do...dialogue is not their main focus.

I know dialogue is never stellar in Horror films, but I was only talking about the Spanish bits. I seriously cannot even begin to describe how terrible they were. You have no idea.

The rest of the dialogue, I thought, was all right. But the script was still jumbled and formulaic.

I did enjoy the movie, but I hate its false advertising, its undeserved score rating, its sub-par (even if they were going for camp) CGI and everything it stands for.

Screw Sam Raimi. If you want to check out a decent, relatively recent  Comedy-Horror hybrid, watch Slither because Drag Me To Hell falls flat on its face on many aspects.

--Julio

I also noticed the bad CGI in parts(particularly the part in the shed with the anvil). However, the movie was such a blast that I didn't let that bother me. Just got back from watching it the 3rd time. Awesome movie.

~Zack~

i've never seen evil dead and i didn't find this movie to be that groundbreaking but it's defnitely the best time in theaters i've had in awhile! this was a really fun movie, had some good scares and tense moments, yet had some really clever humour, plus all the gross stuff was gold! the special effects were pretty bad but i think that worked for the movie, i wouldn't change a thing!

Terrible film.

Just watched it on Sky and was very disappointed.

It was too serious to be fun, and too crap to be any good.

The effects were terrible, the acting poor, the sound design laughable at times.

The "twist" was obvious.

Dreadful.

One of the least enjoyable films I've seen for a long time.

I liked it. Lots of jumps, which I like and the the old woman was gross which is also good.

Predictable? Sure, but it still worked for me at least.

Quoted from Grandma Bear I liked it. Lots of jumps, which I like and the the old woman was gross which is also good. Predictable? Sure, but it still worked for me at least.

I think it's a film that probably worked better on the big screen.

There were no jumps for me. No tension.

The woman was quite good, I admit. They used her very creatively, even when she was dead.

Other than that, it just didn't work on any level.

I did laugh occassionally, but AT the film, not with it. (The guy dangling in the air on wires that were pulling up his shirt in the seance scene, the fact that a cloth was screaming when it was stamped on  ::)).

Really shit film. I must say. ;D

It's been a few weeks since I saw this one, but since it popped up, I'll contribute.

I was middle of the road on this one. It had some nice moments to it, but a lot of contrivances as well. The concept reminds me a lot of The Ring where you have a level of dread hanging throughout as you wait for what must (or might) occur at the end. This dread level was the best part of the flick because almost everything that happened played into this dread. Then they pulled something stupid. And then got back on track.

What hurt a lot of the time was that so many of the occurrences were way, way over the top. Rarely did they have something subtle, yet creepy.

It was also a very slow movie. I'm one of those people who catches when the movie drags because I look at the time on the DVD player to see how much time has passed (or more to the point, how much time is left) when it starts to drag. I always dread the feeling that a lot has happened when I look at the time and it says 00:30. Hence, when that seance scene cropped up around the 60 minute mark, I knew that wasn't going to work. I mean, we weren't in act III yet. Yeah, we writers are a pain in the butt to try and surprise.

As soon as her precious McGuffin hit the floor with everything else, it was pretty obvious what was going to happen, and I still can't buy that she thought she had the right envelope. Then it was just a matter of waiting for the inevitable.

So it was a good effort and a nice idea. The execution was marginal, though with a half and half mix of good dread moments and some over the top ridiculousness but not enough general creepiness.

Did not enjoy this movie either.  Almost as overrated as "Inglorious Basterds".  Hey maybe it will benefit from the 10 nominee system as well and sneak in the back door for an Academy nomination as well.

I quite enjoyed it. But the main problem is, I think, that was a low budget story with a high budget... remember Raimi wrote it several years ago. If he did it the same way and with the same budget he used to make his films years ago, I believe the film would have been better...

Many jumps came most from the music than from the frame and they overdid it...

Finally, i could have been better with less budget and a little more imagination...

Michel 8)

George, I think that's a very fair appraisal.

A key problem with the film was that there was a definite time limit on the curse and that it only affected one person.

This was supposed to give it ticking clock tension, but had the reverse effect.

It meant that we knew that everyone in the film was safe until the very end. A classic structural error.

No-one else was ever in danger apart from the main character, so there was no story to tell. It was simply a question of delaying the story through 90 minutes. It may as well have been a 10 minute short.  Thats' why it dragged.

The other major probem was that the real world mechanics jarred with the over the top absurdity.

Evil Dead worked because it felt like they had entered a different dimension. They were cut off from reality and the Necronomicom had opened a doorway to somewhere else. All the over the top silliness was fair game.

When you are talking about bank loans and deals with First National, relationship problems with parents, the juxtaposition with floating, squealing handkerchiefs became laughable and absurd.

It all just threw you out of the film.

All in all, a pretty amateur effort IMO.