October Movie Binge 2019 - Day 6: Drag Me to Hell (2009)

I hadn't seen Drag Me to Hell (2009) movie in quite a while and my memory of it was vague. I forgot how Sam Raimi it was. The, sometimes blatant, campyness that goes with the film - even the almost silliness of some of the basics of the plot.

I struggled with the main character Christine (Alison Lohman). I think that was the primary drawback to the film for me. My husband did not feel the same way, but she just felt like a truly pathetic individual. What happens to her sucks, sure, but she really had a modern perspective on life goals. This is presented in juxtaposition (but barely) with the two styles of life seen in the movie: The gypsies and the boyfriend's family.

Strangely enough, in my class we are studying understanding characters at a deeper level and one of the things I ask the students to do is realize that characters have good and bad traits about them. They're like anyone you would interact with. Is anyone ever truly all good or all bad? You know the oppositional kids said yes. I disagree. But I shared my experience watching this movie (not the name of the movie) and how I wanted so badly to sympathize with the character and I couldn't, because despite being the lead in the movie, she just had too many bad traits.

The movie deals with the revenge taken against people for doing things that cause them personal tragedy. The old woman uses her "powers" to put a curse on her via an object. This object is causing her to be haunted by a Lamia, a powerful demon who will drag her to hell. Christine deals with all the moral implications of saving her own life, which is somewhat redeeming of her. The curse is attached to an object, which is attached to a person, which then causes them to be haunted. It's a tricky film for my movie binge, but that's what makes it a special oddity to include. Is it ghost haunting? Object possession? Demonic haunting? Oh goodness!

If you're into Raimi, it's another notch on his supernatural belt. Already in on my calendar as several of his produced films and it's I put it in the possessed object and vengeful spirit category, because of the button. I don't want to give too much away, but it was interesting. If you like Raimi, you'll get a kick out of some of the things, but it's no high ranking cinema for this particular topic.