DRAG ME TO HELL (2009)
3-Disc Collector's Edition
Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: Region-Free (4K Ultra HD), A (Blu-ray)
Rating: PG-13 (Theatrical), Unrated
Duration: 99 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo, Surround 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: Dolny Vision HDR10 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (2.40:1)
Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao, David Paymer, Adriana Barraza
Sam Raimi's long-awaited return to horror following three mega-budget Spider-Man movies, including a terrible third entry, was a welcomed trip to the cinema for me, opening with a pre-credit sequence set in the late-60's we have a Latino couple bringing their cursed son to the home of spiritual medium Shaun San Dena to cleanse him of an evil spirit, the young boy having been cursed by a gypsy following an act of petty larceny. The scene is a fantastic opener, it comes fast and furious with an up-front gut-punch and slams a screen-filling Drag Me To Hell title card up into your face, it certainly sets a tone. Moving ahead to current day we meet bank loan officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman, White Oleander) who is chomping at the bit for an assistant manager promotion, but her boss Jim Jacks (David Paymar, Night of the Creeps) has pitted her against office newcomer Stu (Reggie Lee, Tropic Thunder), a sycophant ass-kisser, he's a real conniving backstabber who is actively working against Christine to snag the promotion for himself. In an effort to prove she can make the tough choices required of management she turns down elderly gypsy woman Sylvia Ganush's (Lorna Raver, TV's The Young and the Restless) who requests a third extension on her mortgage, the woman pleads with Christine, on her knees begging her, but she turns her away. Embarrassed after what she perceives as being shamed the gypsy makes quite a scene, attacking the loan officer before being escorted from the bank by security. At the end of the work day Christine walks to her car in a dark underground garage, where she finds the surprisingly spry and vicious elderly woman waiting for her, the gypsy attacks her in a flurry of old hag fury, cursing her with a demonic entity called the Lamia. The scene in the parking garage is pure vintage Raimi, with Christine defending herself with a stapler in close-quarters combat with he Hungarian woman, it's awesomely edited in a barrage of stylized action that delivers every time I watch it.
After surviving the attack Christine and her boyfriend Clay (Justin Long, Tusk) happen upon a fortune teller named Rham Jas (Dileep Rao, Inception) who becomes alarmingly frightened by what he sees in the poor girl's future, informing her that she has been cursed with the Lamia, a powerful evil spirit that will torment her for three days before dragging her to Hell. Nice guy Clay does his best to dismiss the warning, he's way to straight-laced to believe in any of this mystical curse bullshit, but nonetheless Christine begins to have nightmares and visions of the gypsy woman attacking her, also plagued by a taunting shadow spirit of the Lamia. She once again seeks the help of the fortune teller, and with his guidance offers up her beloved kitten as an animal sacrifice to rid herself of the curse, however, when her feline sacrifice fails to illicit the preferred outcome the fortune teller sends her to the medium from the start of the film.
As the movie plays out Christine suffers from physical, visual and auditory torments by the evil spirit who is inching ever closer, which make a dinner date with Clay's disapproving mother (Molly Cheek, American Pie) all the more awkward, especially when an eye emerges from her home baked slice of cake at the dinner table, a nice throwback to Army of Darkness, causing the cursed Christine to flip her wig and make quite a scene. This might be a PG-13 rated movie but Raimi packs it with mouthfuls of gooey disgustingness, there's A LOT of spew being injected into poor Christine's mouth throughout, from green embalming fluid from a cadaver's mouth to grub-infested soil and eyeballs, it's gag-reflex inducing slice of horror-comedy that might upset a few stomachs along the way, but which had me howling with delight once more watching it this time. The special effects are a cornucopia of delightfully gross practical, puppets and digital, and while some of the digital effects to draw attention to themselves, for the most part this thing stands up fifteen years after the fact, not too shabby at all.
There are loads of nods to Raimi's Evil Dead films, the way he puts his starlet Lohman through the wringer definitely recalls his torturous treatments of Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn), she's put through Hell before possibly being dragged there! The gore is toned down for the PG-13 rating but Raimi manages to sneak a lot of gross stuff into this one just by toning down the colors of the fluids here I think, the unrated cut offering more blood-colored gore as opposed to brownish in the theatrical, watching the theatrical version I wasn't too aware of the PG-13 rating to be honest, there's even a great overwrought nosebleed gag that turns into a absolute blood-geyser with her bank manager covered in the red stuff. The unrated cut offers some extended scenes with slightly more viscera, my favorite being the cat-sacrifice, it's way bloodier in the unrated version. There's a lot of great set pieces here, including the séance at the home of medium Shaun San Dena (Adriana Barraza, Babel) that goes bat-shit insane with the Lamia possessing a goat and one of the guests, it's both hilarious and also nerve-rattling, a cacophonous blend of visuals, gooey loony toon gags, and a slashing string score.
Audio/Video: Drag Me To Hell (2009) arrives on 3-disc Collector's Edition 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray from Scream Factory, showcasing both the theatrical and unrated cuts of the film - both running 99 minutes - with a new 4K scan from the original DI film negative approved by Director Sam Raimi And Editor Bob Murawski with a Dolby Vision HDR10 color-grade. It was shot on digital so it doesn't have traditional grain structures or inherent film flaws, it has a pleasing clarity to it and looks great in motion, the 4K resolution offering tighter visuals and plenty of appreciable upgrades to the nuance of textures and details. The Dolby Vision HDR color-grade certainly punches up the primaries the colors looks terrific. Black levels are also more nuanced with superior contrast and shadow detail, and deep inky black shadows.Onto the audio Scream Factory offer up a choice of DTS-HD 5.1 and 2.0 stereo track with optional English subtitles. The sound design for this movie is simply amazing, from Christopher Young's thrilling string laden score to the sound of flies buzzing around the room this thing packs a wallop on the surround system, I loved it.
The sole new extras on this new Collector's Edition is the 114-min "Pardon My Curse: Making Drag Me To Hell" - an extensive behind-the-scenes documentary featuring a mix of new and archival interviews with Co-Writer/Producer Ivan Raimi, Actors Alison Lohman, Dileep Rao And Lorna Raver, Director Of Photography Peter Deming, Production Designer Steve Saklad, Artist Christian Cordella, Make-Up Effects Designer Greg Nicotero, Editor Bob Murawski, Composer Christopher Young, And More! It's a whopper of a doc with plenty of fly-on-the-wall behind-the-scenes stuff and early VFX shots and is totally worth the upgrade if you're a bonus junk junkie.
Onto the archival extras we 35-minute Production Diary, which was the only extra on the Universal Blu-ray, adding some vintage EPK interviews and a trailer and TV spots. There's the 12-min “To Hell And Back” - Interview With Actress Alison Lohman who speaks about working with Sam Raimi and Lorna Raver, noting she was not into horror film and didn't know much about Raimi going in, having to trust his slapstick instinct since she had none, and not realizing how much Raimi had tortured Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell in the past, but feeling should could relate, as she suffered from stress disorder shingles following the shoot! There's also the 16-min “Curses” - Interview With Actress Lorna Raver who played the gypsy Sylvia Ganush, she also had no knowledge of Raimi's works prior to the shoot, describing a twinkle in Raimi's eye that usually indicated something mischievous was about to transpire. “Hitting All The Right Notes” - Interview With Composer Christopher Young is a 17-min chat about his score, beginning by recalling his first viewing of the Evil Dead and knowing right then that he and Raimi were kindred spirits and that he wanted to work with him at some point. He describes the score and various themes used in the movie, his process and Raimi's way of cuing him into what he needed from the score. The second disc is buttoned up with an image gallery
This 3-disc release comes housed in a black keepcase with a flipper tray, we get a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original movie poster. This release comes with a limited edition slipcase (O-Card) featuring the same theatrical artwork on the reversible sleeve.
Special Features;
Disc 1 (4K UHD) - Unrated And Theatrical Version
· NEW! 4K Scan From The Original DI Film Negative Approved By Director Sam Raimi And Editor Bob Murawski
· Presented In Dolby Vision
Disc 2 (Blu-ray) - Unrated Version
· NEW! 4K Scan From The Original DI Film Negative Approved By Director Sam Raimi And Editor Bob Murawski
· NEW! "Pardon My Curse: Making Drag Me To Hell" -- Extensive Behind-The-Scenes Documentary Featuring New And Archival Interviews With Co-Writer/Producer Ivan Raimi, Actors Alison Lohman, Dileep Rao And Lorna Raver, Director Of Photography Peter Deming, Production Designer Steve Saklad, Artist Christian Cordella, Make-Up Effects Designer Greg Nicotero, Editor Bob Murawski, Composer Christopher Young, And More! (114 min)
DISC THREE (Blu-ray) - Theatrical Version
· NEW! 4K Scan From The Original DI Film Negative Approved By Director Sam Raimi And Editor Bob Murawski
· “To Hell And Back” - Interview With Actress Alison Lohman (12 min)
· “Curses” - Interview With Actress Lorna Raver (16 min)
· “Hitting All The Right Notes” - Interview With Composer Christopher Young (17 min)
· Production Diaries - with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with co- writer/director Sam Raimi, actors Allison Lohman, Justin Long, David Paymer, Dileep Rao, Lorna Raver, special effects guru Greg Nicotero, director of photography Peter Deming, and more… (35 min)
· Vintage interviews with director Sam Raimi and actors Alison Lohman and Justin Long (23 min)
· Theatrical Trailer
· TV Spot (1 min)
· Image Gallery (2 min)
I have loved Drag Me To Hell (2009) ever since it first arrived at the cinemas, and it has become one of my favorite Raimi films. It has legs and holds up to repeated viewings, it's just a total banger from start to finish and this new 4K UHD Collector's Edition from Scream Factory looks and sounds terrific, it's a wonderful upgrade, so it's very easy to recommend this one to 4K UHD collector's.
Buy it!
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