What club, you ask?
The elite group of performers whose very name guarantees critical approval. Like U2, REM and Bob Dylan in the musical world, and Woody Allen and Michael Moore in film land.
When Sam Raimi first hit Hollywood, he made silly, shlock horror movies like the “Evil Dead” trilogy. The films endeared him to cult movie lovers everywhere.
But he truly made the mainstream notice with his “Spider-Man” trilogy. Now, Raimi is a trusted talent, a man who can meld comic-book sensibilities with rock-solid movie making.
So I bet more than a few critics were wearing Raimi-colored glasses while watching “Drag Me to Hell,” his latest film and a return to the horror genre.
How else to explain reviews like this:
- “Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell does everything we want a horror film to do: It is fearsomely scary, wickedly funny and diabolically gross,” Betsy Sharkey, LA Times
- “One of the best horror films to be seen in many years,” Pete Hammond, Hollywood.com (OK, he gives every film this kind of rave)
- “Drag Me to Hell has everything you want in a horror film,” Marshall Fine, Hollywood & Fine
Give me a break. The film’s storytelling is so rudimentary it wouldn’t pass muster in an “Outer Limits” episode. And take away the loud shock moments - today’s most tired horror movie cliche which bludgens you with sound - the film lacks a good, solid scare.
So enjoy your new media profile, Mr. Raimi. But next time, try a little harder to make a film that’s actually worth all the fuss from your base - I mean, film critics.
(Photo: Director Sam Raimi’s latest film, “Drag Me to Hell,” wowed critics despite innumerable flaws and a lack of true scares.)
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I'm an award-winning journalist and film critic with more than a decade of experience in newspapers, magazines and the Web. I'm a member of both the Washington, DC Area Film Critics Association and the Denver Film Critics Society.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Call me old school, but I don’t want “wickedly funny” in my horror movies.
Haven’t seen “Drag Me To Hell,” but did see Spider-Man 3 multiple times. I think it’s a fair shake to say the guy can direct, but can’t write a lick at this point. And that’s coming from a big fan.
Here — freakin’ — here.
DMTH is a dud and the more I think about it, the angrier I get.
And I’m completely shocked by the reviews. I never read reviews before seeing a film, so to come out of this grade-C cable movie and see that Rotten Tomatoe rating was a bigger shock than anything in the movie.
Alison Lohman is wonderful, however.
Ent. Weekly gave the film an “A” - not an A-minus, an “A.” They very rarely do that … something is up here …
Heck, it’s not a sequel. That alone must earn it at least a B++++++.
Great post, Christian, but I must take issue with you putting Woody Allen in that list of always-loved-by-the-critics. His last film, before this summer’s upcoming “Whatever Works,” was “Cassandra’s Dream,” which only has a 46% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Two films before that was “Scoop,” with a shocking 37%. Take out the one before that, “Match Point,” and you get four films below 50%. I say this as someone who thinks all these movies were underrated. Certainly, they weren’t masterpieces on par with “Match Point,” but that’s Woody Allen’s problem — when he’s really on, he’s really on, so his simply “good” movies look so much worse in comparison.
KJT — I think critics cut Allen much more slack than other filmmakers, and that’s coming from someone who grew up with - and cherished - most of his films.
I do think his spell over critics has waned in recent years. That said, I thought “Crimes and Misdemeanors” was twice the movie that “Match Point” was, but critics couldn’t wait to hail a new Allen film a masterpiece - as they did with “MP.”
But your RT scores are illuminating all the same and a welcome addition to the dialogue.