Drag Me to Hell: Collector's Edition - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Drag Me to Hell: Collector's Edition



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
2009’s Drag Me to Hell was a breath of fresh air from an otherwise stale and languishing horror genre. Sam Raimi had been out of the horror business for quite some time, instead focusing on the Spiderman trilogy, as well as other differing variations. But horror fans got more than a little excited when the legendary creator of The Evil Dead franchise was coming back to his roots with a good old fashioned scare fest. The only thing was, most of us were more than a little put off by the PG-13 rating from a man who cut his teeth on R rated stuff that pushed the envelope. I went to the theaters actually kind of depressed, expecting the film to be a watered down facsimile of his former works (I remember my horror nerd buddy was trying to put a positive spin on the rating, but even he was having a hard time with it), but I was pleasantly shocked to find out that Drag Me to Hell was a huge return to form for the director. Sure, it didn’t have the blood and gore of his previous films, but Drag Me to Hell is a nasty, gruesome, twisted, and completely Raimi film to its very core. Hearkening back gooey, nasty films of the 80s, this little horror film is infused with typical Sam Raimi black humor (not as much as Army of Darkness, but still a bit more than The Evil Dead), and a macabre sense of evil glee that left me with a big sloppy smile all over my face.

Drag Me to Hell brings back the scares and the grins with equal quantities, as Sam Raimi plies his craft in an oldy, but a goody, scenario. The classic story about those nasty gypsies. Young Christine (Alison Lohman) is fighting for a job as assistant manager of her bank job, when a kindly old Gypsy woman named Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver) comes into her branch begging for a little more time to make payments before the bank forecloses on her. Against her kinder nature, Christine refuses the old lady and has her thrown out in the cold, much to her own chagrin and her manger’s approval. Yup, you guessed it. Christine done ticked off the wrong person here and she is set upon by the Gypsy mama and cursed in her own parking garage.

Thinking that it was just a batty old woman, Christine goes home, only to have strange events start happening. Voices whispering in her head, strange visions, and even physical manifestations. Turning to her psychology laden boyfriend (Justin Long) yields nothing, forcing her to beg help from a spiritual guru (Dileep Rao), who informs her that she is being preyed upon by the evil spirit known as “the Lamia”. This evil spirit has given her three days to appease, otherwise he will (yes, it is that cheeky)…….drag her to hell.

Sam Raimi comes back with a bang, and although there are a few awkward moments, the movie is filled with devilish glee. Alison Lohman plays Christine with a such a down to earth presence, that her terror and suffering seems palpably visceral. Justin Long is equally as good, but only for the reason that his annoying nerdiness that he’s known for works so well as an annoying boyfriend who can’t seem to grasp the gravity of the situation and infuses everything with his know it all attitude. Raimi does use these performances to his advantage, pouring in an over abundance of vomit and gooey gross out moments, while also interjecting his trade mark wicked humor in copious quantities. The scene near the end with the goat getting possessed by the Lamia had me in stitches, and even though it’s almost sickening. The cat sacrifice is so darkly humorous that it deserves a nod.

While Raimi is great and back to form, he does make a few missteps that weaken the film. The overabundance of vomit as the most used visual gross out gag can get a bit overbearing at times. A few times was good, a few more was great, but it got to the point where the audience was almost rolling their eyes when it comes up again, and again, and again, and again. Also Christine’s boss and her “nemesis” (played by Reggie Lee) felt a bit one noteish and flat. Usually I would have expected Bruce Campbell and Ted Raimi to make their obligatory appearances, but supposedly Campbell was not available for the project back then, and Ted was relegated to the one off position of a physician instead a more recurring character.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for sequences of horror violence, terror, disturbing images and language




Video:

Drag Me to Hell was pretty much perfection on the Universal Blu-ray, despite using the slightly inferior VC-1 encoding process compared to the AVC codec used today. However, Scream Factory has touted the collector’s edition release (both versions, unrated and theatrical) as being struck from the 2K digital intermediate and given a new master (not to mention being upgraded from the VC-1 codec to AVC). Well, luckily the 99 minute film was given enough bitrate on the Universal disc, and it was amazing looking, so the new master and upgraded codec doesn’t do much except give us slight advantages over the old master. In fact, I had to look long and hard at the two releases to actually see a difference (which is not a bad thing, as the new release is picture perfect). The dark film is given a slightly amber hue, with deep maroons and copious shadows. The image is sharp as a tack, with great details abounding, and zero artifacting (except for one scene during the seance where I saw some of the blacks crushing in shadows). Instead of putting both versions of the film on one disc via seamless branching like Universal one, Scream has put each version of the film on its own individual disc, with equally stunning results (both look virtually identical to each other)





Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track that is on Scream Factory’s discs appears to be the identical (and fantastic) 5.1 DTS-HD MA track from the old Universal disc. The track is intense and POWERFUL, and despite not having as many channels as the newer 7.1 and Atmos/DTS:X tracks of today, is still proof that a good core audio mix is more important than just having extra channels. The LFE is simply thunderous, with Christine running into shock jolts, and roaring Lamian threats throughout the film. Dialog is always clean and well defined (even in the chaos of the Lamia attacks), and the surround channels are awash with creaks, groans, and crashes to fill out the amazing and encompassing mix. Simply put, Drag Me to Hell is still one of the best horror audio mixes on the market, and the 5.1 track holds up incredibly well.






Extras:

• NEW remaster of the Theatrical Cut taken from 2K digital intermediate
• NEW remaster of the Unrated Cut taken from 2K digital intermediate
• NEW To Hell And Back – An Interview With Actress Alison Lohman
• NEW Curses! – An Interview With Actress Lorna Raver
• NEW Hitting All The Right Notes – An Interview With Composer Christopher Young
• 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 & more
• Vintage Interviews With Director Sam Raimi And Actors Alison Lohman And Justin Long
• TV Spots
• Theatrical Trailer
• Still Gallery

Final Score: ​

Drag Me to Hell was my favorite horror movie of 2009, and still remains in my top 10 for the last decade. It’s gross, twisted, devilishly warped, and ends with a soul crushing ending that brings back the meaning of “horror” to the horror genre. Scream Factory’s new collector’s edition is a great package of new and old, giving us the same fantastic audio and video from the already incredible Universal release, and including in some neat new cover art and a bevy of new extras (it’s not as feature packed as many, but the original Universal release was so barren that the new interviews fill it out quite a bit). I’m hesitant to give it a blatant “go and upgrade!” recommendation if you have the original Blu-ray, as it really depends on how much those new extras and cover art mean to you. However, for a first time buyer, this is easily the best the film has been presented in the home theater arena. Definitely a must watch for horror fans.






Technical Specifications:

Starring: Alison Lohman, Ruth Livier, Justin Long
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Written by: Sam and Ivan Raimi
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles: English
Studio: Shout Factory
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 99 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: February 13th, 2018

Recommendation: Highly Recommended

 

[Asere]

I had forgotten this one. I will definitely buy it. Thanks for the review?

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will check it out as well.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Whoa! Wicked cover art!

You have to answer this one question: does it suffer from any horror ending let down?

 

[Michael Scott]

actually no. the third act is the best part of the film with a deliciously wicked ending

 

[Todd Anderson]

I'm in on this...

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

It's funny, how you mention this was "a breath of fresh air" in the genre, as any time I see it mentioned, I can never remember if I've seen it or not. It isn't until I see that old lady that I remember "yep, I've seen it. Don't remember anything else about it, though, except the cute girl worked at a bank or something."

I'm pretty sure I enjoyed it when I first watched it, but it was about that memorable to me.

 

[Michael Scott]

hey, horror movies are very personal. What works for some people, doesn't work for others.

 

[Todd Anderson]

My copy just arrived... although it looks like it isn't the release (it has different cover art). Must have clicked the wrong thing!

 

[Michael Scott]

does it look like this?

 

[Todd Anderson]

Yes, that’s it

 

[Michael Scott]

that's the original Universal release I mentioned in the review. Audio and video wise they'll be near identical, but you won't get the cover art and slipcover + extras from the Scream Factory release.

 

[Asere]

You guys are going to Drag Me Into Buying This... Lol.

 

[Michael Scott]

then I've done my job well

 

[Todd Anderson]

Ok... I’m ok with that. Although that cover art is crazy!

 

[Michael Scott]

yeah, Scream Factory's art was really impressive for this one

 

[Asere]

I just ordered Drag Me to Hell and Deadtime Stories from Amazon. Can't wait

 

[Michael Scott]

nice! which version of Drag me to Hell did you get? The Scream Factory edition or the older Uni release?

 

[Asere]

nice! which version of Drag me to Hell did you get? The Scream Factory edition or the older Uni release?

The Scream Factory one with the art cover.

 

[Michael Scott]

excellent. It's a great release.

 

[Asere]

excellent. It's a great release.

Yes, your review helped me decide in buying it. Thanks!

 

[Michael Scott]

and like usual Scream/Shout Factory policy, they have the original cover art on the flip side of the insert if you're so inclined

 

[Asere]

and like usual Scream/Shout Factory policy, they have the original cover art on the flip side of the insert if you're so inclined

Cool, good to know thanks.