Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Drag Me to Hell Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson February 28, 2018

After a seventeen-year hiatus from horror, Sam Raimi returned to his beloved genre with Drag Me to Hell (2009), a $30 million Ghost House Pictures production that he began as a short story years earlier with his brother Ivan. With Universal handling distribution, the picture was a critical smash and a moderate commercial hit, pulling in $42 million at the US box office. But as evinced on the old and new interviews on this two-disc set, Drag Me to Hell hit some rocky bumps on its road to completion. For instance, Ellen Page was originally cast to play lead protagonist Christine Brown but exited late supposedly because she didn't like some changes that the Raimis made to a pre-shooting script. Alison Lohman was cast to replace her and in a new interview produced by Shout! Factory, she confesses to the script's lack of cohesiveness and overall direction. To Lohman's and the Ramis' credit, though, Christine's character arc develops and changes nicely in concordance with plot divergences. Lohman portrays her as an earnest loan account manager hoping to receive a promotion over the opportunistic Stu Rubin (Reggie Lee), a choice to be determined by the bank supervisor Mr. Jacks (David Paymer). After a terrifying prologue set decades earlier, the first act of Drag Me to Hell is mainly a morality tale as it concerns whether or not Christine will grant a third mortgage extension to the geriatric Gypsy woman Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver). The latter is very wrinkled, blind in one eye, and claws Christine's office desk with her rather leprous talons. Christine confers with Mr. Jacks who doesn't see any reason for granting the elderly lady another extension. Instead of making the humane decision by showing compassion and allowing Mrs. Ganush more time to make the payment, Christine succumbs to her bank's and her own financial self-interests by declining Mrs. Ganush's request. The poor woman's last plea of falling on her knees and begging doesn't sway Christine one bit. This decision could have potentially fatal consequences for Christine as Mrs. Ganush is awaiting her in the parking garage...

Christine better give Mrs. Ganush an extension on her mortgage...or else.

While Drag Me to Hell contains very fine work by the Special Makeup Effects firm KNB EFX Group and ghost/goblin visual effects work by the Tippett Studio, I wish that Sam Raimi would have dialed things down a lot in post-production. I think that Drag Me to Hell looks far more original on paper than the way things are depicted on the screen. The problem is that while Raimi delivers his fans the horrific and comedic goods, his film loses a lot of suspense and thrills in the process. What's lacking is a more sustained buildup. In his 3/4 review, Roger Ebert observed: "Shock Reveals should logically be silent, unless the Revealed is screaming. But in horror films they always come with discordant chords and loud bangs. This is as obligatory as the fact that blades always make a snicker-snack noise even when they are not scraping enough something." Raimi too often amps up the sound design in order to supersede one jump-scare so the next one is that much more louder or fantastical. I've been a fan of Christopher Young's work for a long time and although his score for Drag Me to Hell is good as as a stand-alone listen, it adds more clutter to the movie's bombast and feels derivative when compared to other similarly themed scores such as Wojciech Kilar's The Ninth Gate (1999) and Walter Werzowa's Cherry Falls (2000). At ninety-nine minutes, Drag Me to Hell is cut efficiently by editor Bob Murawski but that plays to the film's disadvantage. Some of the best horror films and ghost stories work so well because of the prolonged suspense they generate along their protracted narratives. It seems to me that Raimi overplays his tricks to the point that they become old hat after a while.

Drag Me to Hell Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Drag Me to Hell makes its second appearance on Blu-ray in North America with this double disc "Collector's Edition" courtesy of Shout! Factory. The first disc contains the theatrical cut along with some older extras, three of which are new to N.A. territory. Disc two houses the unrated version and new interviews with two of the actors and the composer. Both cuts boast average video bitrates of 30.00 Mbps using the MPEG-4 AVC encode. Each cut is presented in the movie's original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.40:1. Universal's US (average 22.41 Mbps) and DE BDs employ the VC-1 encode as does the AU Village Roadshow (which only has the unrated version). Shout! describes each transfer as new HD masters taken from the 2K digital intermediate. The transfers looks strikingly similar to the ones my colleague Ken Brown reviewed back in 2009. Facial details on close-ups look clear and well-defined (see Screenshot #s 3 and 6-10). I differ with Ken, though, in my impressions of background detail in low-lit scenes. Blacks are solid and deep but the transfer doesn't really bring out other (smaller) hues in the multi-plane compositions. I second some of the observations that Christopher Monfette at IGN made about the '09 transfer: "[The transfer] leaves a little to be desired in terms of vibrancy and overall detail. The colors feel a bit muted here, never really popping off the screen even in some of the more painterly sequences. The level of detail, while never problematic, doesn't really add much depth to the image, and in some of the more softly lit moments, some of the smaller elements can easily bleed or fade." Aside from these small quibbles, the image is very sharp and clean.

Shout! supplies twelve scene selections for each cut.

Drag Me to Hell Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Press critics underlined the loudness of Drag Me to Hell's DTS presentation at screenings. Miami Herald movie reviewer Rene Rodriguez wrote in his blog that the sound is "best enjoyed in a crowded theater with the THX cranked to 11." Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe stated bluntly that the sound "has been designed to hasten hearing loss." Shout! Factory's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround replicates the theatrical experience and the lossless mix on Universal's disc. Dialogue is consistently crisp and discernible to the listener's ear. Bass has tremendous amplitude and range, creating sharply defined and distinct separations between f/x and music in contrast with the low-end sounds.

Only English SDH are available for the feature. (The Universal disc also had French and Spanish subtitles.)

Drag Me to Hell Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

DISC ONE: THEATRICAL VERSION

• "PG-13" Rated Theatrical Cut (1:39:00, 1080p)

• "Production Diaries" (35:09, 1080p) - 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, and director of photography Peter Deming. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Vintage Interviews with Director Sam Raimi and Actors Alison Lohman and Justin Long (33:37, 1080i) - these full unedited EPK interviews first appeared on the UK Lions Gate Region B release. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW TV Spots (1:34, 1080i/upconversion to HD) - two 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen TV spots. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Theatrical Trailer (2:12, 1080p) - This was left off all the BDs but is present here in a 2.40: anamorphic widescreen presentation. In English, not subtitled.

DISC TWO: UNRATED VERSION

• Unrated Cut (1:38:50, 1080p)

• NEW To Hell and Back: An Interview with Actress Alison Lohman (12:36, 1080p) - Lohman talks about how she got the role of Christine and her thoughts on Sam Raimi's methods for directing actors. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Curses!: An Interview with Actress Lorna Raver (15:58, 1080p) - Raver gleefully looks back at how she created Mrs. Ganush, the experience of working on the film, and its enduring appeal. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Hitting All the Right Notes: An Interview with Composer Christopher Young (17:10, 1080p) - Young discusses the instruments he devised for the score and his creative partnership with director Sam Raimi. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Still Gallery (2:11, 1080p) - a short slideshow of photos taken of Drag Me to Hell's production.

Drag Me to Hell Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I want to make clear that I do like Drag Me to Hell and think it benefits from an outstanding performance by Lorna Raver as well as solid work by Dileep Rao, Adriana Barraza, Alison Lohman, and Justin Long. (Look for Octavia Spencer in a cameo.) Raimi is such an accomplished filmmaker that I wish he would have pared down the CGI and sound f/x (which go into overkill) and applied a less-is-more approach. The technical wizardry and choreography of action is first-rate but it leaves us with little subtlety. Had Drag Me to Hell put less emphasis on the pyrotechnics and more into exploring the subject's mystery, it could have been more effective and suspenseful tempo-wise. Shout! Factory delivers a mostly excellent transfer and a reference quality sound track. Those who owned the Universal package may want to wait for a price dip. Shout!'s two-disc set incorporates under an hour of new material not previously released on any BD. The movie is worth seeing for those who haven't seen it and the Blu-ray pack likewise earns a MODERATE RECOMMENDATION.