Drag Me to Hell: Collector's Edition - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Drag Me to Hell: Collector's Edition



Movie:
4K Video:
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 / Not Rated by the MPAA (Unrated Cut)




4K Video: Video:

OK, here’s where things get fun. Like usual, Scream Factory has struck a new 4K master from the DI, but to make things a bit sweeter it looks like it was an approved scan by Sam Raimi and editor Bob Murawski, and the end result is quite nice. Lets get this out of the way first. While the Blu-ray from Scream Factory back in 2018 was dang near PERFECT, I will fully admit that Raimi shot this film in a very odd manner. It sports that mid 90s sepia tones with almost bubblegum colors in the daylight shots (especially inside Christine’s bedroom) in contrast with the dark blues and grays of the night time and underground shots (such as the covered parking lot where the old Gypsy attacks her in her car). Fine details are quite nice, but those ruddy sepia tones and some soft angle shots sometimes don’t show the massive upgrade over the Blu-ray that I was hoping. That being said, this is much cleaner with a ton less smearing and softness that the Blu-ray was stuck with. Black levels are very good, and overall I find this to be a heavy end of moderate upgrade over the Blu-ray. I struggled with giving this a 4/5 or 4.5/5 rating as I felt it was somewhere in between, but I sincerely feel that going to a 4/5 rating would not have been as accurate as the 4.5/5 one.





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 as well as their 2018 Blu-ray collector's edition. 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:

Disc One - 4K UHD Unrated and Theatrical
• NEW 4K RESTORATION from the original DI film negative approved by Sam Raimi and editor Editor Bob Murawski

Disc Two - Blu-ray Unrated Cut
• NEW 4K RESTORATION from the original DI film negative approved by Sam Raimi and editor 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!
• Optional English subtitles

Disc Three - Blu-ray Theatrical Cut
• NEW 4K RESTORATION from the original DI film negative approved by Sam Raimi and editor Editor Bob Murawski
• "To Hell And Back" – Interview With Actress Alison Lohman
• "Curses" – Interview With Actress Lorna Raver
• "Hitting All The Right Notes" – Interview With Composer Christopher Young
• Production Video Diaries Featuring Behind-The-Scenes Footage And Interviews With Sam Raimi, Actors Alison Lohman And Justin Long, And More
• Vintage Interviews
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spots
• Image Gallery
• Optional English subtitles

Final Score: ​

Drag me to Hell was one of my favorite films of 2009, and still remains a great Raimi “gross out” splatstick horror to this day. In some ways the film’s allure has faded just a tad since 2009, but to balance it out I have gained a new appreciation/perspective on Christine as the actual villain, vs. the heroine. I won’t get too into it, but needless to say there are a LOT of clues pointing to the fact that she was never the sympathetic hero that we thought she was, and Raimi was painting her as a the one who brought this on herself. Either way, the Scream Factory release is very solid, giving us a nice 4K upgrade and the inclusion of the Unrated AND the Theatrical cut on the 4K. Which actually surprised me, as Shout Studios/Scream Factory is notorious for releasing both the unrated and the extended cuts on the Blu-ray in the set, and then only giving us one of the cuts for the 4K release, so seeing both cuts available in 4K was a pleasant surprise. Very solid set, very much recommended.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Alison Lohman, Ruth Livier, Justin Long
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Written by: Sam and Ivan Raimi
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
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: October 29th, 2024

Recommendation: Highly Recommended

 

[Asere]

Thanks for the review. I have the bluray copy.

 

[VJM]

Thanks @Michael Scott I love this movie, it's on my list to get! Last time I watched the HD version I took this picture from my projector screen.