Thursday, February 05, 2009

We Can't Wait #17 Drag Me To Hell

Directed by Sam Raimi
Starring Alison Lohman, Justin Long
Synopsis Lohman gets cursed by the scary old lady she's gone and pissed off. Horror apparently ensues!
Brought to you by the director of For The Love of the Game and the writer of The Nutt House
Expected Release Date May 29th


JA: I feel as if I could just type the sentence "Sam Raimi has made a new horror movie" and leave it at that, but I've discovered there are people in the world that that sentence means nothing to... a fact that I find way scarier than any ghouls or goblins or scary pissed-off old ladies with cataracts and grudges. Because the sentence "Sam Raimi has made a new horror movie" turns my insides into a warm, happy goo, and it ought to goo-ify every last one of you too!

Oh sure, it's not Evil Dead 4 -- and hell it doesn't even appear to have Bruce Campbell anywhere in it. Blasphemy! -- but it's... well, it's Sam Raimi making a new horror movie. Sam Raimi made a new horror movie! That's enough, yo.

Joe: This one definitely popped for me as I scanned the new year's movie offerings. Will the ensuing years making un-horrific movies have dulled Sam's senses or sharpened his technique? I'm really hoping for the latter. Plus Alison Lohman gets something different to do for the first time in forever, and all you Justin Long-haters out there will get to enjoy what will doubtless be his gruesome death. Something for everyone!



Fox: There are "Justin Long haters"? How?!?

I pretty much second everything JA said in his kick-off. I'm very anxious to see Drag Me To Hell because I'm hoping to see Raimi having fun (again) the way he did prior to A Simple Plan. Watching his stuff from Evil Dead thru The Quick And The Dead, you can feel the spontaneity and experimentation that went into making the film. It was exciting! I haven't really felt that physical presense of his since then. But I am optimistic!

Whitney: Justin seems to have had a really busy year. I was scanning the list of anticipated films and saw him in a whole bunch of movies. Remember when he was in Galaxy Quest?

As for Sam Raimi, I do have hopes for this film, but I just don't see Raimi returning to his earlier style after becoming such a hot Hollywood item.

Nathaniel: Whitney, I suspect that Raimi has actually been itching to return there. I'm not much for horror ["We know. Shut up!" shout all the readers] but I did deeply dig his visualizations for that first Doctor Octopus attack in Spider-Man 2 and I understand through osmosis that it was filmed in the style of his horror films? It did feel somehow cinematically joyous in its murderous intent so I think Raimi likes to violently kill things real dead on celluloid. Just a guess.

On the other hand it's not my genre and it's Alison Lohman, so it's certainly a horror. For me. I'm scared even before the first reel. We'll see...

What about you out there, will you see?
In case you missed any entries they went like so...
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We Can't Wait:
#1 Inglourious Basterds, #2 Where the Wild Things Are, #3 Fantastic Mr. Fox,
#4 Avatar, #5 Bright Star, #6 Shutter Island, #7 Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
#8 Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, #9 Nailed,
#10 Taking Woodstock,
#11 Watchmen, #12 The Hurt Locker, #13 The Road, #14 The Tree of Life
#15 Away We Go, #16 500 Days of Summer, #17 Drag Me To Hell,
#18 Whatever Works, #19 Broken Embraces, #20 Nine (the musical)
intro (orphans -didn't make group list)

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22 comments:

ChillwithWill said...

Yup. I'm in.

PIPER said...

I'm kind of with Whitney here. I don't think Raimi will go back to old Raimi. Although I would love him to do so. But he may be a bit too "I just made eleventy billion dollars making the Spiderman franchise" for any of that.

But if he does. If he does. Then I will forever worship him.

Jason Adams said...

I dunno, Piper, I think the example that Nat offered up from Spider-Man 2 the scene in the hospital with Doc Ock's rampaging arms, is proof that he's still got that bad-ass spark underneath the gooey-hearted goodness that Peter Parker insisted upon. And more importantly, I think he knows who wants to see this movie and who is excited about it - the audience it's for hasn't exactly kept their opinions to themselves. So I'm hoping he's got folks like you and me in his mind's eye here, Piper, and wants to do us right. I don't expect the walls to turn into pus-fountains or anything, but I do think he might be having some fun here.

Lucas Dantas said...

i certainly will. although i had only seen his most recent films [aka spider-man(s)] people always told me his horror movies were awesome. there was a time when i was a teen that i'd probably know all of his filmography, but nowadays with idiotic gore films like "saw" i'm just not that interested in horror anymore - maybe this is a good reason for me to visit and revisit some classics.

Alex Constantin said...

oopsie. I haven't heard of this before... :P but looks fun. I'll still have to check which are the superpowers of the old killing bitch.

Janice said...

Sorry but I hate horror films in general. Pass.

Anonymous said...

Sam Raimi horror movie definitely piques my interest but A.Lohman has always left me cold. I always wonder how "White Oleander" would've been with someone different. 2002 E.R Wood was my fantasy casting. Hopefully Lohman will bring something interesting to this one.

whitney said...

Piper - for sure. if Raimi makes a campy horror ala Evil Dead again I'm his for life.

Anonymous said...

This is more anticipated than the Penelope double hitter?

:confused:

Jason Adams said...

People having different opinions IS confusing! Good call.

Ya know, I don't think I've ever seen Alison Lohman in anything now that I'm thinking about it. Oh wait... Big Fish. I don't remember anything about that movie except the crushing weight of disappointment though.

rosengje said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jason Adams said...

"a horror film from the director of the Spiderman franchise"

Why is it that I can only read the way you write the words "a horror film" as if you spitting out a dirty word? A horror film! How... how horrible! Why, it's practically an obscenity. Anybody that finds those sorts of pictures appealing must have a screw loose, right? Why I ought to just go and bury myself under the floorboards of the IFC theater here in NY, since apparently I don't need to experience ANYTHING else ever.

NATHANIEL R said...

rosengje and others...

just keep in mind that this is how we always do with "we can't wait"

the countdown is MEANT to be not just my list because MY freakout obsessions are well covered all year long and I've already done like 12 posts on both Cheri & Nine ;)

Trust me you'll get more posts on Nine (you already have) than you'll get on Drag me to Hell... BUT, that said, I love Sam Raimi and if the reviews are good I will try and brave this one.

PIPER said...

JA,

I agree, and that scene is a perfect example. Very Darkman-esqe. But there's a rawness to Raimi that I hope he hasn't lost. A kind of "let's give this a shot and see what happens." I'll definitely see it.

and that brings me to rosengje,

You know the title of this post right? It's about the movie Drag Me To Hell. It's not about Woody Allen or Cruz or Almodovar. It's about Sam Raimi and Drag Me To Hell. Don't kill the buzz.

Anonymous said...

Drag me to Hell, indeed!

rosengje said...

Redacted. I actually do quite enjoy Raimi's work. And I appreciate the multiple voices, I just wish they were more Nathaniel'esque.

Anonymous said...

seeing that one of the orphans on Low Resolution was public enemies seriously scares me, how could this be ahead of a Michael Mann film staring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale?

Joe Reid said...

Namless commenters of the world, please rest easy. Perspectives different than yours are in no way a threat to you. I really do promise.

Personally, I think Sam Raimi's earned just as much goodwill as Michael Mann, pound-for-pound.

PIPER said...

Wait, I can be Nathanial-esque.

Um... hang on. Okay, here it goes.

I love Michelle Pfeifer.

I hate Hilary Swank.

Done.

NATHANIEL R said...

way to be reductive Piper!

NATHANIEL R said...

there's more to me than just my Pfeiffer Love and Swank Other!

PIPER said...

Indeed. There are many layers to the Nathanial Onion.

And I have failed in my Nathanial-esqueness.