Sam Raimi: Dragged Back To Horror

5 months ago 30th May 08:15

After nearly 16 years, 'Spider Man' director Sam Raimi has returned to the genre that made him famous with new horror film 'Drag Me To Hell'.

The film tells the story of bank loans manager Christine Brown (played by Alison Lohman), who refuses an old lady more time to pay her mortgage to impress her boss and get a promotion.

But things go awry when the mysterious old lady puts a curse on Christine, summoning an evil spirit to haunt her every move.

Christine has three days to undo the curse or the demon will literally drag her to the depths of hell.

With no one to turn to, Christine consults a seer who tells her there is only one way to break the curse - and it's not going to be easy.

"Christine starts out with the idea that she is a good person," Raimi says. "But by the end of the film, she really is a despicable character to watch. I think the audience can identify with her in the beginning because she seems generous, but when push comes to shove, she sins with greed and forces this old lady out of her home, hiding behind the rules of the bank.

Christine starts out with the idea that she is a good person, Raimi says.

"It's a simple morality tale about how greed leads to destruction. We just wanted to tell the story of a person who wants to be a good person but who makes a sinful choice out of greed, and pays the price for it."

 The results make for a dark, disturbing atmosphere - with much of the film's tension building through clever camera-work and eerie emphasis on sound - but Raimi retains the comic edge which originally marked his work as truly original.

Raimi explained: "'Drag Me to Hell' was my way of telling a different story to what I have told before, using a lot of familiar elements that, as a fan, I love to see when I am watching horror."

The year has got off to a slow start for horror fans, with 'My Bloody Valentine 3D' the only other high profile release.

There is also a lot to live up to, with 2008 seeing the release of Pascal Laugier's 'Martyrs', Frank Henenlotter's 'Bad Biology', the Mitchell Lichtenstein directed 'Teeth' and Bryan Bertino's 'The Strangers'.

But Raimi has one crucial advantage over other horror filmmakers. His success as director of the Spider Man film trilogy - which has grossed over $2 billion worldwide - has given him free reign in choosing his projects, and ensured instant funding for them.

To the delight of horror fans, Raimi chose to return to his root, eschewing the bank balances and egos of huge Hollywood studios to go low budget and make the film that appealed most to him and his co writer, brother Ivan.

Raimi said: "On this picture I could have complete creative control and final cut, which I actually had for the first time since my first film, 'The Evil Dead'.

"I could just do what I believed in, so it was refreshing in that way. I also liked working under a smaller budget. For the last seven or eight years I'd been working with the luxury of 'Spider Man' type budgets, big studio productions.

"This was much more hands-on. No department heads to deal with - just the actors, and the technicians. And it's much more rewarding.  I wasn't really thinking about other films when I made this picture. I was just trying to make this story as dramatic and fun as I could."

In short, Raimi recreated the conditions he was working under when he first came to the world's attention with low-budget horror film 'The Evil Dead' in 1981.