Gingerbreadgirl Productions Movie-tastic Awesometown

I've always loved it when I see these crappy direct to video movies that seem to exist solely on an advertising campaign that relies on ripping off an established and (semi)successful movie. I have to wonder exactly what the mindset is. I mean, I know they're just trying to ride someone else's wave and that happens all the time in the industry, but some of these DTV movies look like they're actually hoping to confuse the viewer into renting or buying their piece of shit instead of the one they're ripping off.

As the best example I've seen in awhile, in a couple weeks, the DTV movie Subtle Seduction hits the shelves which bears more than a striking resemblance to the already forgettable Obsessed.

There is no real secret to the fact that I'm a huge Sam Raimi fan.  I have been since the days of Evil Dead II and I've been following Sam's career through his success with the Spiderman films, championing him through the good and the bad.  To be honest, I never thought there would be a day when Sam Raimi would be considered one of the A-list directors in Hollywood.

So of course I was ecstatic to see something like Drag Me to Hell.  It's been triumphed ad naseum as Raimi's return to horror, but more appropriately, it's his return to slapstack-horror.  The key element in the Evil Dead movies was always the torture of Bruce on screen for our sick amusement, and here Alison Lohman picks up the mantle and is subjected to continuous abuse that never fails to entertain with it`s own brand of outrageous terror.  Yes, this is Raimi giving us his most perverse version of fun, and fun it is.  There`s a lot going for this movie that, let`s face it, is wrapped in a generic Grudge type shell that without Raimi`s zany humour would have resulted in a very forgettable movie.

The Blu-ray itself looks and sounds great, but is sorely lacking in the special feature department.  Most noteably missing is a commentary track.  I`ve actually given up caring about filmmaker commentaries for newer films, but Raimi`s films have always provided for very entertaining tracks.

Unfortunately Drag Me to Hell wasn`t much of a boxoffice success.  It did okay, but not great.  I suspect that it`s something that on video will really succeed and much like many of Raimi`s other films will retain cult status for years and years to come.