Comments on: It Burns, Burns, Burns http://gatewaycinephiles.com/2009/06/08/it-burns-burns-burns/ Appreciation and Criticism of Cinema Through Heartland Eyes Tue, 22 May 2012 04:29:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Kevin J. Olson http://gatewaycinephiles.com/2009/06/08/it-burns-burns-burns/comment-page-1/#comment-6712 Kevin J. Olson Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:54:45 +0000 http://gatewaycinephiles.com/2009/06/08/it-burns-burns-burns/#comment-6712 <i>Horror films with a camp sensibility are a dime a dozen, but outright giddy horror is a much more elusive creature.</i> I couldn't agree more. That's why I loved this film so much, because Raimi was not afraid to put the fun back in horror. In my review (now up on the blog) I likened the experience to a masterfully constructed funhouse: we know the scares, and we know when they're going to come (like you I consider myself a savvy horror buff), but that doesn't make them less scary or less effective. Why? Because Raimi knows we know when the scares are coming, and like he did in his Evil Dead films, he shows us the set up for the scare, and then delivers with the cliche scenes with panache. <i>Purely in terms of scare-the-bejeezus-out-of-you spectacle, Drag Me to Hell is pitch-perfect horror film-making. Raimi demonstrates that his skills as a horror director have sharpened considerably in the years since The Evil Dead’s skuzzy shocks first made the midnight movie circuit snap to attention. Here the rhythms of the form—the frights, the lulls, the vise-like tension—are employed to masterful effect, all for the estimable goal of keeping the viewer giggling and shrieking with glee.</i> Again, I couldn't agree more. What's so refreshing about this horror film is that it doesn't take itself too seriously. You can tell Raimi and co. were having a lot of fun making it, and their glee permeates the screen and is infectious. When the ending happens, I couldn't help but laugh and smile in the same way I did when Ash was pulled into the cortex and taken back in time to end the second Evil Dead installment. It's just a perfectly constructed horror film that puts all of these other so-called horror flicks released today to shame. I also like how it proves you don't have to be super-serious, nihilistic, and ultra-violent to be a good horror film. If there's something Raimi knows it's the simple fact that gore does not equal scary. I'm glad he goes for scary instead of swerves and twists (like the Saw movies...which are just boring), and what he creates is what you so eloquently state in your masterful review: the film is a lot of fun. Glee is the perfect word for it. Great review, Andrew. Horror films with a camp sensibility are a dime a dozen, but outright giddy horror is a much more elusive creature.

I couldn’t agree more. That’s why I loved this film so much, because Raimi was not afraid to put the fun back in horror. In my review (now up on the blog) I likened the experience to a masterfully constructed funhouse: we know the scares, and we know when they’re going to come (like you I consider myself a savvy horror buff), but that doesn’t make them less scary or less effective. Why? Because Raimi knows we know when the scares are coming, and like he did in his Evil Dead films, he shows us the set up for the scare, and then delivers with the cliche scenes with panache.

Purely in terms of scare-the-bejeezus-out-of-you spectacle, Drag Me to Hell is pitch-perfect horror film-making. Raimi demonstrates that his skills as a horror director have sharpened considerably in the years since The Evil Dead’s skuzzy shocks first made the midnight movie circuit snap to attention. Here the rhythms of the form—the frights, the lulls, the vise-like tension—are employed to masterful effect, all for the estimable goal of keeping the viewer giggling and shrieking with glee.

Again, I couldn’t agree more. What’s so refreshing about this horror film is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. You can tell Raimi and co. were having a lot of fun making it, and their glee permeates the screen and is infectious. When the ending happens, I couldn’t help but laugh and smile in the same way I did when Ash was pulled into the cortex and taken back in time to end the second Evil Dead installment.

It’s just a perfectly constructed horror film that puts all of these other so-called horror flicks released today to shame. I also like how it proves you don’t have to be super-serious, nihilistic, and ultra-violent to be a good horror film. If there’s something Raimi knows it’s the simple fact that gore does not equal scary.

I’m glad he goes for scary instead of swerves and twists (like the Saw movies…which are just boring), and what he creates is what you so eloquently state in your masterful review: the film is a lot of fun. Glee is the perfect word for it.

Great review, Andrew.

]]>