Not A Drag

Sam Raimi strikes horror gold once again with the sure-to-be summer sleeper hit "Drag Me to Hell," a cautionary tale of spurning those who truly need help.

This film finally slaked my thirst for a true summer blockbuster, and it's a shame it will probably fly under the radar of many movie viewers. Mark, being a huge fan of all things Raimi (and Bruce Campbell for that matter), insisted that we go to see "Hell" this past opening weekend. I left the theater quite happy and filled with post-good movie bliss.

I joined the Raimi fan base quite late; my first viewing of the original "Evil Dead" was in 1993, well over 10 years after its initial release in 1981. I scratched my head as I tried to figure out if it was pure camp or pure evil. Turns out Raimi is quite deft at mixing both.

Other Raimi facts abound in my life:

• One of my kitties (RIP) was named after the protagonist of the Evil Dead series, Ash. (It was also in homage to the ポケモン main human character's name in the English translation of the cartoon!)
  
• Where I currently live is filled with every version you can imagine of anything Evil Dead, from the PSP watchable format to the special edition Book of the Dead DVDs with really cool plastic covers of creepy, evil faces.
• Raimi's "A Simple Plan" from 1998 is still one of my favorite films. A Hitchockian thriller in the best sense.
• While traveling in 東北　in Summer '02 (山形 to be exact) I went to see the first Spider-Man flick in a theater there to escape the oppressive heat. Rollicking fun!
• I would marry Bruce Campbell if he proposed to me.