The Cookie Fairy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alcesverdes) wrote2009-12-21 05:31 pm
alcesverdes) wrote2009-12-21 05:31 pm
Entry tags:
Drag Me To Hell
You know? When I'm watching a horror movie, I like to be drawn into a proper, suspenseful atmosphere as soon as possible, not to spend half an hour from an hour-and-a-half movie watching an office drama. I want to be scared, gdi! D| [Either that or laugh at the narm or special effects failure (imagine links to TVTropes right there)]
And no, the first few minutes with the kid being swallowed by the floor don't count. That's the narm I was talking about, yes, but it's an ineffectual frame for the rest of the movie because the connection between those events and what comes next is rather convoluted; they happened too long ago (late 60s), the location is unclear, and there's a lack of relation between a Hispanic family who lost a child to demons in 1969 and a White young woman working in a bank in the first decade of the 21st Century. Fiction has its ways and this is stretching them a little bit too much.
Besides, what actually connects the events is the fact that the kid stole a necklace from a gypsy cart and the woman who casts the curse on our protagonist is also a gypsy. The whole thing would've made more sense if the same necklace had been used instead of a random button; as it is, it just means the Romani people go around casting disproportionate punishments whenever they feel like it. I mean, the old lady didn't end up in the streets, she went to live with her daughter, and the kid --crap, the kid-- yes, he stole something but just chase him down and spank him, dude, --or have the demons spank him if you have to traumatize him forever--, but sending him --them-- to hell was way, way too much. :|
And that was not the only problem I had with this movie.
The movie took thirty painfully boring minutes establishing the conflict, which the trailer did quite nicely in twenty seconds or less:
* the protagonist wants a promotion
* the boss tells her he needs someone who can handle thought decisions
* denying the extension on an old lady's mortgage is a thought decision, so there you go
* old lady knows dark magic and curses the protagonist to get revenge
* demons begin haunting the protagonist
That's all. That could've been like... ten or less minutes of the movie. But no, it just had to have social commentary. The worst part was that I was actually expecting social commentary but about something completely different.
When I first saw the trailer --which was, of course, what interested me into seeing this film--, I thought it would deal with the current financial crisis and the evil ways of the banks.
But no.
Let's illustrate what Drag Me To Hell is really about:
At the beginning of the film, the protagonists walks by a bakery. She stops to see through the window longingly and then she resumes walking. About twenty minutesthat was not the only problem I had with this movie. afterwards, she finds a photograph of herself as a chubby teen next to a winner pig which she promptly crumples. No, rly:
WAY TO BE SUBTLE, MOVIE.
Besides that, as I mentioned above, to get her promotion, she has to go against her most basic human decency. She could've granted the extension. She was authorized to grant the extension, but she really, really wants the promotion. Wants, not needs. She's single with no children and she has an awesome boyfriend who's willing to pay 60 USD in a medium he doesn't believe in just because she insists on having her fortune read.
Also, from the scene where the boyfriend answers his mom's phone call, I got that she mostly wants the promotion to get the approval from her mother-in-law because she, well, disapproves of her and wants her son to settle down with a lawyer or some such that can help him with his career. And he doesn't agree with that. It's pretty obvious in the film that he loves her and that he would still love her and support her whatever her goals are. I actually liked this guy. :| Best character in the whole thing.
Oh, if she had only followed her heart all along instead of following society's norms because her need of approval from outsiders, she wouldn't have landed in Hell.
And I came out with all of that during the movie. I usually do my analyses after I'm done watching/reading (I love analyses, they are a big part of how I enjoy things), but... Let's just say that when you're a filmmaker, your goal is to retain your audience's attention from the beginning to the end of the film, therefore to give them time for their minds to wander around so much is definitely in the list of "don't"s.
TL;DRConclusions:
1) Drag Me To Hell is like Jigoku Shojo only lamer.
2) The Asian horror movies I've seen recently have spoilt me. :|
And no, the first few minutes with the kid being swallowed by the floor don't count. That's the narm I was talking about, yes, but it's an ineffectual frame for the rest of the movie because the connection between those events and what comes next is rather convoluted; they happened too long ago (late 60s), the location is unclear, and there's a lack of relation between a Hispanic family who lost a child to demons in 1969 and a White young woman working in a bank in the first decade of the 21st Century. Fiction has its ways and this is stretching them a little bit too much.
Besides, what actually connects the events is the fact that the kid stole a necklace from a gypsy cart and the woman who casts the curse on our protagonist is also a gypsy. The whole thing would've made more sense if the same necklace had been used instead of a random button; as it is, it just means the Romani people go around casting disproportionate punishments whenever they feel like it. I mean, the old lady didn't end up in the streets, she went to live with her daughter, and the kid --crap, the kid-- yes, he stole something but just chase him down and spank him, dude, --or have the demons spank him if you have to traumatize him forever--, but sending him --them-- to hell was way, way too much. :|
And that was not the only problem I had with this movie.
The movie took thirty painfully boring minutes establishing the conflict, which the trailer did quite nicely in twenty seconds or less:
* the protagonist wants a promotion
* the boss tells her he needs someone who can handle thought decisions
* denying the extension on an old lady's mortgage is a thought decision, so there you go
* old lady knows dark magic and curses the protagonist to get revenge
* demons begin haunting the protagonist
That's all. That could've been like... ten or less minutes of the movie. But no, it just had to have social commentary. The worst part was that I was actually expecting social commentary but about something completely different.
When I first saw the trailer --which was, of course, what interested me into seeing this film--, I thought it would deal with the current financial crisis and the evil ways of the banks.
But no.
Let's illustrate what Drag Me To Hell is really about:
At the beginning of the film, the protagonists walks by a bakery. She stops to see through the window longingly and then she resumes walking. About twenty minutesthat was not the only problem I had with this movie. afterwards, she finds a photograph of herself as a chubby teen next to a winner pig which she promptly crumples. No, rly:
WAY TO BE SUBTLE, MOVIE.
Besides that, as I mentioned above, to get her promotion, she has to go against her most basic human decency. She could've granted the extension. She was authorized to grant the extension, but she really, really wants the promotion. Wants, not needs. She's single with no children and she has an awesome boyfriend who's willing to pay 60 USD in a medium he doesn't believe in just because she insists on having her fortune read.
Also, from the scene where the boyfriend answers his mom's phone call, I got that she mostly wants the promotion to get the approval from her mother-in-law because she, well, disapproves of her and wants her son to settle down with a lawyer or some such that can help him with his career. And he doesn't agree with that. It's pretty obvious in the film that he loves her and that he would still love her and support her whatever her goals are. I actually liked this guy. :| Best character in the whole thing.
Oh, if she had only followed her heart all along instead of following society's norms because her need of approval from outsiders, she wouldn't have landed in Hell.
And I came out with all of that during the movie. I usually do my analyses after I'm done watching/reading (I love analyses, they are a big part of how I enjoy things), but... Let's just say that when you're a filmmaker, your goal is to retain your audience's attention from the beginning to the end of the film, therefore to give them time for their minds to wander around so much is definitely in the list of "don't"s.
1) Drag Me To Hell is like Jigoku Shojo only lamer.
2) The Asian horror movies I've seen recently have spoilt me. :|