Review: Drag Me To Hell (2009)

'Drag Me To Hell', Sam Raimi's much-hyped return to the horror genre, had a lot to live up to (not least because the screenplay was allegedly penned way back in the early nineties after he finished 'Army Of Darkness'). I can safely say that fans of the Evil Dead films won't be disappointed by Drag Me To Hell, although it takes itself a bit more seriously.

The story is simple enough - Christine Brown is desperate to win the assistant manager's position in the bank where she works. In an out-of-character attempt to impress her boss, she refuses to allow a loan extension to Mrs. Ganush, a hagged, one-eyed gypsy who bares more than a passing resemblance to a Deadite from the Evil Dead films. Shamed and bankrupted, Ganush attacks Christine in her car later that day, and inflicts an evil curse on her - Christine is going to be tormented by horrific visions of the goat-demon Lamia for three days, and then dragged down into hell for all eternity (with me so far?).

The film is a nice, fairly short length and moves quickly from scene to scene. Raimi, possibly in an attempt to shake off his action-blockbuster-Spiderman-trilogy-reputation, has pulled out all the stops to give the viewer some serious scares. The film plays by the classic horror rules (or certainly by Raimi's classic horror rules), but manages to avoid the cliche of 'silence, silence, silence, silence, "phew, there's no one there", silence, VERY LOUD NOISE TO MAKE YOU JUMP!' Instead, Raimi uses sound to create some seriously creepy atmosphere, and the film's soundtrack rises and falls constantly, drawing the viewer towards those inevitable shock moments quite effectively.

Many of the famous nuances from Raimi's past films are present in Drag Me To Hell, most notably his incredible use of camera work. One scene in particular, involving a seance, is extremely reminiscent of scenes from Evil Dead 2 and 3, with lots of fast camera zooms, bizarre rising sounds, rattling crockery and window shutters, and so on. Drag Me To Hell however, manages to be on the whole, quite a lot scarier than the Evil Dead films were, mainly because it takes itself a bit more seriously, and because Raimi seems more experienced as a director. It might also be due in part to the lack of Bruce Campbell (who, it turns out, refused a role in the film because he was too busy working on his American TV series 'Burn Notice'). Raimi's famous car however is present in this film as Mrs. Ganush's car, and Raimi himself, as well as his brother Ted, both have cameos (although I didn't notice them when I watched it).

This film is pure trash, and Raimi is back doing what he does best and truly plays by his own rules with Drag Me To Hell. With some truly hilarious and gruesome moments, some extremely effective scares and an absolutely brilliant twist ending, this is comedy horror at its finest, and I can highly recommend it to any fan of decent cinematography.

2 Mixes for the summer!

Here are 2 recently recorded short mixes for your listening pleasure. The first is a dancey, electroey, tech-housey, fairly simplistic set recorded with a sunny day in mind. The second is a minimal techno mix- softer, brainier, more suited to late-in-the-day listening. Both mixes clock in at around 40 minutes. Have fun!


Summer 2009 Mini Mix

Blue Foundation - Sweep (Jim Rivers Dub) [RENAISSANCE]
Sultan & Ned Shepard - Together We Rise (DJ Remy & Roland Klinkenberg Remix) [SHINICHI]
Alexander Kowalski - Black Moon [DIFFERENT]
Fernanda Diaz & Felipe Valenzuela - Pijiama Party (Pablo Bolivar Remix) [LUXA FLEX]
Booka Shade - Blue Rooms [GET PHYSICAL]
Glenn Morrison - No Sudden Moves [PILOT 6]
Pryda - Armed [PRYDA RECORDINGS]
Teenage Bad Girl - Ghost House [CITIZEN RECORDS]

Download HERE


Miniminimal Mix June 09

Sascha Funke - I Love This Tent [BPITCH CONTROL]
Robbie Pardoel - Orologio (Fairmont Remix) [MANUAL MUSIC]
Holden - 10101 [BORDER COMMUNITY]
Dinky - Acid In My Fridge (Tobi Neumann Remix) [COCOON RECORDINGS]
Alex Smoke - Titti [VAKANT]
Misstress Barbara - Barcelona [BORDER COMMUNITY]
Sunchase - Velvet [LUXA FLEX]
Nathan Fake - The Sky Was Pink (Holden Remix) [BORDER COMMUNITY]
Ellen Allien & Apparat - Way Out [BPITCH CONTROL]

Download HERE

PDP Panic Reviewing!

OKAY... I recently heard of a rumour that my tutors still look at our blogs and still expect us to keep up with our PDP work. This seems doubtful considering their track record, but I've started writing reviews again just to be safe. Here is the first:


The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Century: 1910 (Top Shelf Comics, 2009)

Many people were disappointed by 'The Black Dossier', the long-delayed and largely inaccessible previous entry in 'The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen'. I personally loved that book for its inventive and very fun coverage of fictional characters and places. But how to follow up a series that includes everything from Gormenghast to the Gollywogg? Easy, you have the third volume span an entire century of popular culture!

This, the first of 3 parts, is set in 1910, just over a decade after volume 2. London has changed little (although there seems to be an abundance of cars, steamboats and airships). Murray and Quatermain have been given extended life thanks to their exploits over the previous decade (mentioned in volume 2) and have amassed a new league, albeit one that is alot more... human... than the one we have previously seen. The new league includes the immortal and annoyingly foppish Orlando, the ghost-hunter Carnacki and the gentleman thief Raffles.

Carnacki's psychic powers have given him visions of an occult group attempting to bring about the apocalypse and the league decide to investigate. Meanwhile, Macheath (from Bertol Brecht's Threepenny Opera), who it turns out also happens to be Jack The Ripper, returns to London to resume butchering prostitutes. The role of Jenny Diver from the Threepenny opera is played by the daughter of Nemo who runs away to London to escape her father's dying wishes.

Alan Moore's world of fictional characters is fully realised in Century: 1910 and this may pose a slight problem for casual readers. Many of the characters in this story are somewhat obscure and not as instantly recognisable as, say, Jekyll and Hyde or The Invisible Man. However, this doesn't stagnate the story (in fact, League fans will likely find that it enhances it), and it moves along at lightning pace. On more than one occasion while reading the book, I found myself on Wikipedia looking up some characters that I didn't recognise, and rewarding myself for the ones that I did (Popeye, a Face Hugger from Alien, The 14th Earl Of Gurney from the Peter O' Toole film The Ruling Class, George Edward Challenger and so on). The story is 72 pages long (about the same as 3 normal comics) but contains a very satisfying amount of content. It also features a 6 page illustrated text story at the end (the first of 3 parts that will continue throughout Century), Minions of the Moon, which spans many different periods of time and is equally as satisfying as the main story.

Whilst there is quite a lot crammed into the book's 80 colourful pages, Century: 1910 definitely feels like chapter one of a larger tale. And although Moore and O' Neill have succeeded in meeting my high expectations and leaving me begging for more, part two (set in 1969) isn't scheduled for release until 2010, and part three (set in 2009) not till 2011, so there is a fair amount of speculation in the mean time! This is the best thing I've read all year and I can't see any graphic novel surpassing it until its followup next year. Highly recommended.