Editor’s Note: This was originally published for FANGORIA on October 5, 2009, and we’re proud to share it as part of The Gingold Files.
Considering that Sam Raimi made his horror bones with the pair of unrated Evil Dead movies, it’s only fitting that his return to the genre, Drag Me to Hell, be issued on disc by Universal in an Unrated Director’s Cut as well. Yet while the movie is very much in the aggressively fun tradition of Evil Dead II (see our original review here), don’t expect a gorefest from this restored version; remember, its theatrical rating was a PG-13.
In fact, the Unrated Drag Me to Hell runs nine seconds shorter than the theatrical cut, which is also included on the DVD and Blu-ray. While a few moments have been made a tad nastier—most notably the nosebleed scene, in which heroine Christine (Alison Lohman) now gushes from her mouth as well—the most significant difference (SPOILER ALERT) involves Christine’s killing of her cat in an attempt to stave off the curse that has been placed on her by elderly gypsy Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver). The black-comic suspense of stalking her kitty has been replaced by a briefer, more bluntly gruesome bit that will strike you as either funnier or more shocking, depending on how you feel about cats.
In both editions, Drag Me to Hell is presented in a fine, sharp if unspectacular 2.40:1 transfer, with strong and active Dolby Digital 5.1 replication of the movie’s funhouse soundtrack. Raimi gets as much juice out of freaky and icky audio FX here as he did in the Evil Dead flicks—but where Drag doesn’t continue in those movies’ tradition, sadly, is in the depth of its disc extras. All that’s offered is “The Production Diaries,” a 35-minute collection of featurettes exploring assorted highlights of the shoot through on-set footage and interviews. There’s nothing about the project’s development, Raimi’s thoughts on returning to fear fare after a decade and a half away, etc.; what’s here, however, is often entertaining, and among other things leaves the impression that lead actress Lohman is quite the trouper.
We’re given a cameraside seat as the young actress, who maintains a chipper, enthusiastic attitude throughout, is swung around a greenscreened bedroom set on wires, labors under torrents of mud (which underwent tests to arrive at a substance that Lohman’s skin wouldn’t allergically react to) and gets maggots and slime spewed into her mouth from a KNB EFX mockup of Mrs. Ganush’s head. Other highlights include the training of a goat for the seance sequence, only for the animal to prove “too cute” during shooting, necessitating its replacement with an animatronic mockup; details of the visual, makeup and audio FX; and a “Puzzle Car” which could be taken apart in multiple ways to allow for filming of its cramped quarters.
There’s also a segment on male lead Justin Long, showcasing his ingratiating, sometimes self-deprecating sense of humor that he also employs in an intro to “The Production Diaries.” He reappears at the documentary’s conclusion as well, saying, “On a scale of one to 10, I hope it was north of a six.” Actually, absent an exploration of the bigger picture in a commentary or more expansive documentary, a six is indeed about where this disc’s supplemental offering lies.
