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Discuss: The Curious Case of 'Drag Me to Hell's Button
Filed under: Comedy », Horror », Thrillers », SXSW », Mystery & Suspense », Universal », Summer Movies », Polls »
(Spoilers herein.)Okay, so you lot have had two weekends now with which to see Sam Raimi's sublimely ridiculous Drag Me to Hell, and I'm seeing the debate that a couple of us waged out in front of the Paramount at SXSW last March coming back around on a grander scale, so I want to open up the floor.
Some have claimed that the third-act twist -- in which Alison Lohman's character mistakenly gives away an envelope with a quarter instead of an envelope with a cursed button and is consequently dragged to, um, Hell -- is telegraphed so far in advance that it takes the suspense out of the last reel or so, while others (including yours truly) believe that Raimi is smarter than that, and knows that we're in for this ride anyway, so even if we know that her efforts to pass on the curse are futile, we'll take a certain pleasure in knowing that her fate is sealed regardless.
Sure, Raimi could have simply cut out an insert shot of everything falling on the floor and mixing up, thus letting himself slightly, temporarily off his own hook. Lohman's character could have simply reached into her boyfriend's bag and grabbed the wrong one (oddly enough, the button falls out of her purse -- which she's holding -- but the quarter was placed in her boyfriend's bag, which is nowhere to be seen...). But he does seem to go just enough out of his way to let us know what's afoot. If you've seen the film, what do you think - rookie mistake or intentional wink?
Austin Grindhouse Part 2: Critic Proof
Filed under: Action », Comedy », Horror », Fandom », The Weinstein Co. », Comic/Superhero/Geek »
While my colleague Jette Kernion was out front meeting and greeting the celebrities, avoiding the local zombies, and taking a whole bunch of excellent pictures, I was ... standing in a massive line to get some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and two bottles of water. (Hey, it's a long movie!) The palatial Paramount was positively packed with all sorts of people: Austin bigwigs, local filmmakers, Grindhouse crew members, and lots and lots of mega-geeked movie nerds. (This premiere was half-swanky and half-normal, mainly because the Austin Film Society was smart enough to sell public tickets for the event -- although the lowest admission price was $25.) I was in attendance as a guest of South By Southwest producer Matt Dentler ... and we had a really great pair of seats.
I won't be getting into my own particular review of the film (our guest reviewer Nick Schager and Jette will have those honors next week), but instead I'll just offer a brief recap of the crowd reactions. (Suffice to say they were loud, frequent and very, very raucous. It was great.) Our seats were wedged between a handful of very enthusiastic actors, extras and various types of craftspeople. Grindhouse was, don't forget, mostly filmed in and around Austin, so this hometown crowd was whooping it up with every onscreen reference to the Alamo Drafthouse, Texas Chili Parlor and Shiner Bock Beer. (Specifically, Tarantino's half of the House is a certifiable love letter to the city of Austin.)
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