Sam Raimi returns to the genre that made him famous. He arrives with the master hand that made him the filmmaker he is today. Written by himself and his brother Ivan, the film has all of the Raimi trademarks. Bodily fluids, the 1973 Oldsmobile, and other brother Ted all make appearances (bodily fluids the most often). It appears that the pg-13 rating did not affect Raimi’s vision as there is plenty of violence, gore and mayhem. This is by far the best pg-13 horror film I have ever seen and the best horror film so far this year. I was happy to see that Raimi was able to balance the horror and humor as well as he used to. From the trailer (which goes to show that you should never trust the trailer) the film seemed much more serious than The Evil Dead series. While I would not put it up there with Evil Dead 2 (its close), it is more fun than the first Evil Dead film. Allison Lohman was perfectly cast as the lead, actually playing an age appropriate role for once. She handled the horror aspects very well and when required to do the Raimi standard cheese-ball dialogue she delivered it spot on. Justin Long is great as Lohman’s cynic boyfriend as well. The best performance in the film goes to Loran Raver who plays the gypsy Mrs. Ganush. From her IMDB credentials, it appears that she has been doing mostly television since the 90s. The way that she plays the old decrypted gypsy is unforgettable. After seeing the parkade scene, she will forever be on my list of greatest horror villains. Other supporting roles are filled by Dilleep Rao, David Paymer, Adriana Barraza, and Reggie Lee. These actors aren’t the only stars of the film; the music and sound design also play a prominent role. The original score was written by Christopher Young (The Uninvited, Spider Man 3, Ghost Rider, many others). This was the first time that his music has stood out to me and that is mostly because of some unusually chosen instruments. Most memorable would be when Lohman’s character is fighting the gypsy in the parkade and the music is prominently stand-up bass. Sam Raimi has always been able to create amazing amounts of tensions through the use of sounds, and this film is not an exception. If you have any interest in seeing this, do not wait for it to be in the video stores as no home theatre will be able to capture just how great everything sounds. The film has one of the best titles I have heard in a long time, and the film is able to live up to it. There was a scene that I actually jumped at; I cannot remember the last time a film was able to make me do that. With Sam Raimi as your tour guide being drug to Hell could not be a more enjoyable experience. This is destined to be another classic for Mr. Raimi.
A Golden Banana
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