Patman

This film was a hoot. It was gross and funny and horrific in spots. The character development wasn't all that great, but it's a film built around the shock and scare of the horror movie genre with a good sense of humor behind the camera. This is the kind of film enjoyed with a good sized audience who get all caught up in the mayhem on the screen. It's like a scary amusement park ride, not as much fun riding it alone.

I give it 2.75 stars, or a grade of B-.

dino88

Now that was a fun film. With all the crap horror put out lately, it's good to see a film that takes me back to old school horror. I wasn't blown away by it leaving the theater, but I'm liking it more and more as I think about it (I'm usually like this with films I end up loving...I didn't care that much for Pulp Fiction when I first saw it).

My favorite line: Christine driving to the cemetery "I'm gonna get me some"

I'll give it 4 out of 5 stars.

dino88

I definitely agree. Unfortunately, there was only about 30 people in my audience.

Supermallet

I haven't seen such a straightforward and delightful ghost story in years. It's not Raimi's best, but a wonderful footnote to the Evil Dead series. Lohman was cute as a button (pun intended), and the old lady was an excellent heavy. I loved the seance scene and the guy who played the fortune teller was quite enjoyable. It relied slightly too much on CGI, but not to the point where it ruined the movie.

I do wish Justin Long's character had been developed just a little bit more, he was a little too broadly drawn to make him effective as the support. But, those few minor gripes aside, I think this is one of the most enjoyable films in the theaters right now, and highly recommend it to anyone.

fallfan

Definately try to catch it at a different theatre. The sound mix was fantastic, especially during the seance scene and the parts where she is alone at home.

The movie had several parts that brought back that Evil Dead 2 feeling. Particularly the seance as well as the awesome workshed ("Workshed!")scene. I love nothing more than crazy, Sam Raimi dutch-angle zoom-ins, and this movie has loads of them.

man*machine

Yes, the sound was great. The screeching sounds she heard at home would circle itself around the theater. During the seance, when the noise gets so loud that even the characters are putting their hands up to their ears, I thought the theater's speakers were going to explode! Great stuff.

I haven't had so much fun at a horror movie in years. Don't let that lousy trailer or the PG-13 rating turn you away. This is complete fun from start to finish. There was even applause when the film ended at the afternoon show I went to yesterday, which rarely happens. It's refreshing to see a "fun" horror film for a change and I will see it again this weekend (something I never do). Go out and see it.

Thank you, Raimi! The horror genre has finally been given a new transfusion of life after so many years of retreads and remakes and torture-porn.

Daytripper

This movie ROCKED! So much fun. It has everything. And yes, the sound is a huge part of the experience. You must see it in a theater with a great sound system. Daniel, I do think this is up there with Raimi's best. And I'd give it a 10/10. Great great stuff.

riotinmyskull

how's that crow taste?

chris_sc77

^The movie still looks like absolute SHIT to me. I dont waste me time with PG-13 horror movies. You can like it all you want but it is performing well below expectations so I am happy.

Daytripper

First of all, it's your loss for not seeing this because of it's rating. And you can rag on it all you want, but get your facts straight. It is NOT performing "well below expectations". It was predicted to open at 20M. From boxoffice.com:

"The weekend's other major new release, Drag Me to Hell, looks as though it will fall just shy of the $20 million mark. The horror flick has received some surprisingly strong reviews, so if audiences enjoy it as much as critics have then word of mouth could spread quickly and boost the opening weekend tally."

man*machine

...but you apparently waste 'me' time in threads discussing PG-13 horror movies?

chris_sc77

It IS performing below expectations. I saw quite a few predictions that this was supposed to open above $25 million.
/film.com states it will make around $16.5 million this weekend. And they state it is indeed performing below expectations.
http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/05/30/...r-67m-weekend/

OldBoy

i don't understand why you get off when movies you don't like and have no interest in seeing doesn't do well and feel the need to boast that the 1 time out of 20 a prediction you make faintly resembles being correct.

Daytripper

You show me one site that said it was expected to do 25M or more. Even your link said 20M. And box-office.com said it could end up around 19M. We'll see on Monday night when the final tally is in.

That said, why don't you get lost and come back once you've seen the film.

OldBoy

this was quite fun, but not quite as good as i thought it would be. the atmosphere, the thrills, the jumps definitely work. the sound had the seats rattling. seeing it with an audience that obviously knows Raimi's "Evil Dead" Trilogy is a plus.

they, as well as i, knew what to expect, got giddy at the right moments, laughed at the homages to his ED series. you could just feel the delight in everyone's seat.

however, i think what hurts the film is that it plays so closely to the ED movies that you know what to expect almost all the way through. the effects are sometimes identical to scenes in ED 2 especially and Raimi didn't seem to change much from the effects from the series even though it has been 15 years since the last. of course, it is more polished, but the cheesiness is still evident.

that is why i don't think this will find a wide audience, which is too bad, because if you don't know Raimi and ED then you won't get a lot of the movie. i hope i am wrong on that account though.

this is a very fun movie, much different than anything that has come out probably since 1993's "Army of Darkness" because of the comical nature and possession nature of the story. i just saw an interview with Raimi this morning and he said he wanted to go away from the blood and gore and realism horror that has penetrated Hollywood of late. he definitely succeeded in making this unique and a stand apart from those mostly crapfests.

i also wish, as many have said, that the "Three's Company" twist was a little less obvious. i mean after that everything you knew she was doing was superfluous until the end and yes, it could have went either way, but the finale wasn't too much of a shock, but it was done with style as was the whole movie.

and i absolutely loved the 2 title card presentations! one at the beginning and one at the end. i think it gives it a great emphasis and almost like an exclamation point. "The Lion King" had it as well, as i am sure many others, and loved it. that is such an easy effect that brings it home for a good movie.

very stylish, very clever, very fun, very loud, but just a little too much like the ED series.

not a bad night at the movies and much much better than anything else this summer thus far with the exception of "Star Trek".

Supermallet

This PG-13 horror movie is better than almost any R-rated horror film from the past 5 years that I can think of.

man*machine

Well said!

I always use Boxofficeprophets and they had predicted a $19 million weekend.

http://www.boxofficeprophets.com/col...columnID=11652

As far as the PG-13 goes, who cares what the rating is? This isn't some neutered slasher flick with all the gore cut out. Honestly, if I hadn't known the rating in advance, I'd probably have thought it was an R. Does it really matter? Or is it just that kids only feel "cool" because they're watching an R film? Dumb.

I agree with Suprmallet too - this PG-13 flick is way better than practically every R-rated, unrated, or 'too-extreme to rate' horror films from the last 5 years.

Daytripper

Thanks. And you know what? Honestly, I had no idea this was PG-13 going in. And I'm quite surprised it wasn't rated R. There was enough gore and blood that it probably could or should have earned a harder rating.

Supermallet

Sam Raimi learned a trick on Evil Dead 2. If blood is red, it offends the MPAA. That's why in a lot of his films, the monsters bleed any color but red, and in this movie you'll find a lot of green, white, and yellow-ish liquids, but red is used more sparingly and for great effect (the nose bleed scene and the eye in the cake come to mind).

Larry C.

I'm sorry but thats just dumb.

OldBoy

mods...could we add a 5 to 0 star poll to this review thread using half stars? it would be interesting to see where the reviews lie and pointless to start a new one.

Supermallet

I'm not seeing an option to add a poll, that might take an admin. I'd say it's 4 stars.

Labor

This was absolutely fantastic

Creepiest, most tense and scary American mainstream Horror movie of the decade, bar none. And funny as hell to boot. Classic Raimi.

I was skeptical due to the PG-13, but wow, what a non-issue.

OldBoy

oh well, no biggie. thanks for trying though. i figured if poll threads can be merged with non-poll threads it would be ok.

RD1973

I just saw this movie last night with a packed house and it was awesome! I don't scare easily, but the sound effects had me on edge the whole time. There was one bad CG moment (flying eyeballs). But everything else was perfect.

Someone here stated that there wasn't enough character development. I'm starting to think people just use that term to sound smart. This movie is all about Christine. What else did we really need to know about her or anyone else in the cast?

Also, why are some people hung up on the rating? Jaws is rated PG. Like a few others have said, this movie is much more intense than most of the "unrated" shitfests I've seen lately.

I'm just waiting for someone to complain abouth the portrayal of gypsies in this movie, though.