slop101

I have to say, that while DMTH's sound mix was fantastic, it was loud as hell (at least my theater was) - I'm talking deafeningly loud - there were moments where I'd anticipate a loud noise, and plug my ears so they wouldn't hurt. The first movie I attended in a theater was Star Wars in '77, and I have never ever had to do something like this because of volume. And I play in loud rock bands! Speaking of which, I've gone to plenty of concerts that were not nearly as loud.

Anyways, fantastic flick - my only problem was the lame convention of , which I called right away - a really cheap gimmick. Yeah sure, that sort of thing is a staple of such movies, but that doesn't excuse it.

RocShemp

I'm inclined to say it was your theater. Though very loud, it's nowhere close to the two loudest movie experience I had to deal with. Those were Hellboy II and Taken. In both instances, something as simple as dialogue was deafening. I had to get out from my seat and demand the volume be lowered on several ocasions during Hellboy II until they finally brought it down.

Both those films sound just right at home. I'm sure DMTH will be no different.

Sanjuro37

The best movie Raimi's made since Evil Dead II. His B-movie dialogue was intentional again and not a drag on mainstream movies, the low budget got him back to working with physical props instead of CG (case in point: the weakest aspect of the film is its CGI), and with the horror-comedy we know and love. I saw the end coming from a mile away, but I haven't laughed so hard for a single scene since the frosting bit of Zack and Miri.

slop101

It's not even close, as I don't remember Hellboy 2 being particularly loud. I even saw it in the same movie theater. Drag's volume-level blows it (and all others) out of the water. I should point out that as loud as it was, not once did it distort, clip or suffer any negative effects - except for maybe my ears bleeding...

dsa_shea

Drag Me To Deafness is what this movie could have been called. I really liked the movie but thought that the boosted soundtrack was used cheaply to get some scares. And some of the other jump out from behind scares are no different than what a no name director would use in his or her first movie and get reamed for.

RocShemp

Well neither film I mentioned was ridiculously loud on their own. Which is why I mentioned that they sounded fine at home when I purchased them on BD. In my case, the theater had jacked up the audio way too loud. Fortunately, I didn't experience that with drag me to hell. It was really loud but somehow within reason.

dr.sound

How do I respond? I guess you would have mixed it differently.
As for playing in a rock bands and going to concerts that weren't as loud,
the difference is dynamics. The movie was mixed with dynamics, most rock bands have none.
I don't want to get into an argument with a guy I don't know so on that note.....

dr.sound

Nice shot, or should I say "Cheap Shot"?
Boosted soundtrack? Once again, dynamics. Some day you guys should attend a Feature Film Mix .

Seantn

Is that an invitation, or should we all go down to our local Feature Film Mix Store?

RocShemp

All kidding aside, if dr.sound's offer is on the money, I'd definitely go as I find the subject quit fascinating.

mdc3000

If it was 'too loud' it was your theatre jacking the volume - even if you saw another movie in that same theatre and it was fine, the volume is automated and sometimes screws up (ie. the theatre I worked at volume for trailers/ads was 4.0, movie starts volume goes to 5.5)... there were times when it would (for no explicable reason) jump up to 6.5 or 7.0 instead of 5.5 and being a good projectionist who would check all 12 projectors when the film started, I'd manually lower it back to where it was supposed to be - perhaps that theatre that blew your eardrums out just had it cranked for no good reason.

When I was working at the theatre, we screened KILL BILL the night before and the other projectionist cranked it up to 7.0 - with just two guys in the theatre - management went home with the keys to the projection booth so we couldn't turn it down - I had to get up 20 minutes in, grab napkins and make makeshift earplugs out of them because it physically hurt. Saw it again the next night with the proper volume setting and it was fantastic- so it's probably not the mix, it's your theatre :P

RichC2

The audio in our theater sucked, and I was pissed after hearing so many great things about the audio in the movie. It wasn't loud at all and nothing popped out as a "loud sound to startle", and the surround appeared to be muffled.

dr.sound

If your theater is "calibrated", you should play the sound at "7.0" on the Dolby Box. That is the calibrated level that the movie was mixed at.
5.5 is way too low.
Sorry guys but Features are mixed at a calibrated level .
The Theater should at least start at "7.0" and move down to 6.5 or at the lowest 6.0. The setting of 4.5 is about 20 db below the calibrated level.

slop101

Like I said, the actual mix itself was fine - better than fine actually, it was flat-out fantastic - it was just unbearably loud in a lot of parts - mostly where there's high-pitched shrieking.

Yavin

Ditto in the theater I saw it at on opening weekend. It was far from being too loud. Perhaps that was why I found the jump scares ineffective.

Not to mention whoever was running the booth didn't dim the lights until about 10 minutes into the movie, and audience members were still chatting and using their cellphones during this time.

man*machine

It is a shame that some theaters apparently are showing it improperly with the wrong sound levels, pretty much ruining all the work dr.sound and others put into the mix. The sound in this film was really a major key in why the film as a whole was so effective. And I usually hate loud noise and usually try to plug my ears during all the noisy annoying trailers prior to the film. But DMTH was exquisite in its layered loudness. I don't have a surround set-up at home (and even if I did, I wouldn't be able to recreate the intensity of the sound as my neighbors would most likely object) so seeing this in the theater a couple of times was essential. May go back once more before it's gone.

toddly6666

Drag Me To Hell is currently the number 1 film ranked per the American Blind Peoples Association due to the care put into the soundtrack and sound mixing.

dr.sound

That's funny! Good one.

freshticles

Saw this last night. While I was waiting to grab some snacks, I saw a former student who advised me that this movie sucked. He is a Nickelback fan so I wasn't taking too much of what he said to heart. At this point the counter girl started jawing about how much this movie sucked. I said that I doubted it did, and that she probably just doesn't understand the horror-comedy genre to which she replied that she was an 'expert' on horror movies. Apparently the kids at the theatre wear name tags with their favorite movies on them, and this is when I noticed that she was wearing a tag that said '13 ghosts'. I said 'wait a second, you're not even allowed an opinion. you;re wearing a 13 ghosts tag'. She told me it was one o the greatest movies ever and gave me back my change (17 cents) completely in pennies which I tossed all over the counter and left.
Anyways, the movie was amazing. Loved every minute of it. I loved all the throwbacks to the evil dead triliogy, the humor, the scares, the sound, everything. Definitely one of my favorite movies of the last couple of years.

RichC2

I love this post.

riotinmyskull

maybe she was talking about william castle's thirteen ghosts...

freshticles

I don't think so. She had faded blue streaks in her hair and was probably 16.

Seantn

It's okay, I forgive you.

zombeaner

Unfair generalization. At 16 I had a mohawk and may have said the same thing.

RocShemp

Is it okay that I never even heard of 13 Ghosts?