Though Sam Raimi hasn’t directed a horror flick since 2009’s fantastic Drag Me To Hell, it’s fair to say that the Evil Dead creator still holds a special place in horror fans’ dark, beating hearts. From producing creepy creature features like Crawl, to more traditional supernatural thrillers, like The Messengers and The Grudge, Raimi has always been an active proponent for gore-hounds’ favourite genre in cinema.
What’s truly surprising, then, is the fact that the American filmmaker’s last big horror hit, Drag Me To Hell, never got a sequel. Despite raking in a solid $90.8 million at the box office, while also resonating really well with both critics and fans alike, Raimi’s last horror pic is very much screaming out for some kind of a sequel, right?
Interestingly, in a recent interview with Bloody Disgusting, the director discussed Drag Me To Hell and reminisced about the good times he had developing the film:
I love the crew, I love working with Alison Lohman and my friend Bob Murawski, my editor. I loved shooting it with my old friend Peter Deming, who shot Evil Dead 2 with me. And I just loved working with my brother Ivan on the script.
That’s the thing you lose, often, that I had on that picture, and I really was able to do just what I wanted. So in a way, I feel great about it because of that. I often feel that when the studio makes you cut things or add things and change things, it really ruins the entire experience for me. It’s like a cascade of… it’s just awful.
It is a morality tale, she did do the wrong thing, but holy cow, give her a break! But that’s how this particular tale [ends].
I thought it would be shocking to title the film ‘Drag Me to Hell’ and actually end it with giving exactly what the title demanded, and still making it incredibly shocking. I thought that was a really funny cocktail for me.
Specifically, Raimi had this to say when asked about a possible follow-up to Drag Me To Hell:
Oh, well, if somebody had a good story. I don’t have a story, because in my mind the character got killed, and worse. So I didn’t know how to proceed with the sequel.
Usually, for me, I’m left with a character like Bruce Campbell, that I really am interested [in] or like, or a concept that really feels like it needs to continue. But this is such a definitive ending that in my mind I didn’t know where to start with a sequel.
As you probably remember, the main gist of Drag Me To Hell’s story revolves around a bank loan officer who refuses an old lady an extension on her mortgage. As a result, Alison Lohman’s character, Christine, is bestowed an evil gypsy curse that culminates in her getting dragged kicking and screaming into the very bowels of hell right at the end. Not exactly a fair way to go, but I guess that’s an underlying theme of the pic.
By the sounds of things, then, Raimi just isn’t very sure where to take the film next, and has decided that the ending of his movie is the definitive conclusion in his mind, which sounds fair to us.
But what say you? Would you be down for a follow-up to Drag Me To Hell? Or do you think the movie’s conclusion is a perfect one? Be sure to let us know in the usual place.
Published: Oct 6, 2019 12:53 pm