Line #20 YMMV/DragMetoHell


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
2	** A rapidly circulating [[http://www.slate.com/id/2219528 theory]] states that all of the events of the movie after her encounter with Mrs. Ganush were hallucinations caused by her insecurities and guilt. [[spoiler: Even her getting dragged to Hell at the end is just a hallucination at the moment of her death, which was caused by getting hit by the train.]]
3	** [[http://www.slashfilm.com/is-drag-me-to-hell-really-about-a-girl-with-an-eating-disorder/ There's also the theory that the movie is actually about eating disorders.]] ''And it makes sense''. Also, though not mentioned in the article, the Lamiae are traditionally associated with gluttony in Greek folklore.
4	** Another interpretation in this vein is that, instead of being cursed by Mrs. Ganush (who's just a red herring), Christy was cursed by the Lamia (who assumes Mrs. Ganush's appearance throughout the movie, starting with the parking lot scene). In this case, the Lamia is a traveling demon that preys upon vulnerable individuals (like Christy with her eating disorder, social climbing, and guilt over denying Mrs. Ganush), a common premise in folklore. The Lamia torments its victims with vivid hallucinations, the intent being to trick them into damning themselves by compromising their moral and spiritual values, after which the Lamia is free to steal their soul (the psychic warns Christy against graverobbing and divination). This is as written in the Bible, where demons may only tempt mortals and cannot violate their free will (the acts committed by a person during possession are not done of their own free will and therefore do not damn their soul). [[SelfFulfillingProphecy Had Christy not done the things she did to get rid of the curse]], the most important being that ''[[WhatTheHellHero she believed she had the right to damn someone else's soul to Hell]]'', [[HoistByHisOwnPetard then she wouldn't have "deserved" to be dragged to Hell in the first place]].
5	* AudienceAlienatingEnding: Suffice it to say, a percentage of the audience is not exactly fond of the ending where [[spoiler:the mostly sympathetic main character is dragged off into hellfire. Made worse by the fact Raimi has said in some interviews he feels she ''deserved it''.]]
6	* BrokenBase:
7	** Viewers are split as to whether the film is meant to be a HorrorComedy or not. Given the director is Creator/SamRaimi, one would think it ''is'' meant to be intentionally campy. But others think it was unintentional.
8	** However one feels about the ending, it's easily the most divisive part of the movie -- some viewers thought it was funny in a BlackComedy kind of way, others thought it was too mean-spirited, and opinions on it rarely gel. [[spoiler:A DownerEnding in a horror movie is not exactly surprising, but the fact it's also a CruelTwistEnding and that Raimi seems to be portraying Christine's fate as something that is deserved causes a split between people who view this movie. Some people think that it's hilariously mean-spirited and on-brand for Sam Raimi, or that Christy had it coming for the things she did to try and get rid of the curse, including damning someone else to Hell. Others think that it cheapens the movie, because Christy supposedly did everything she had to do to break the curse, but then a sudden twist of fate takes that away, making it feel unearned.]]
9	* CompleteMonster: [[OurDemonsAreDifferent The Lamia]] is an ancient demon used as a curse to [[DraggedOffToHell drag humans to eternal suffering in Hell]], something it delights in. {{Sadist}}ically plaguing its victims for three days before claiming them, it's shown violently pulling [[WouldHurtAChild a young boy]] to the underworld and, when cursed upon banker Christine Brown, [[DrivenToMadness drives her to madness]] before taking her soul as well.
10	* CrossesTheLineTwice: The CruelTwistEnding. [[spoiler: Being dragged to hell because of mixing up an envelope would be one thing, but having her fall down the train tracks, be about to get hit by one, ''then'' getting dragged down into hell while Clay looks on in hopeless horror is just hilariously, brutally mean-spirited.]]
11	* DelusionConclusion: The aforementioned idea that that film is really a metaphor for Christine's eating disorder does make a lot of sense and somewhat removes the sting of her [[spoiler: going to Hell]] in the end.
12	* FanonDiscontinuity: While the DownerEnding does have its fans, there are plenty of fans who utterly demonize it and pretend the movie stopped before that point.
13	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The film got a much better audience reception in the UK (where horror comedy sells a lot better) than it did in the US.
14	* MoralEventHorizon:
15	** Stu Rubin. He and Christine are vying for the same promotion throughout the movie. At first he's just an inconsiderate jerk and a kiss-ass. Then Christine is given an extremely important account to work on (if she succeeds, it'll put her over the top for the promotion). What does Rubin do when Christine has her [[HighPressureBlood explosive nosebleed]]? He ''steals the account's files and tries to freelance it at another bank''. Christine notices it pretty quick, and late in the movie, tries to unload the button on him through blackmail (something that the audience has, understandably, no qualms with). He starts blubbering about it, and Christine has a crisis of human emotion and tells him to leave and that she won't tell--Rubin gives her eternal gratitude. [[spoiler:So, Christine ends up going to hell]]. And after meeting with Christine, ''he tried to pin the freelance thing on her''.
16	** A large amount of people seem to also lose all sympathy for Christine once she [[spoiler:sacrifices her kitten]]. For some [[spoiler: Christine killing her kitten]] just made them hate Sylvia more, considering she was the one who put Christine in that position. She could have [[spoiler: killed ANY animal and had the same result.]] However she [[spoiler: killed the kitten]] after one of the worst if not ''the'' worst attacks of Lamia and [[spoiler: it was the closest animal at the time]]. It was clearly a DespairEventHorizon for her, Rham Jas even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] about it. [[WhatMeasureIsANonCute And, well, nobody appears to care about the goat.]]
17	** The first Horizon crosser is the offscreen Romani (possibly Sylvia) who curses a ten year old Mexican boy to ''Hell'' for stealing a necklace. A necklace his parents immediately tried to return. While they may have refused to take it back because they knew the Lamia would come for them if they did, it doesn't excuse whoever cursed the necklace or the boy in the first place.
18	* {{Narm}}:
19	** When the door flies open at the beginning, the boy’s gasp.
20	** When the boy is thrown over the railing, when he lands there is a thud and he says “ugh”, all off screen.
21	* NauseaFuel: The movie has an odd interest in NauseaFuel material of its own winding up in Christine's mouth.
22	* NeverLiveItDown: A woman who has suffered beatings at the hands of a ''demon'', an unstoppable evil entity hell bent on making her life miserable, and it hands her the worst attack yet. All with the added certainty of worse to come. She hits [[DespairEventHorizon rock bottom]] and [[spoiler: kills a kitten]] to save herself from eternity in hell. This is enough for Christine to lose [[NoSympathy all sympathy]] with some viewers and "deserve" her fate. Ignoring this was a clearly the result of a mental breakdown, it would have never happened without a hateful Sylvia cursing her in the first place.
23	* RetroactiveRecognition: Latecomers to the movie may recognize Rham Jas from one of his subsequent blockbusters, either as [[Film/{{Avatar}} Max the scientist]] or especially [[Film/{{Inception}} Yusuf the chemist]].
24	* SpecialEffectFailure: The CGI effects aren't particular convincing. The scene where Christine drops an anvil on Ganush in particular stands out.
25	* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Literature/{{Thinner}}'', [[WholePlotReference which also involves]] an upper class protagonist in a RaceAgainstTheClock to remove a stereotype Roma curse from them before their time is up. Interestingly enough, the music composer for ''Thinner'' Daniel Licht was a protege of Christopher Young, the music composer for this film. Both Licht's and Young's ensemble orchestras performed for those movies were even the Northwest Sinfonia.
26	* {{Squick}}: Especially for a PG-13, this film is really disgusting. But in the most awesome possible way.
27	* TooBleakStoppedCaring: Some viewers, but not all, will be put off from the idea of a whole movie where a fairly likable woman is predestined to be dragged to hell, and there's nothing she can do to escape her fate. [[spoiler:Or rather, where it ''looks'' like she escaped her fate, but [[CruelTwistEnding psych, no she didn't]].]]
28	* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: Many have interpreted the film as a reaction to the the 2007 - 2009 financial crisis. However, director Creator/SamRaimi [[https://web.archive.org/web/20100102081824/http://screencrave.com/2009-05-27/sam-raimi-interview-for-drag-me-to-hell/ stated]] that the story was written years beforehand, and that he didn't pay too much attention to the crisis when making it.
29	* TheWoobie: Christine, Clay, the Mexican boy and his parents, and the two animals involved in the plot.
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Context YMMV / DragMetoHell