Viewed in
2010
Premise
Poor Alison Lohman is tormented by a gypsy woman's curse.
Who should watch
Those who like horror that is more old school, and not the torture-porn that is all the rage.
Thoughts
I was definitely spooked out all the way through.
Alison Lohman was really good, and I felt sorry for her character as she deals with scary and disgusting moments. The climax in the graveyard was one of my favorite scenes, thanks to her butt-kicking performance. Big ups to Lohman for the physical/mental/emotional toll and risks she took to achieve those scenes. The behind the scenes helped me appreciate her performance even more.
Sam Raimi still has his fastball. It had nice mix of indulgent uneasy creepiness, surprising shock reveals with stinger chords, and flat out enthusiastic grossness. At times, I was cowering, afraid to know what happens next, but at the same time I was smirking by how much fun I was having (as well as the film makers).
The story was pretty good for a horror movie. In fact, the moral dilemma subplot was very interesting, and pushed the film beyond its genre a bit. How Lohman's character gets cursed by the scary gypsy woman was very unexpected, rather bizarre and darkly funny.
My only beef with the film was the resolution, as it involved a cliche plot device to flip the story around. As an intelligent audience I felt cheated. Kind of odd that I could accept the heroine's dumb idea of never telling her doting boyfriend the truth in key scenes, but I could not accept that device near the end.
Also, some of the computer graphics could have been better.
I enjoyed this Sam Raimi film, but with a much better budget with slicker special effects. It was like watching an old master, schooling all the wannabes, screaming 'this is how you do it right!' without even breaking a sweat. Definitely a fun, odd, and memorable horror film.
Note: I watched the theatrical version.
What I would change
Though I liked the risk-taking by Justin Long and the film makers to cast him as the boyfriend, I would have picked a better actor.
