
When I first saw the advertising for "Drag Me To Hell," it looked like yet another of those typical PG-13 horror films for teens. But then I started reading the reviews and realized that Sam Raimi, taking a break between "Spiderman" films, wanted to take another crack at the outrageous genre he'd built his reputation on with the "Evil Dead" films. I finally saw it Friday—and I was delighted. The story, co-written by Raimi and his doctor brother, Ivan, is suitably skewed, and the shock scenes are...well, funny! I mean, what other PG-13 movie can you think of that has an old lady getting the crap beaten out of her, blood spurting all over the place, a woman with an arm shoved down her throat and a talking, swearing goat? The MPAA for once saw that this was all just cartoon violence and gave it the more lenient rating. But does a PG-13 help or hurt a film's boxoffice these days?
Anyhow, Raimi quickly sets up the situation: a young woman (Alison Lohman) who has self-esteem issues and is anxious to win a promotion at the bank where she works as a loan officer denies a creepy old lady's request for an extension on her mortgage...and all hell breaks loose. It's fast-moving, delightfully goofy and provides some genuine jolts along the way. Watching "Drag Me to Hell" reminded me of other comedy horror films I've enjoyed throughout the years. Here are some of my favorites:

2. Phantom of the Paradise (1974). Brian De Palma's rock horror musical puts Gaston Leroux's "Phantom of the Opera" in a contemporary setting as a composer, Winslow Leach (William Finley), wreaks revenge on music impresario Swan (Paul Williams) after the aforementioned screws him over and steals his music. His face disfigured from a fall into a record press, Winslow haunts Swan's new Paradise Nightclub, disguising himself in a cape and a weird birdlike mask, and begins causing fatal "accidents" until Swan convinces him to finish his Faust cantata for the Paradise's grand opening in exchange for being allowed to continue creating his music. Among those auditioning for parts in the show is a young woman named Phoenix (Jessica Harper of "Suspiria" fame), whom Winslow is convinced is the only one who can sing the lead. Swan agrees, but he has quite a few more dirty tricks up his sleeve.
With music and lyrics by Williams, the film is a wonderful time capsule, lampooning the Sha Na Na '50s music revival, the '60s beach craze and '70s glitter rock. Gerrit Graham is hilarious as Beef, a glam rocker who minces about the stage while belting out "Life at Last." Harper herself as an agreeable, low-pitched singing voice (she became a composer and performer of music for children), but the real revelation is Williams' music. It's great! Though the film bombed on its original release, it has since earned a cult following and was passionately embraced right out of the gate by the people of Winnipeg, who still love it and even host regular "Phantompalooza" festivals! Here's Harper singing "Old Souls" at a recent event:
3. Re-Animator (1985). I first saw Stuart Gordon's manic classic at the drive-in when it was released unrated by Empire Pictures in 1985. A forerunner of today's "splatterpunk" genre, it's based on an H. P. Lovecraft story and is a hell of a lot of fun. Jeffrey Combs plays Herbert West, a student at Miskatonic University, who has invented a drug that brings the dead back to life. The drug has an unfortunate side-effect, though: the newly-reanimated are angry, violent and really strong. Chock-full of extreme gore, violence and nudity, this film is a trash hound's delight. Gordon has ventured several times into Lovecraft territory with admirable results in films such as "From Beyond," "Dagon" and "Castle Freak," but "Re-Animator" remains his masterpiece.
4. Return of the Living Dead (1985). If you're reading this blog, you already know the plot to the greatest punk zombie film ever made. When two workers at a medical supply house accidentally break open a mysterious government canister containing the "tar man," a slimy-looking corpse, a noxious gas is released that causes all the bodies in the nearby graveyard to get up and go on a hunt for human brains. Highlights include the aforementioned tar man, scream queen Linnea Quigley's naked dance atop a mausoleum and the zombies using the police radio after they've devoured the emergency rescue crew to order more paramedics! Even the soundtrack to this film is exceptional, with great songs as "Partytime," "Surfin' Dead" and "Burn the Flames."
1985 was a busy year for horror, as it also included Tom Holland's excellent vampire spoof "Fright Night" as well as George Romero's "Dead" sequel, "Day of the Dead," but it also brought us Tobe Hooper's terrible space vampire epic "Lifeforce"; "Once Bitten," another dreadful vampire spoof with the dreadful Jim Carrey; and the bizarrely homoerotic sequel to "A Nightmare on Elm Street," "Freddy's Revenge."



For the most part, though, comedy in horror is tricky business. Too much and you can slip into cheesiness; too little and your audience will say, "Why are they trying to be funny?" Thanks to Mr. Raimi for reminding us this year that he's still got it.
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