By Bill Bonfanti

After a decade spent filming the Spider-Man trilogy, director Sam Raimi returns to his Evil Dead horror roots with Drag Me to Hell, a terrifying movie that is no doubt the scariest film I’ve seen in ages. Raimi has created a horror film with too many to count jump out of your seat moments along with multiple gross out moments that will make you want to go home and take a shower. In fact, I jumped out of my seat more times during Hell than I have during the last 10 fright flicks I’ve seen combined.

Sam Raimi is a visionary filmmaker with a very unique visual style and it is never more apparent than when he sets his aim on the horror genre. He brings a visual splendor to gore like no one else and Drag Me to Hell is no exception; Raimi’s stamp is all over this film. Seriously, if I wandered into a screening of Drag with no knowledge of what it was, it would take me exactly 2 minutes to know it was a Raimi film. The screenplay, written with brother, Ivan Raimi, is a roller-coaster ride of thrills and chills that twists and turns from the very first scene to the last. The set-up is simple, Christine, a bank employee, is cursed by an old gypsy crone for not extending her a bank loan and inadvertently shaming her in the process. The curse calls upon an ancient demon that will drag Christine into the fiery depths of hell for all eternity and she has but 3 days to stop it before the curse can fully take hold. During the 3 days she is tormented by the demon and the spirit of the old gypsy. Let me say that the gypsy, played by Lorna Raver, is perhaps the scariest villain ever put on screen. She is vile, disgusting, mean and freakishly strong. Any scene that she is in will make you want to crawl into bed and pull the covers over your head. Thanks to the brothers Raimi, I am now officially freaked out by old women and may have to visit a therapist. Truly, I might never be able to kiss my grandmother hello again.

Alison Lohman, best known for Beowulf and Things We Lost in the Fire, does a fine job as Christine, ably going from timid bank employee to feisty heroine fighting for her soul. She actually reminds me very much of Kirsten Dunst which makes me wonder why Raimi didn’t just cast his lead Spider-Man actress to begin with. Justin Long plays her boyfriend, Clay, displaying great care and affection for Christine even though he truly doesn’t believe what is happening to her. In essence Long is perfect as the perfect boyfriend. However, the film really belongs to Lorna Raver who is truly terrifying as the evil, old gypsy. Her performance will scare the hell out of you.

To sum it up, Drag Me to Hell is a nail-biting, arm rest gripping, cringe worthy fright fest that will scare the living daylights out of you; and you will enjoy every second of it.

Bill Bonfanti is FilmGo.net’s movie critic and Box office analysis. http://www.filmgo.net Every week you will find new reviews and box office predictions for the current crop of films in the theater.

By Wendy Pan

It is bizarre but many people from all over the world truly believe that the Texas chainsaw Massacre happened in real life. In actuality it is an urban legend. The truth about Texas Chainsaw Massacre is that is was inspired by not based on the real life story.

“The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” is an independent low-budget horror movie which was filmed in 1974. Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel wrote, directed, and produced the film which starred Marilyn Burns, Gunnar Hansen, Teri McMinn, William Vail, Edwin Neal, and Paul A. Partain. The plot is very simple. A group of friends go on a back roads road trip in Texas and become detoured and become tragic victims to a family of sadistic cannibals which includes the infamous chainsaw-wielding maniac “Leatherface.”

Tobe used the story of real-life murderer Ed Gein to create the “Leatherface” character. Ed Gein also inspired many other fictional stories and movies including Halloween, Psycho, Silence of the Lambs and the movie Ed Gein.

Ed Gein was from Wisconsin and is suspected of several murders which took place between 1954 and 1957. He never used a chainsaw in the killing of his victims. He murdered two women by shooting them. He later beheaded his victims and gutted them like a hunter would gut a deer and used some of their body parts as clothing and for furniture and created masks from the skin of his victims.

The truth about Texas chainsaw Massacre is that one of the similarities to the movie and the real Ed Gein is the house. As in real life the house in the film contained similar horrific content to that found in Ed Gein’s home such as body parts, skulls, bodies hanging from a meat hook and a vest made from human skin. The police even found a human heart cooking on the stove in Gein’s house which suggests he engaged in cannibalism much like the characters in the movie.

Like the character “Leatherface” Gein was suspected in many murders. Gein was only convicted of two murders despite a mountain of evidence gathered from his house. Eventually Ed Gein put in a mental institution where he died of heart failure in 1984. It was later discovered that Gein was severely damaged by a very strict and religious upbringing by his extremely domineering and controlling mother.

The truth about Texas Chain Saw Massacre can be found online at various websites, from DVD’s, in books and from some of the actors in the movie and from writer/director Tobe Hopper himself who continues to tell people that his movie came from his imagination and is a work of fiction. Still there continues to be doubters who swear the movie is based on a true story.

“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” is often said to be one of the greatest horror films of all time and has been the influence for many horror films and it appears its truth and fiction will continue to be disputed by people from all over the world.

Wendy Pan is an accomplished niche website developer and author. To learn more about truth about texas chainsaw massacre [http://chainsawsandsafety.info/truth-about-texas-chainsaw-massacre-what-really-happened], please visit Chainsaws and Safety [http://chainsawsandsafety.info] for current articles and discussions.

By Sidney Shannon

The movie Hatchet, written and directed by Adam Green and set in Louisiana’s bayou (during Mardi Gras) is about a GROTESQUE LOOKING homicidal maniac named Victor Crowley, portrayed by Kane Hodder (Friday the 13th) who goes on a killing spree for reasons I thought, from a story development standpoint were implausible. After all we’re talking Hollywood here, so who needs a reason (a plausible one that is, or at least one that we the audience is willing to accept as plausible) to rip a man’s spine from his body while he lies on his stomach screaming in agony?

Not a bad way to start a movie though. Evidently, that’s what Adam Green thought. As our story begins a man and his father are in a fishing boat in what looked like a secluded area when the man stands up and begins relieving himself into the water. His father, played by the great Robert Englund takes issue with his son’s sudden “call to nature”. The son then asks if they can pull the boat over so he could finish. Upon doing so the son goes off to finish “his business”, leaving his father alone.

He then returns to discover his father lying of the ground literally beside himself. The man had been SAVAGELY mutilated including decapitation. The son as you would imagine screams in absolute horror. The killer then appears, knocks the son to the ground and proceeds to FILLET him (tearing his spine from his body) after which he SEVERS the man’s lower body from his upper torso, using nothing but his bare hands, all while the man SCREAMS in absolute agony. My mouth literally was agape when I saw this.

When a horror movie begins with such a SAVAGE display of stomach churning HOMICIDAL MANIA, one thing is certain, each subsequent killing (if there is to be any more) must be worse than those previously shown and that is exactly what happens in this movie. So knowing this I on one hand, knew I was in for a hell of a ride. But on the other hand what I wasn’t able to gather from the opening was whether that ride would be a good one.

In my opinion, I would have to say that Hatchet is not very good movie. But honestly how many horror movies have that distinction? Adam Green does however try to give it his best shot, for one he chooses a great title for the movie, and a good location that together (for whatever its worth) make for a great movie poster. He then looks to firmly affix his leading character Victor Crowley in our collective consciousness in the same way some of the other horror movie icons have come to reside.

What I did however like about this movie was the director’s decision to cast three of the genre’s great actors in various roles, paying homage not only to the actors themselves, but also some of the roles to which they made famous. As we mentioned Kane Hodder plays the “GENETICALLY CHALLENGED” Victory Crowley. Tony Todd (of Candy Man fame) had a very small cameo appearance along with the aforementioned Robert Englund who consistently amazes me with the depth and breath of his acting ability.
And now for the reasons I didn’t care for this movie.

Even though Victor Crowley was said (in the movie) to be born severely disfigured he was way too ugly, at least for my taste. I know what you’re thinking. Where is it written that the killer in any movie, horror movie or otherwise should be pleasing to the eye? And you’re right. But have you seen this guy? He looks like a lab experiment gone wrong. If there was any truth to the saying “if looks could kill”, even in a horror flick where there is no shortage of killing (at least not in this one), one look from this guy would be all it would take.

One mistake (in judgment) I believe that the director made was his decision to include a specific character in the movie that we’ve all seen in many dramatic situations before, regardless of the type of movie. You know the character that has become a cliché? The character to which I make reference to in Hatchet is a female character that happens to be blond, and oh by the way is DUMB as dishwater, which is no exaggeration. Its no way you can watch this movie and not be absolutely dumbfounded by what comes out of this woman’s mouth.

I also didn’t care too much for any of the other central characters or their dialogue as well. One character played by Dione Richmond, apparently cast to provide a comedic element, was at times comical and at most irritating. Richmond clearly inserted, as the “token black”, in my opinion, was not needed in this movie.

If I were to compare Hatchet with some other horror movies that I’ve seen, I would have to give it an average rating. But as for you, if you like seeing BLOOD and when I say blood I mean COPIOUS amounts of it together with a heaping helping of T-N-A thrown in for good measure, and aren’t too terribly turned off at the sight of the occasional poor attempt by the director in portraying blood splatter that looked as if the blood was thrown up against a tree then this movie is for you.

Hatchet is without a doubt one of the most bloodiest “Slasher” films to date. And from what I hear the body bag count will only grow in the next installment.

Sidney R. Shannon, is a screenwriter, published author and the owner/creator of http://scarymoviemania.blogspot.com. If you would like to copy and distribute this article through out the internet you may do so as long as the content and its link remain untouched. Copyright 2007 All Rights Reserved.