PaperbackReader.com

First, a re-introduction.

My name is Derek M. Koch, and I am a horror movie fan. I'm also a comic book fan, and from 2007-2009, I wrote Derek's Open Letter, a near-bi-weekly column here at Paperback Reader. For the most part, Derek's Open Letter addressed various personalities, or in some cases, anthropomorphized issues in the comic book industry and genre, with open questions, editorial comments and reviews concerning the industry.

In a few installments of Derek's Open Letter, I danced around the horror genre. As much as I like horror movies, though, I'm not a huge fan of most horror comics. I like comics with a darker edge - the Green Lantern Blackest Night event is hitting ALL the right buttons with me right now - and there are a few monster-themed books that I enjoy on a regular basis (and I keep hoping Boneyard will return!).

But there's something about horror MOVIES that thrill me in a way that horror COMICS don't, and ultimately, I think the biggest reason for this is one of the reasons I love comic books in the first place. With a comic book, ANYTHING can happen. Anything the writer can write and the artists can create can, and will, happen on the page.

Horror movies for me, though, are about something deviating from the norm. Something dangerous happens, and it's scary because it's so unexpected. The only rules you're playing by now are the silver-bullets-kill-werewolves-headshots-kill-zombies-slashers-come-back-from-the-dead-style rules, and even these rules don't always hold true every time.

Add to this that someone - a special make-up effects artist, a director, an actor or actress - typically has to do something out of the norm to create the horrorific moments, and I just can't wrap that part of my brain around a horror comic because in a comic, there are no boundaries like a special make-up effects budget, the caliber of acting in the movie's talent or the kind of camera the cinematographer had to use.

This all said, one of my favorite books is The Walking Dead. Go figure.

Despite these differences, I still see commonalities between comics and horror movies. There's still a definitive suspension of disbelief asked for, if not demanded by, the storytellers. I do like a touch of fantasy in my horror movies, which means I don't normally thrill to movies based on serial killers, etc. - I like to have an edge of something a bit more fantastic or supernatural in my horror media, which is also what I typically enjoy about most of my favorite comic books. Both the comics and the horror movies I enjoy tweak reality just a bit.

Oh, and then there's Sam Raimi.

Sam Raimi made his mark with The Evil Dead, a 1981 horror movie many call a classic (I would be one of the many), and he's gone on to direct a few more horror movies, but he's also made it clear in interviews and in intention that he's also got a love for comic books. Darkman was his take on the superhero film years before he spearheaded the Spider-Man film franchise. Fans of The Evil Dead films - and I was one of them - long knew that one of the reasons Raimi made a horror movie as his first feature length effort is because he knew it be an easier sell. Raimi's background and previous loves include comic books and the Three Stooges. If one thinks about it too long, one might start to think that Raimi used the horror genre to get to where he wanted to be.

If he continued to make movies like The Evil Dead, there wouldn't be anything wrong with that (as long as they weren't too similar - keep reading). But he grew, he evolved, he directed a movie starring Kevin Costner, and he settled into Spider-Man.

And then made Drag Me to Hell, and the horror fans rejoiced. A lot of them . . . okay, a lot of US . . . had our hopes up. A PG-13 rating? No problem. It's Sam Raimi. He's coming back to horror. He's making a movie for us. After WE made HIM, he's giving us something back.

I saw Drag Me to Hell opening weekend with a group. Admittedly, there was a thrill to seeing it on the big screen, and there were parts I found myself enjoying, but something just didn't sit right with me. After the movie, we grabbed a bite to eat, and we found ourselves talking about several things, none of which were Drag Me to Hell. As we left the theater, brief comments were made about Sam Raimi doing what he does best, but by the time we hit the parking lot, we were done and ready to move on.

I watched the Internet and listened to the podcasts the following weeks, and I was surprised by the response. There were a few folks who didn't buy what Raimi was selling, but overall, Drag Me to Hell was being praised, lauded for what it was.

But what it was was just a retread of the Evil Dead franchise, and while there's something to be said for the comforts of what's familiar, I still struggle with being overly thrilled by Drag Me to Hell. The performances didn't shine for me. The story construction was the most basic. The ending was telegraphed a good two-thirds into the movie. The Raimi-isms that had started to fade away since the man took over the Spider-Man films were on full display here, although I suspect it was harder to mount the larger, more expensive camera on a few planks of wood and ram it toward the lead actor/actress.

I wanted more. I wanted a horror movie that spoke to me as someone who watched The Evil Dead and its sequels in the 80s and early 90s, and had grown even more as a horror movie fan since watching Army of Darkness twice during its original theatrical run. I can't say I'm the first to call Drag Me to Hell a "Greatest Hits" Album of All-Things Raimi, but I can say that I don't buy a "Greatest Hits" album if I already own all the previous records.

The movie isn't completely without merit. Raimi shows that he remembers how to construct images that us horror fans enjoy, or at least he went back and rewatched all his previous films before starting to lens Drag Me to Hell. KNB EFX demonstrates that they've grown since they first worked with Raimi in the 80s. Christopher Young's score is fantastically fun and full of all the jump scares, mood and themes that a horror movie needs.

But the script? The performances? The editing, pacing, production? We'd seen it all before, and in the end, Drag Me to Hell is going to end up as a footnote in the career of Sam Raimi. I once cited Sam Raimi as one of my favorite horror directors, but over the years, I've found myself drifting. I still look back at The Evil Dead as a great horror movie, but knowing that Raimi and company chose a horror movie as their first movie somehow makes it feel a bit mercenary.

And lately, I just feel used, almost as if Raimi used the horror audience to establish himself as a director, and then quickly tried to jump ship from this audience as fast as he could. Between Evil Dead films, he made movies that may have elements of the fantastic within them, like Darkman, but when these movies didn't catch on, he went back to horror movies because we, the horror movie fans, would support him and continue to build him up until he was able to launch the "Hercules" television series or land that gig directing Kevin Costner.

What were his motivations behind Drag Me to Hell? I can't definitively say, but I can't help but feel like he's not genuinely interested in the horror movie audience. He used us again with Drag Me to Hell, and MAYBE he wanted to/needed to prove that he could direct something other than Spider-Man flicks in order to land the upcoming Warcraft movie. Whatever the reason, it doesn't feel genuine to me, and I certainly don't think we, the horror movie audience, should reward him with nominations for the Scream Awards (airing in October) or the Teen Choice Awards (the Friday the 13th remake beat Drag Me to Hell in its category).

There's talk of a remake of The Evil Dead in the future, and Raimi's attached to it. Is he trying to reestablish some horror cred so this will be an easier sell?

Just as I stopped buying every new edition DVD of Army of Darkness, I've stopped buying Raimi's horror effort. I still enjoy (the original) The Evil Dead and its follow-ups to a lesser extent, but at this point, there are other horror directors that deserve my attention and support, instead of demanding and expecting it.

(Special thanks to Robert R. Best who helped come up with the name of this column. Robert R. Best as an author whose work can be found at http://www.robertrbest.com/.)