Is The Script For Drag Me To Hell Terrible?

Is The Script For Drag Me To Hell Terrible? Since Drag Me To Hell was first announced late last year I was always sceptical about the quality of the script. What first set off warning signs was the fact that the script was written after Army Of Darkness in 1992 and that it went into production during the writers skrike. In my first post on the film I said:

“The script must be outstanding if it sat on a shelf for fifteen years and now can go into production without a rewrite (that was sarcasm, in case you missed it).”

However, I am always willing to give any film-maker the benefit of the doubt, but when Ellen Page dropped out due to “scheduling conflicts” I was sure that the script wasn’t up to snuff. In fact I said that I believed the reason Page quit the project was because she was unhappy with the script.

Now it would appear that my gut instinct was right. According to a script review from Latino Review the script is a dog, and a cliched dog at that!

The storyline of the film apparently goes like this:

Stephanie is a young twenty-something who works in a bank. Whist trying to gain a promotion she refuses to help an elderly lady named Mrs Ganush whose house is going to be seized by the bank. Later that evening Mrs Ganush attacks Stephanie and steals one of her buttons, using this button she puts a curse on Stephanie (and the button).

Stephanie then goes to a fortune-teller, who tells her about the curse. At first she doesn’t believe her, but when she is attacked by a mysterious spirit Stephanie soon realises that the the curse will have devastating affects on her career, her relationship and her pet (sharp intake of breath).

Latino Review says that the script has cliched dialogue and far too many jump moments that appear to have been shoe-horned into the film’s script because of the lack of tension. The reviewer comments that the script ” honestly reeks of amateur work.”

None of this really surprises me about this script. From the moment I first heard about the development of Drag Me To Hell it seemed to be a film that was being rushed into production so that the studio could have a film (probably for Halloween) and that Sam Raimi just wanted to make something post Spider-Man.

Maybe the script has gone through some rewrites, but considering that Page only dropped out a few weeks ago, I doubt much has changed.

It seems that Drag Me To Hell is the film to miss in the coming year. What happens to Sam Raimi’s career following the release of the film will be interesting. Will he return to Spider-Man? Or will he go on to ruin the Jack Ryan franchise for Paramount?

I’ll keep you posted on what the Hell goes on with this film, but if you are a Raimi fan you should probably just hope that Guillermo del Toro doesn’t make The Hobbit and that Raimi gets sloppy seconds on that film.

Source : Latino Review