Drag Me To Hell Opening Analysis ☮ ☮ ☮

                                             
"Drag me to hell"(2009) focusing on a woman named Christine, who gets cursed by an old woman when refusing to give her help with a loan for her house, making an evil spirit haunt Christine and will, after three days of haunting, drag Christine to hell.

The opening establishing shot is of a bleak, brown coloured mansion, behind the sky is also a bleak grey, with the trees in the back ground a dark green, overall the initial colour scheme in the first shot portrays a dark and mysterious theme, making the audience sceptical of what they are going to see. The audio heard is what I would describe as a creepy light tune ,it's not a sharp noted song  but it gives an eery effect and makes the audience feel on edge as to what direction the film is going to take. As the Camera pans downwards from a high angled shot, we see in the bottom right hand corner that the scene is being set in Pasadena, California in 1969, due to the past setting it makes the audience feel that this is an important event that will give us key information for the film.

We then see a rusted blue pick-up truck pull up suddenly outside the mansion, making the truck stand out as the other two cars outside the mansion look rather expensive, making the audience wonder why the truck ,which wouldn't be linked to wealth, be outside the wealthy looking estate, And due to the sudden holt of the truck makes the audience feel that something has gone wrong and the people/person in the truck appears to be in a hurry.

The camera then cuts to a medium shot of the back of the truck where a women is surrounded by wooden boxes and various other inexpensive objects, she appears to be concealing something/someone in a blanket, causing further curiosity within the audience. The woman is wearing brown unfashionable clothing further suggesting a lack of wealth, She throws off a blanket that was presumably hiding her, where a man wearing denim, quickly helps her down as she runs erratically up the stairs and bangs on the door asking in a foreign language for a woman inside. this further insinuates that there is trouble occurring. As the woman who was being beckoned out of her house approaches, we see she is wearing a purple top and silver jewellery, due to her brightly coloured top it puts her in a significant position as the character that could help the boy.

We see an over the shoulder shot showing the revealed father and mother holding what was in the blanket, their son, who is sweating heavily and due to him not being able to walk gives the impression that he is weak and is in harms way. The Mother says that "He's hearing voices", which sets the theme of a ghost,demon or paranormal effect ,rather than a slasher film, which is more realistic. The woman is shown at the top of the steps in a low angled shot, giving the audience the impression that she is in control/ has the power in this situation.

The mother says that the son stole a necklace from a gypsy wagon, As she draws the necklace out we see a close up shot of the tarnished silver and a fly that was trapped with it "buzz" out and fly into the woman face as she bats it away. The fly gives the impression that the necklace is perhaps cursed or dangerous as the fly is heard loud and clearly and seems to shock the woman and seems distressed and fearful. Once the woman sees the necklace she immediately asks for the boy to be brought inside, showing the audience that perhaps the boy is possessed due to him hearing voices.

The camera then cuts to a close up of the boy shaking and sweaty in his blanket, looking upwards , This shot is effective as it shows the fear in the boys face, We see that the boy is looking up at a yellow dirty flower patterned window, which shows multiple clawed, unnatural hands shadowing closer inwards and crowding the window, giving the audience the impression that something bad is going to happen, making them anticipate the thrill. The parent's hands are then seen caressing the boys head and hands, comforting him. The room is decorated rather darkly with random objets that the audience probably will not recognise, setting a mysterious and anticipating mood. The purple shirted woman then appears, whilst chanting holding an object in both hands, suggesting to the audience that the woman is holding out an exorcism or some sort of ritual that will stop the boy hearing voices and get rid of this presumed haunted spirit.

Almost immediately as the woman starts the exorcism/ritual, the doors behind her fly open with a sudden loud bang, with the curtains on them rapidly waving, and a bright blue light projected into the room and a loud roar like sound, Making the audience jump due to the fast change of colour and noise levels, This also shows a paranormal theme due to the supposed doors opening by themselves.The woman performing the ritual is seen to fall, where the mother appears to have been slapped by an invisible spirit due to the slapping sound effect, the father also is seen to be beaten up by an unseen figure, confirming the theme of paranormal and demons.

The camera is shown on a dutch angle as the boy runs away into the hall just in front of the balcony of the stairs, this gives off a disorientated appearance and rushed effect due to the suddenness of the change of tension. The camera pans into the boys face as he screams showing the full fear and not being able to see the demon/spirit. We then see a low angled shot showing the young boy falling downwards off the balcony, then panning into a birds-eye view of him sprawled, unconscious on the floor. This is effective as it shows the drastic height of the fall, making the audience wonder whether boy is dead or not. Following this we see another low angled shot of the balcony with the three adults looking over the balcony in hysterics, with wind blowing their hair around showing a rapid pace and that the spirit is still there.

The opening then closes with a high angled shot of the floor to which the boy is on ,starts to crack around him revealing an orange bright fire effect, with the boy scrambling around not knowing which way to go , the floor drastically lowers and we hear a loud sharp noted song, with fire and smoke appearing, suddenly a black clawed hand like the shadow we saw at the beginning of the exorcism, reaches directly at the camera at a high angled shot, giving the effect that the hand is making a grab at the audience also making them jump, the hand grabs the boy and as he screams the camera pans up the wall behind him revealing his shadow ,due to the bright fire in front of him, reaching upwards and trying desperately to get away, the sparks of fire follow also until we see the women who attempted the ritual looking down in horror and eventually the camera stops in a medium shot where the boys shadow of his hand is met onto the woman face.

This is effective as it shows the woman is horrified by watch she is seeing but is so scared she cannot move, making the audience sympathise for her. As the boys hand is seen to completely disappear beneath the floor, the audience gathers from the fire and demon that the boy has been dragged to hell.


We then see a close up of the woman's almost tired looking drowned out face weakly say that she will meet the demon again one day, giving the effect that the woman is going to destroy the monster/demon making the audience go onto the woman's side, the screen suddenly goes to black with a sharp and loud musical note with the credit of "Drag Me To Hell" left on the screen.