I'm pretty sure this is the world's first and only combo Rent/Drag Me to Hell review post. And really, even one is probably too many. But this is how I spent my weekend.
I guess there's really not much left to say about Rent at this point. The review I read in the Post mentioned that there are good Rent tours and bad Rent tours, and that this was one of the good ones, but I doubt I would have been able to tell the difference. I enjoyed it. I saw the movie a few years ago and really liked it, and when the production came through D.C. last time, I thought about going, but didn't. Which turned out for the best, as that production didn't have two of the original cast members, and this one did. (The movie is structured as much more of an ensemble, but with the play, Mark is clearly the main character, so it was nice to get to see Anthony Rapp playing the part.)
All things being equal, I liked the movie better. I can see why so many Rent-heads (more on them in a moment) feel the opposite, and I might agree with them if I'd seen the play before the movie. But overall, I thought the film was able to tell the story better.
As for the Rent-heads...geez. I know they're a passionate bunch, but still. Hanging out inside the Warner Theater before the show and listening to the buzz of the people around, I wasn't sure if I was attending a traveling production of a Broadway musical, or the Second Coming of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Himself. I also found it a bit annoying the two or three times that the audience went wild before something happened on stage, simply out of anticipation.
So I guess the moral is, if you're going to see Rent for the first time, try not to go with or sit near any Rent-heads. Or failing that, slip a Valium into their drink beforehand, so they're nice and docile and not prone to over excitement.
Spoilers follow...
What a great fucking horror film.
For years, horror geeks have either A) Turned their noses up at PG-13 horror films, or B) Gone to them, but held them to a much lower standard. Assuming you read a fair amount of horror movie reviews, how many times have you come across a statement like, "For a PG-13 horror film, it wasn't bad"?
Well, Sam Raimi has officially put an end to that crap. It turns out that it is possible to make a not just good PG-13 horror film, but a great one. Sure, you're limited in terms of gore, and you can only say "fuck" once. But you're still perfectly able to cram in as many frights and jumps as possible, and this, Raimi does really well.
What's really interesting is that for most of the first 2/3 of the movie, it's almost impossible to even tell it's a Raimi film. There's the Evil Dead-esque fight between Christine and the gypsy in the parking garage, and that's about it. But then, during the seance, when the goat starts talking, and the possessed guy starts floating around, it's like Raimi decided to totally cut loose. I'm glad he showed the restraint, because as fun as Raimi's trademark goofiness is, it would have been a bit difficult to take the whole time.
(Speaking of the seance, that was really the only plot hole I could find, but it sort of annoys me: the psychic lady waited 40 years for another crack at killing the Lamia, and when she finally gets it, she charges Christine $10,000? How does that make sense?)
And that ending. Wow. I mean, just stop and think about it for a moment. There have been plenty of horror movies where the good guy loses. But "loses" generally means gets killed. Or driven insane, or framed and arrested for any murders that might have taken place, or something along those lines.
On the other hand, here, Christine ends up getting dragged to hell, where her soul will burn for all eternity. Even with as many horror films as I've seen, that kind of creeps me the fuck out.
If there's a sequel made somewhere down the road, it better not involve Justin Long figuring out a way to save her. Honestly, I just like the idea of her burning. Once I realized what was going on with the envelopes and what was probably going to happen to her, I thought for sure they were going to come up with some way to make the audience hate her, such as by having her try to convince her boyfriend to take the button in a moment of desperation before the demons came for her. Just so it wouldn't feel quite so bad when she was killed, and people could leave the theater figuring that she deserved what she got.
But to its credit, the film never compromised on that, and as a result, nice, sweet, beautiful, Christine, who only wanted to stay thin and get a promotion at work and earn the approval of her boyfriend's parents, is now burning in hell for all time. Harsh.
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