Someone dragged me to see this film, and for the next 1 1/2 hour, I felt like I was in hell....

Rating: Null/10 (31 August 2009)

Evidently, many people liked this film. I think I know why. But before I talk about that, let me talk about why I didn't like it. Lorna Raver plays an old woman who is evicted from her house by a loan officer played by Alison Lohman. In an act of revenge, the old woman places a curse on the hapless loan officer that not only ensures a string of bad luck in the following days, but eventually promises to "drag her to hell." She tries to convince her boyfriend (played by Justin Long)--a college professor of psychology who seems to have a really crass undergraduate understanding of Freud--that something supernatural is afoot. Of course, the man of science rejects her suspicions, so she turns to an "eastern seer" (*groan*) played by Dileep Rao to try and lift the curse before it's too late.
From the moment that the old woman appeared in the film, I could tell the film would be bad. Lorna Raver's performance reproduces and combines the worst possible stereotypes about Gypsy/Romani people in North American culture. I didn't find it "offensive" (which at least would have been something...), I just found it stupid. This kind of "aiming for....but completely missed..." was characteristic of the entire film. Moments in the film meant to be funny or scary were neither—-they usually just ended up being dumb and blatantly obvious or predictable. Thus, the film should be properly categorized not as "fright comedy" but as "epic fail trash." Now, some people will scream "OMFG! But it's written and directed by Sam Raimi!" Yes, and? Isn't that the same guy who butchered The Grudge and The Grudge II? To them I say: If you like something that promises to be really formulaic, replete with well recycled cinema devices aimed to produce cheap thrills, believes the function of film is to perpetuate offensive racial stereotypes, and enjoy being told to laugh on cue like the studio audience on some 80's sitcom, then this might be the film for you.