"Here, Kitty, Kitty...."

Rating: 9/10 (5 October 2010)

Many of us have muttered the words "Go to hell" in anger, but none of us have done so with 1/1,000 the power and effectiveness of Sylvia Ganush, in Sam Riami's 2009 horror thriller "Drag Me To Hell." A slobbering, denture-wearing Hungarian gypsy, Sylvia, when we first meet her, has just been turned down for an extension on her mortgage by a pretty blonde loan officer, Christine Brown, and thus faces eviction from her L.A. home. After a remarkable brawl between the two in an underground garage, Sylvia puts the curse of the Lamia on Christine, and soon, this female goat demon begins to afflict Christine's life with three days of unimaginable torments, preparatory to pulling her soul down to you know where. And once these torments begin, virtually anything can--and DOES--happen, in this wildly entertaining shocker. Raimi, having taken a decade-plus break to do his Spider-Man trilogy and various other projects, here returns to his horror roots in a bravura manner, and fans of his "Evil Dead" series will rejoice to witness the return of the gross-out splatter FX that were a hallmark of those films. Wanna see an old crone vomit maggots into a young girl's mouth? A stapler delivered to the face? Geyser nosebleeds, bursting eyeballs? Well, then, here is the film for you! The picture has nary a dull moment, and practically stealing the show is Alison Lohman, giving a sweet, sexy and ingratiating performance as Christine. Lorna Raver, playing Sylvia, is truly frightening, and Justin Long, portraying Christine's incredulous yet faithful boyfriend, is also quite good. The picture seems to tip its hat in homage toward Jacques Tourneur's 1958 masterpiece "Curse of the Demon" toward the end, but even this homage doesn't prepare us for the film's shocking conclusion. Indeed, the final shot of Christine's face is one that few viewers will soon forget. No pun intended, but this really is one helluva movie. Welcome back, Sam! We missed you!