Drag Me to the Next Screening

Rating: 9/10 (24 July 2009)

It is about bloody time Sam Raimi returned to what he does best: insanely awesome, scary, tense, funny, gross horror!! Ever since I first saw and fell in love with The Evil Dead three years ago I knew Raimi was a master at scaring people one minute and making them laugh the very next. Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness only proved my theory further. But after Army of Darkness there was a long break from horror, which was not a bad thing, as he made some excellent movies in this time (The Quick and the Dead, A Simple Plan and Spiderman 2). So, after 17 years he has returned with Drag Me to Hell, a terrific comeback and one of the best (and the most original) horror movies since 2000. What makes this film so good is that Raimi knows what he is doing, what he wants and who he is making this for. As he said in an interview I recently saw, he does not make these movies for art snobs, but for the horror crowd of which he says are the most welcoming of audiences. Everything from his flawless direction, the fast pace, a strong story as written by the Raimi brothers and a solid cast combine to make this a movie worth seeing more than once! Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is a loan officer gunning for the assistant manager position, but has to compete with the new guy, Stu Rubin, for it. Her boss mentions that he is not afraid to make the tough decisions, and that she should think about that while working. Unfortunately for her, the tough decision she makes involves Sylvia Ganush (Lorna Raver) and this does not end well for her when Mrs. Ganush places the Lamia curse on her. This curse will lead her into hell if she can't find a way to get rid of it, and it does not help her boyfriend Clay Dalton (Justin Long) is skeptical.
What follows is a non-stop, freaky, funny, disgusting roller-coaster ride that leads to an astonishing ending. Lohman does not get a rest as she is thrown around like a rag doll, berated, vomited on and has various body fluids spray onto her and into her mouth. All this is completely over the top, and is incredibly funny, however, Raimi does manage to pack some genuine scares. He knows how to seriously ratchet up the horror, and he knows how to work the camera to his advantage (much like he did in The Evil Dead).
Alison Lohman does a fine job of portraying Christine and the character arc that she goes through. Lohman is able to bring the charm and diversity to the part, she sure can scream! Justin Long is good as usual and manages to keep his role interesting rather than clichéd, had it not been handled correctly. Lorna Raver is just plain amazing as the villain of the piece, she is just so frightening and really, kudos should go to her for her hard work. Also, Dileep Rao (as Rham Jas, the Medium) is convincing in his supporting, but important, role.
Drag Me to Hell is a complete success, a fantastic movie that encompasses everything that makes horror great fun! The audience I saw it with had a great time, with scream, laughs and groans of disgust resounding throughout! 4½/5