Drag Me To Hell

Rating: 8/10 (17 October 2009)

Sam, you are so mean. Poor Christine(Alison Lohman, who is such a sweetheart, a poor girl with a run of bad luck) is run through the spiritual ringer for about 100 minutes attempting to fight off the gypsy curse summoning a goat demon, Lamia, to take her to hell. Lorna Raver is certain to be remembered by horror fans for many years to come for her creepy gypsy, Mrs. Ganush, sure is made up as ghoulish and ugly as possible, the perfect kind of grotesque creation only to be found in a Sam Raimi horror outing. Christine decides that if she is to get a vacant assistant manager position in her bank, she'll need to be tougher, and Ganush, of all people, is the one that turns up at her desk, pleading for a third extension, and to deny her could be the break she needs. It's unfortunate that the example to be made of would be a powerful gypsy with the ability to unleash an evil curse on you, but that is the kind of Sam Raimi foil Christine is.
An accursed object, a button removed from Christine's coat, must be passed to another as a gift in order to relinquish the goat demon spell. She attempts, through help of a "seer", Rham Jas(Dileep Rao), to get rid of the demon through a sacrifice(..her cat!)and séance with Shaun San Dena(Adriana Barraza), a reputed spiritualist who once faced the demon, as it possessed a boy who stole from a gypsy, and lost. The circumstances continue to pile up. Christine attempts to broker a deal with Ganush, but discovers she's dead. The coveted position she so desired is potentially going to her rival, Stu(Reggie Lee), who stole her account attempting to sell it to another bank. And, her first meeting with the wealthy parents of psych professor boyfriend Clay(Justin Long)doesn't go well thanks to the bothersome antics of the curse. A pesky fly, blood gushing from her nose and mouth, a powerful wind that continues to dishevel rooms in her house, and the goat demon smacking her across the chops and lifting her off the floor hurling her in the air like a rag doll, not to mention high frequency noise that pierces her ears(..and the constant presence of shadowy spooks which show up to wreak havoc), poor Christine is having quite a rough three days. And, the horrifying knowledge that the Lamia will come to take her to hell to spend eternity in torment isn't exactly a comforting thought either.
Boy, does Sam Raimi make a vocal return to the genre that made him a star. Using CGI and some ghastly make-up effects, Raimi pulls out all the stops and puts his heroine through one nightmarish scenario after another. And, even when you believe the poor girl might finally be rid of the terrors that plague her, he gets all mean-spirited again, unleashing more on her. Plenty of gross-out gags, including the scene where Christine bleeds all over her boss, a fly goes up her nose, and the corpse of Ganush falls on top of her, spilling embalming fluid all over her! Lohman is very much the female equivalent of Bruce Campbell, except the evil isn't confined to one general area, like the cabin and it's surrounding wilderness, but instead follows the girl wherever she goes. Welcome back, Sam, we missed you..and don't stay gone for 16 years next time! The ending, I must admit, left me quite disturbed. PG-13 rating is pushed to the brink, that's for sure.