DRAG ME TO HELL is fun (if you like DEAD ALIVE, this is for you)

Rating: Null/10 (28 November 2011)

In this day and age - as the level of violence, horror, etc., is ramped up to the point just shy of being reality, it is such a pleasure to see someone, as Sam Raimi, make a film that is so outright deleterious, in it's supposed horror.
I loved Alison Lohan since I first saw her in MATCHSTICK MEN (which I saw because I love con artists, and Sam Rockwell, and Nicholas Cage - not necessarily in that order. But I digress), so, when I saw her name in the credits, I was pleasantly surprised, because, I think Ms. Lohan is a smart actress when it comes to choosing her roles, her directors. She's smart enough to try and try a little bit of everything, and, to work with people who she can gain insight from.
I, personally, think she's made a wise choice, here.
DRAG ME TO HELL starts with Christine Brown (Lohan) - a bank employee up for possible promotion, seeing that some snarky guy who she's up against - do everything possible to get the job. Christine's day only gets worse, when she goes over to her boyfriend's office (Long), and overhears his mother calling her a 'farm girl,' and, not someone he should seriously consider a relationship with.
When Christine gets back to work, Ms. Ganush comes into the bank, and, begs Christine not to let the bank foreclose on her home - that day.
To try and show her boss that she is worth the promotion, Christine tells Ms. Ganush 'sorry,' but, there's nothing she can do.
Ms. Ganush puts a hex on our sweet heroine, and, off to an over-the-top world of 'horror' we go.
I loved Lorna Raver, the actress who plays the Ms. Ganush to such scene chewing 'ooziness,' it was a pleasure to watch. An icky pleasure, but, a pleasure), an old woman, who's just such a stereotypically icky old, creepy person, you know this movie is for those of us who laugh, when we're on a roller-coaster
Justin Long (no comment!) plays the love interest.
DRAG ME TO HELL is not to be taken seriously. In that sense, it's similar to DEAD ALIVE, by a young (and, largely unknown in the states) Peter Jackson, where gore, body parts, and blood where flowing everywhere - but, you couldn't stop laughing.
While not as ridiculous as that classic, Sam Raimi makes a film that definitely pleases.