Very entertaining at times, but I felt more could have been done here

Rating: 5/10 (10 November 2019)

When Loan Officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) refuses to grant an extension on an old lady's mortgage repayments which results in her house being repossessed she decides to get revenge against Christine by putting a supernatural curse on her. Feeling that something is not quite right, Christine gets a reading from a fortune teller who informs her that a curse has been placed upon her and that she only has a matter of days before she will effectively be sent to Hell. Upon learning this, Christine asks the fortune teller to assist in ridding her of this curse, but will they be able to do this in time?
In many ways Drag Me To Hell is a good film and I can see why it has proven popular with a lot of people; Raimi generally ensures that the film is a pacey affair and it's very rare that we see moments where something isn't happening to set the pulse racing or to keep your eyes glued to the screen. This is particularly evident at the start and end of the film, but there are also moments dotted throughout the middle section of the film showing Christine's increasingly erratic behaviour that ensure the film does not sit still long enough to ever become boring. However...
The problem I had with Drag Me To Hell is that I felt that not enough was really done with the concept; if you compare this film to a film like Thinner (another film where someone is cursed by a gypsy) there is considerably more narrative progression in Thinner in that you can physically see the effects of the curse on the individual and due to the alarming way that the protagonist lost weight I found Thinner to be satisfying from a narrative perspective. In Drag Me To Hell however, it just doesn't have the same feel to it; Christine's behaviour is affected and she starts to have strange visions, but shouldn't a curse have some physical repercussions on its victim? It just doesn't happen here and it's disappointing that the overall narrative is so threadbare; Raimi has clearly gone for shock and entertainment over a decent story which I'm sure will work for a lot of folks. For me though because I found the story to be a little weak it did mean that the film dragged at times; thankfully Raimi doesn't allow this to happen too often which is why the film isn't getting a lower score.
Although Drag Me To Hell is quite entertaining, the film is guilty of overdoing things at times with some scenes coming across as more silly than scary (the scene where they conjure up the Lamia being one such example). There is one scene where Clay invites Christine to meet his stuck-up parents which felt unnecessary and added nothing to the film.
Clearly Raimi has gone for entertainment and some OTT special effects over a well-crafted and intriguing story so if you're happy with the former elements then go right ahead as you will certainly enjoy this film. However, if you're expecting to see a terrifying film with a strong and compelling story then you may find yourself a little disappointed.