A tale from the crypt? Or a look at a human being's uncertainty and greedy winnings?

Rating: 8/10 (13 June 2009)

Sam Raimi's 'Evil Dead' trilogy will forever stand as among the most refreshing and original chapters in the horror film genre. Jumping the boat to create the enormously popular 'Spider-Man' trilogy he now returns 29 years after the first 'Evil Dead' and creates a wonderfully slick feature and rebirths the genre once again. As mentioned by others on the message boards and in the comment section, we're in a time where horror films are mostly Japanese remakes (that originally has got underlying scares that the American everyday film viewer don't actually sense) and franchises whose torture and gushing blood whose spirit almost leans toward the sadistic and pornographic. 'Drag Me to Hell' is Sam Raimi at his best, upping the pace from his earlier features to create an intense 96 minutes of sarcastic humor, nerve-snapping scares and an emotional core of greed, self-loathing and spirits of the dark. Alison Lohman takes on this solo-ride like Bruce Campbell did in the 'Evil Dead' films and faces Lorna Raver who brilliantly plays out the disgusting and frightening Mrs. Ganush and makes her one of the most memorable horror villains in quite a while. We've got a few minor characters worth mentioning, with Justin Long as the earnest boyfriend, and Dileep Rao as helpful (or?) fortune-teller that becomes surprisingly important elements in such, at first glans, straightforward horror film. Though some have criticized Raimi for using CGI to cover some happenings as if he's departed his low-budget, B-film spirit of the 80ties, I think the CGI-effects weren't overused and they felt like a fine addition to such a splendidly wild story. This is easily one of my strongest recommendations of 2009.