Drag Me to Hell

Drag Me to Hell is a 2009 American supernatural horror film co-written and directed by Sam Raimi. The plot focuses on loan officer Christine Brown (played by Alison Lohman), who tries to impress her boss by refusing to extend a loan to a gypsy woman by the name of Mrs. Ganush (played by Lorna Raver). In retaliation, Ganush places a curse on Christine that, after three days of escalating torment, will drag her into the depths of Hell to burn for eternity.
==Plot==
In 1969, Pasadena, California, a couple seeks the aid of the medium Shaun San Dena, saying their son has been hearing evil spirits' voices after stealing a silver necklace from a “gypsy wagon”. San Dena aids the family by carrying out a seance, but they were attacked by an unseen force (revealed later to be Lamia) that pulls the boy into Hell. The medium says she will encounter the force again one day.
In present-day Los Angeles, bank loan officer Christine Brown hopes to be promoted to assistant manager over her co-worker Stu Rubin. Her boss, Jim Jacks, advises her to demonstrate that she can make tough decisions to get a promotion. Christine is visited by an elderly woman, Sylvia Ganush, who asks for a third extension on her mortgage payment. Despite knowing Ganush is on a fixed income, and that she suffers from medical ailments, Christine denies Ganush an extension to prove herself to her boss. Ganush begs Christine not to repossess her house and kneels in front of her. Christine becomes frightened of the woman's persistence, desperate pleading as she is helping her to stand up and calls security, who take Ganush away while Ganush blames Christine for "shaming" her and vows to take revenge. Jim compliments Christine on how she handled the situation, and embellishes his positive statements, alluding to a promotion.
When Christine leaves work and gets to the parking garage to drive home, Ganush, hiding in the backseat, attacks Christine in her car. Despite sustaining what should be fatal injuries, Ganush rips a button off Christine's coat and uses it to place a curse on Christine. Later, Christine and her boyfriend Clay Dalton meet fortune teller Rham Jas, who tells Christine that she is being haunted by a dark spirit, likely the result of a curse. At home, Christine is attacked by the entity and has repulsive nightmares about Ganush. At work the next day, after hallucinating flies buzzing in her stomach and Ganush’s hands in place of Stu’s, Christine snaps at Stu and has a projectile nose bleed that soaks her boss in blood. She runs out of the office, and in the occurring panic, Stu steals a file from Christine's desk.
Christine goes to talk to Ganush for forgiveness in efforts to lift the curse. Ganush’s granddaughter answers the door, skeptical of Christine’s remorse, and Christine finds that Ganush cannot lift the curse, seeing as Ganush has died, and her granddaughter was hosting the funeral/viewing for her in the basement.
Christine returns to Rham Jas, who explains that as long as Christine is the owner of an accursed object, she will be haunted by a powerful demon called the Lamia (loosely based on the Greek Lamia, a child eating demon), that will torment her for three days before taking her to Hell for eternity. He suggests a sacrifice to appease the demon. Desperate to stop the attacks, Christine reluctantly sacrifices her pet kitten. At a dinner party, she meets Clay’s parents for the first time. She is again tormented by the Lamia, plagued with grotesque hallucinations like bugs appearing in a cake she bought for the night, and auditory illusions which cause her to scream abruptly and frighten Clay and his parents.
Christine returns to Rham Jas who says that Shaun San Dena will risk her life to stop the demon for a fee of $10,000. San Dena prepares a seance to trap the Lamia's spirit in a goat and kill it, and then allows the Lamia to inhabit her body. Rham Jas tries to persuade it not to steal Christine's soul, but it vows never to stop until Christine dies. Christine then places San Dena's hand on the goat, causing the spirit to enter its body. San Dena's assistant, Milos, attempts to kill the goat, but is bitten by the goat and becomes possessed and attacks the members of the seance. San Dena banishes the Lamia from the seance, but dies in the process. Christine thinks the medium has overcome the Lamia, but Rham Jas explains that she only managed to drive the spirit away until the next day. Then, he seals the cursed button in an envelope and tells Christine that she can get rid of the curse by giving the button to someone as a gift, thereby passing the curse on to that person.
Christine decides to give the envelope to Stu in revenge for his stealing her work, but changes her mind after seeing how pathetic Stu is when he meets up with her. With guidance from Rham Jas, Christine learns that she can give it back to Ganush even though she is dead. Christine digs up Ganush's grave, and after struggling momentarily with the corpse, Christine “formally” gives back the button, and callously jams the envelope in Ganush’s mouth just in time before dawn, apparently ending the curse.
Christine returns home and prepares to meet Clay at Los Angeles Union Station for a weekend trip. She gets a message from her boss telling her that she landed her dream position after Stu confessed to stealing her work and was fired. At the station, Christine buys a coat that she has been wanting as a sign of a new beginning. Clay, planning to propose, reveals to Christine that he found the envelope containing the cursed button in his car; Christine then realizes she mixed up her envelope with another that she gave to Clay when she accidentally dropped it and that the curse was never lifted. Horrified, Christine backs away and falls onto the tracks. As Clay looks on, unable to reach Christine, a train barrels towards her, while fiery hands suddenly emerge from the tracks and drag Christine into the fiery pits of Hell. Clay, holding the button in his hand at the edge of the train platform, with tears rolling down his face, stares at the tracks in utter disbelief and horror.
==Cast==
*Alison Lohman as Christine Brown: A young mild-mannered bank employee who desires the position of assistant manager. After turning down Sylvia Ganush's request for a third extension on her mortgage, she is cursed by her and attacked by a demon called the Lamia.
*Justin Long as Professor Clayton "Clay" Dalton: Christine's boyfriend who is a college professor born to a wealthy family. Clayton is skeptical about Rham Jas's help and the existence of the demon.
*Lorna Raver as Mrs. Sylvia Ganush: An elderly gypsy Hungarian woman who attacks Christine Brown and places a curse on her. Ganush dies the day after the attack, but her soul constantly haunts Christine throughout the film.
*Dileep Rao as Rham Jas: A young psychic who informs Christine that she is cursed. Rham Jas later introduces Christine to Shaun San Dena who has a seance with her.
*David Paymer as Mr. Jim Jacks: Christine's concerned boss who is considering whether Christine or Stu Rubin deserves the job of assistant manager at the bank.
*Adriana Barraza as Shaun San Dena: A psychic who has a seance to draw out the Lamia to kill it for Christine.
*Flor de Maria Chahua as young Shaun San Dena
*Bojana Novakovic as Ilenka Ganush: Sylvia Ganush's cynical granddaughter. She lets Christine into her home when she asks to meet the elderly Ganush.
*Reggie Lee as Stu Rubin: A conniving employee of the bank Christine works at. Stu tries to make Christine look bad at work in order to get the promotion.
*Chelcie Ross as Leonard Dalton: Clay's father who does not approve of Clayton dating Christine.
*Molly Cheek as Trudy Dalton: Clay's mother who also does not approve of Clayton dating Christine due to her "peasant" origin and bizarre behavior (which was caused by the Lamia).
*Art Kimbro as the voice of the Lamia: A powerful demon that is summoned after Ganush curses Christine. Its task is to torment Christine for three days before literally dragging her into Hell to burn for eternity.
*Octavia Spencer as a bank co-worker.
*Alex Veadov as the man with ponytail at the death feast.
Category:Films
Category:English-language films
Category:Films set in California
Category:Horror films
Category:Films directed by Sam Raimi
Category:2009 films
Category:Articles with red links
Category:Thriller films
Category:Supernatural films
Category:Films with opening credits