Drag Me To Hell

Sam Raimi
2009

Sam Raimi returns to the genre that put him on the map without missing a beat or a step. "Drag Me to Hell" is a thoroughly entertaining and masterfully crafted horror flick, made all the more admirable considering he pulled it off with a PG-13 rating. Meek banker Alison Lohman gets a doozy of a curse put on her after denying creepy gypsy Mrs. Ganush an extension on her home loan. Now Lohman's got three days to set things right before the monstrous goat-hoofed Lamia demon performs the titular act. The picture's tone and style is definitely in synch with with Raimi's earlier horror outings, particularly "Evil Dead 2" (1987), and it's shocking to see how successful this signature style remains - slapstick-infused horror and plenty of ironic scares have not yet become anachronistic. Kudos to an image-conscious starlet like Lohman for letting herself look haggard and weary under the extreme duress. Her balancing act between fighting demons (literal in this case), and maintaining a feasible modern life not only ups the suspense and anxiety, but also provides for an extremely relatable metaphor. In an unfortunate casting decision Justin Long stars as Lohman's semi-understanding boyfriend. I say unfortunate because it's hard to divorce him from his "I'm a Mac" advertising persona, and his mere presence eventually becomes as distracting as if it were the Geico Gecko trying to console his hexed fiancee. A nice highlight is the "meet the parents" dinner from hell scene.