Drag Me to Hell (2009)

US 99m, Colour
Director: Sam Rami; Cast: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, David Paymer, Dileep Rao

As with Rami’s first feature, The Evil Dead (1982), Drag Me to Hell is a fun and frightening horror movie. Though the screenplay offers little new in the horror genre – a demonic possession which is challenged by a spiritualist during a séance, the horror action is superbly played out in a style which is uniquely Rami’s. Cursed by a gypsy woman, a young woman named Christine is told that she will suffer three days of torment prior to being dragged to hell for eternity by a powerful demon. While Christine’s impending damnation might seem a little severe for refusing a loan extension on the gypsy woman’s mortgage, her eventual efforts to appease the demon known as Lamia, result in a fitting conclusion to a most entertaining morality tale (Klaus Ming June 2011).