Review - Drag Me to Hell

Drag Me to Hell had me leaving the theatre feeling all sorts of joyous . . . does this make me weird?

To be honest, I don’t care if it does. It has been so long since I have not left the theatre after watching a horror film feeling totally dissatisfied that I had begun to think that this was as it should be. Thank you Sam Raimi for bringing me back to my horror happy place!
In his return to the horror genre, Sam Raimi puts forth such over the top scares that I kept finding myself clawing over my seat to grab some part of my hubby’s anatomy for comfort and reassurance that I had not been sucked into Raimi’s world of goat demons and gypsy curses.
Okay so we’ve established that I enjoyed the film. Now let’s tell you a bit about it. If you were a fan of the Evil Dead series, you will definitely recognize some noticeable similarities in the films. Although I have to say that Drag Me to Hell had its own endearing qualities. Like the fact that I kept wanting Clay Dalton (Justin Long) to look at Christine Brown(Alison Lohman) and say “I’m a Mac” and then John Hodgman could pop up to retort “and I’m a PC”. This has nothing to do with the film but I would find it funny . . .
Christine Brown is vying for an Assistant Manager’s position at the bank where she works however due to her soft hearted nature she doesn’t always make the tough decisions when it comes to denying loans. Unfortunately for her she decides to bring out the tough love on Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver), an old gypsy woman with a penchant for throwing out phlegmy coughs and caustic curses. She throws both at Christine and here is where the adventure begins.
I swear they must have told the theatre to turn up the volume to add to the effect of the film – it definitely worked. I am trying to be very careful not to let too much out of the bag here because I truly think you should all run right out and see this film. I will say one last thing though and that is that I was really impressed by the fact that the movie always stayed true to its own set of rules. The end of the film could have gone quite wrong for me if it hadn’t.
So go out, see the film and for God’s sake if you run into a gypsy woman who wants something from you do all that is in your power to give it to her. If not, the consequences could be quite hellish!

Directed by
Sam Raimi

Writing credits
(WGA)
Sam Raimi (written by) &
Ivan Raimi (written by)

Cast (in credits order)
Alison Lohman ... Christine Brown
Justin Long ... Clay Dalton
Lorna Raver ... Mrs. Ganush
Dileep Rao ... Rham Jas
David Paymer ... Mr. Jacks
Adriana Barraza ... Shaun San Dena
Chelcie Ross ... Leonard Dalton
Reggie Lee ... Stu Rubin
Molly Cheek ... Trudy Dalton
Bojana Novakovic ... Ilenka Ganush
Kevin Foster ... Milos
Alexis Cruz ... Farm Worker
Ruth Livier ... Farm Worker’s Wife
Shiloh Selassie ... Farm Worker's Son
Flor de Maria Chahua ... Young Shaun San Dena
Christopher Young ... Pedestrian with Cupcake
Ricardo Molina ... Male Mortgage Customer
Joanne Baron ... Mr. Jacks's Secretary
Fernanda Romero ... Female Mortgage Customer
Ted Raimi ... Doctor
Ali Dean ... Pawn Broker
Octavia Spencer ... Bank Co-Worker #1
Meyoung Laman ... Bank Co-Worker #2 (as Mia Rai)
Bill E. Rogers ... Security Guard
Cherie Franklin ... Cackling Woman at Death Feast
Olga Babtchinskaia ... Violinist at Death Feast
Alex Veadov ... Man with Ponytail at Death Feast
Bonnie Aarons ... Mother at Death Feast
Emma Raimi ... Daughter at Death Feast
Michael Peter Bolus ... Mourner #1 at Death Feast
Peter Popp ... Mourner #2 at Death Feast
Scott Spiegel ... Mourner #3 at Death Feast
Bridget Hoffman ... Ghost at Séance
Tom Carey ... Old Man in Headlights
Lia Johnson ... Waitress
Jay Gordon ... Family at Diner
Henry Raimi ... Family at Diner
Lorne Raimi ... Family at Diner
Chloe Dykstra ... Young Couple at Diner
Nick Vlassopoulos ... Young Couple at Diner
John Paxton ... Old Couple at Diner
Irene Roseen ... Old Couple at Diner
Aimee Miles ... Saleswoman
Art Kimbro ... Lamia (voice)