Movie Review: Drag Me To Hell (2009)
Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao
Plot: Christine Brown (Lohman) is a loan officer with a pretty well-together life. She's got a very supporting psychology teacher boyfriend (Long), and she's bucking for a bank manager position. However, when a little old gypsy woman (Raver) comes into her bank for a third loan extension, she has to make the decision to help this woman or impress her boss and turn her down. She does the later, and after being attacked by the woman in her car is cursed. In three days time, a demon is going to come to take her soul to hell! Now, Chirstine must figure out a way to appease the demon and save her soul.

[MILD SPOILERS AHEAD]

This flick is "deliciously cult," and a return for Sam back to his Evil Dead days. While Lohman is easily the weakest link in terms of acting in this flick, it's still fun to watch her getting tossed around a room by an invisible creature from beyond. The movie is very traditional in its frightening moments. It follows the traditional formula of big build up (both cinematically and musically), and then drops down to lull you into a false sense of security. Then BAM! Something frightening happens, and you jump. You jump high!

Sam gets away with a lot in this flick for maintaining that PG-13 rating, but most of the violence is gross or silly (like the squirting bloody nose that sprays blood all over her boss). The images are certainly frightening and disturbing, and so long as you don't think about the ridiculous plot (first off, gypsys don't own property by definition, and also why would this woman curse someone else for not helping her out of a situation that she put herself in twice before?). There are even a few fun call-backs to the Evil Dead movies, like the talking goat head (ie: the deer head from the cabin in Evil Dead 1 and 2), and you can totally see the strings holding a possessed character up towards the end of the movie. But the cheese is part of the charm, and it's the kind of movie that you'll enjoy watching again at home with your friends on Halloween while drinking your spiked punch.

Fans of the Raimi movies will notice a lack of Bruce Campbell in this one, which is fine. Raimi has replaced him in this instance with Lohman, who he graciously flings around rooms and beats the crap out of. She even has a few good one liners and hero moments.

I had a few issues with the movie:

1) The main character's motivation for going to a fortune teller in the first place is never properly established. We never see her with a good luck charm or doing anything superstitious, so it felt a little left field to me when it happened.

2) The ending is all kinds of predictable. Sure it takes a few twists here and there, but everyone in the theater knew what was going to happen. It was just a matter of when it would happen. Sure, it's still fun and exciting when it happens, but it was a little disappointing to see it coming from a mile away.

All in all, it's the kind of movie that's fun to see in theaters with that special someone who can jump with you at the scary moments, and chuckle with you after. Or that you can rent and watch with your friends on Halloween with a cold drink in hand. Don't expect a Hollywood masterpiece - that's not what this movie is about. It's not psychological or intellectual (in fact, thinking about it will probably make the movie less enjoyable), but it is a fun cult movie. So cult, in fact, that they used the classic Universal logo from back in the 80s.

See it. It's a fun flick.