Plot
A loan officer who evicts an old woman from her home finds herself the recipient of a supernatural curse. Desperate, she turns to a seer to try and save her soul, while evil forces work to push her to a breaking point.

Release Year: 2009

Rating: 6.9/10 (78,243 voted)

Critic's Score: 83/100

Director: Sam Raimi

Stars: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Ruth Livier

Storyline
Christine Brown is a loans officer at a bank but is worried about her lot in life. She's in competition with a competent colleague for an assistant manager position and isn't too sure about her status with a boyfriend. Worried that her boss will think less of her if she shows weakness, she refuses a time extension on a loan to an old woman, Mrs. Ganush, who now faces foreclosure and the loss of her house. In retaliation, the old woman place a curse on her which, she subsequently learns, will result in her being taken to hell in a few days time. With the help of a psychic, she tries to rid herself of the demon, but faces several hurdles in the attempt.

Writers: Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi

Cast:
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

Taglines: Christine Brown has a good job, a great boyfriend, and a bright future. But in three days, she's going to hell.

Official Website: Official site | Official site [Australia] |

Release Date: 29 May 2009

Filming Locations: 1031 Everett St, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $15,825,480 (USA) (31 May 2009) (2 Screens)

Gross: $42,057,340 (USA) (2 August 2009)

Runtime: 99 min

Trivia:
The movie begins with the 1980s Universal logo, which refers to when director Sam Raimi got started in the horror genre with the first two "Evil Dead" movies. After the credits, there is also the title card that says to take a tour of Universal Studios. This was also used in the 1980s in other Universal movies, such as An American Werewolf in London.

Goofs:
Continuity: When Clay drops Christine off at work and shows her the rental car, he is behind the wheel. When the camera angle changes, he is in the passenger seat.

Quotes:
Milos: [possessed by the Lamia] I don't want your cat, you dirty pork queen!

What a drag.

Rating: 5/10

I don't understand this movie's high rating here. I would suspect studio tampering with the IMDb rating, except that almost every review I've read of the film in papers and magazines has been a positive one that suggested the film was a delightful throwback to Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead" films. I guess that might be true, but I had to remind myself that "Evil Dead" was actually a great, unsettling horror movie, and its sequel was unique because of its obvious combination of humor and gore. But that was the early-to-mid 80s, and this is 2009. "Drag Me To Hell" is no more than an episode of TV's "Tales From The Crypt" stretched out to a feature length runtime.

Christine is a loan officer in a bank, and she has an uncomfortable exchange with a haggish old woman. The woman is about to be evicted from her home, but Christine is anxious to get a promotion, so she plays hardball with the woman and denies her request for a mortgage extension. The hag reappears in the parking garage, which is deserted in the kind of way that could only happen in a horror movie, and the two of them have a knock-down, drag- out fight that ends with the old woman cursing Christine. She sends a demon to make Christine's life miserable before, well, dragging her to Hell.

There are a few moments that are reminiscent of "Evil Dead", including one where a guy levitates while speaking in a demonic voice. Another one has eyeballs popping out of someone's head and ending up in Christine's mouth.

But almost every single one of these scares are of the "hallucination" variety. Something happens, and then Christine 'wakes up' from her daydream. The boo moments all consist of a scary setup, a quiet lull, and a sudden screech on the soundtrack that hopes you'll jump when you hear it. After the second or third of these, you won't.

Christine herself is a lousy heroine, and I didn't really care if she got dragged to Hell or to Tijuana. What's worse, the script is so obvious that you can see each plot twist before it comes. Nothing's more boring than a PG-13 horror movie where you can tell what's going to happen way before it does. This CGI crapfest is just too blah to be of any interest.

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