Drag Me To Hell (PG-13)

RECOMMENDED 

In a word: Demented

Plot:  Christine Brown is a loan officer at a small bank.  In an effort to show her boss that she is worthy of a promotion and can "make the hard decisions", she refuses an old gypsy woman an extension on her mortgage.  Not your smartest move, Christine.  The old gypsy woman, Mrs. Ganush, feels that she has been shamed and curses Christine.  For three days Christine is tormented by a demonic presence called Lamia, at the end of the thrid day - the Lamia will drag her to hell.  Desperate to save her self and her soul, Christine turns to a psychic/seer to help her.  Things don't go all that well.

Thoughts:  When will you people learn that it is NEVER a good idea to piss off the old gypsy woman?  Particularly when she drives The Car!  This movie isn't Sam Raimi at his horror best, but it's close.  When Raimi does a horror movie, you can expect two things:  humor and gore. 

Humor:  Drag Me To Hell isn't as funny as the Evil Dead Trilogy, but it has its moments and they shine.  The demonically posessed goat at the end had me laughing hysterically.  So did the parking garage fight between Christine and Mrs. Ganush ("I beat you, you old bitch!").  Even the requisite animal sacrifice was done for a laugh (poor kitty).  I felt a bit guilty finding much of the scares funny, since these terrible things were happening to a decent person.   Christine was only trying to do her job.   That being said, I will never eat Harvest Cake again. 

Gore:  The gore in this movie is toned down quite a bit - hence the PG-13 rating.  That doesn't mean, however, that there weren't any "EWWWW" moments.  Raimi was very creative in his use of the disgusting in this film.  From Mrs. Ganush trying to gum Christine's face to the ingenious use of a fly up the nose - there was plenty to gross you out. 

The thing that keeps me from highly recommending this movie is that the ending was projected from the start (see below).  I knew what was going to happen, yet I still enjoyed the film. 

SPOILERS:  Once Christine gave her boyfriend the collectible quarter and Mrs. Ganuish ripped the button off her coat - I KNEW they would eventually get switched.  Here's a thought, boys and girls, when you have to "re-gift" something to the dead, in an effort to save your soul - MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE CORRECT ITEM!  At least open the damn envelope to make sure!

I missed seeing Bruce Campbell in a cameo.  Maybe that's why I can't highly recommend this film.

If you like this, try watching: Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness, Night of the Creeps