Cast: Alison Lohman, Justin long, Lorna Raver, Dileel Rao,David Paymer, Jessica Lucas, Adriana Barraza; Director: Sam Raimi; Producers: Rob Tapert, Grant Curtis; Screenwriters: Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi; Music: Christopher Young; Editor: Bob Murawski; Genre: Horror/ Suspense; Cinematography: Peter Deming; Distributor: Universal Pictures; Location: USA; Running Time: 110 min;Technical Assessment: 3
Moral Assessment: 2
CINEMA Rating: For mature viewers 18 and above
Young Loan Officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is starting to make a name in her banking career when her ability is tested. An old woman Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver) comes to bank and begs for extension of her home loan. Christine is initially sympathetic but when her boss gives her the call to decide on the case, she sees it as an opportunity to impress the boss and advance in her pending promotion. She then applies what is technically appropriate and declines the request shaming the old woman. This irrates Mrs. Ganush and in retaliation, she puts Christine on a powerful curse to haunt and drag her soul into hell. In this difficult situation, Christine finds comfort with her boyfriend Clay Dalton (Justin Long), who despite being cynical on supernatural, provided moral support to Christine when she seeks help from fortune teller Rhan Jas (Dileep Rao). Will Christine be able to get out of the curse and continue a good life with successful banking career and a loving partner?
"Drag Me To Hell" is an average horror/suspense film that offers the usual stressful suspense and effective seat jolting scenes. It has a simple plot, although there is a point in the story that is not clear how Mrs. Ganush got possession of the lamia curse. Some scenes like those highlighting the old woman's dentures were more of a comedy and fighting scenes that leave no bruises to Christine are a bit off. Nonetheless, the actors gave good portrayals of their roles and delivery of dialogues with complementation of make-up and production design. Sounds and musical scoring add up to the technical essence of the film.
Ambition can be sometimes dehumanizing and those who are on the way to the ladder of success should be aware of its circumstances before it’s too late. When Christine was given a freehand to act on the loan extension request of Mrs. Ganush, she only thinks of herself and worst she looks down on physical looks and food attitudes of Mrs. Ganush. Revenge is not an acceptable approach to a life's situation much more to blame and curse anyone for your shortcomings like what Mrs. Ganush did. In fairness, Christine acknowledged her fault, made effort to apologize, correct herself and allowed to subject herself to rituals and beliefs to counter the evil, only to realize that she was not successful in doing so. After almost two hours of emotional stress watching the film, the film was concluded with disturbing evil triumphs.
