Justin Long co-stars as the helpless boyfriend, but he is relegated to little more than a sounding board for poor Christine’s multiple woes. Drag Me to Hell is essentially a one-woman show, in which Christine is bombarded by various objects determined to make her life as uncomfortable as possible.
And Raimi is more than happy to oblige, by ratcheting up the scares without leaving the comedy in the dust. Some of the encounters are truly surreal. None reaching the possessed severed hand that scurries across the cabin in Evil Dead 2, but comes pretty darn close. And it is in these moments of hellish hilarity that the director’s absence in the horror genre is most felt. In an era in which ghostly long-haired girls walking in an erratic manner constitutes tension, it’s great to see someone who can fully embrace the horror of a wronged, rotting gypsy.
Lohman is convincing as the haunted banker, innocently drawn into this descent, but also knowing her breaking point and prepared to fight for her sanity. She may not be scream-queen ready just yet, but she balances fear and fury quite nicely.
Drag Me to Hell is certainly not groundbreaking, but it does demonstrate that Raimi still has a creative wicked streak that has not been dulled by years in the big leagues. And, most importantly, the film may cause those teens prone to theater braggadocio to think twice before deciding to strut their stuff in a PG-13 horror film.
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