After a long hiatus to the genre that made him a house hold name, Sam Raimi returns to his horror roots with Drag Me to Hell. Like many horror fans out there I didn’t know what to expect at first from this movie. The trailer looked like it could be old school fun but it was carrying the dreaded PG-13 rating us horror fans immediately associate with crappy soul-less horror (I’m looking at you Prom Night and The Fog remakes.) However being a Raimi fan I knew I had to see this opening night wearing my kick-ass The Evil Dead shirt and I’m glad I did. Drag Me to Hell is a scare a minute, gross-out, crazy joyride of a film that audiences should not miss out on!

The story revolves around Christine Brown (the lovely Alison Lohman), who is a loan officer trying to work her way up to Vice President of the bank. Christine is faced with a tough decision that her manager is looking in her to handle to be VP material; does she grant an elderly lady a 3rd loan or her house or does she deny it, thus making the lady homeless? Christine chooses the latter and her troubles begin the second she does. The elderly lady named Mrs. Ganush (the perfectly casted Lorna Raver) then places the curse of the Lamia on Christine. Christine is haunted and tortured by the Lamia for 3 days and learns that on the 3rd day the demon will literally drag her soul to hell.

From the beginning of the film us fans know what we are in store for. Drag Me to Hell grabs you immediately by the throat and never loosens in its fast paced 99 minute running time. When I say there is a scare a minute in this movie I mean there is a scare a minute. The audience is bombarded with so many jump scares that it creates such an unsettling atmosphere and Raimi is so unpredictable that you never know when something is going to pop up. It’s safe to say I have never seen so many grown men jump in their seats before in my life! While the bulk of the movie is scares there is still some great comic relief to make you think your safe….until Mr. Raimi throws some more horror right at your face!

The best thing I can compare the film to is a cartoon, which isn’t surprising considering the film is basically a live action cartoon. There is even a scene that has an anvil landing on someone’s heads and crushing it in the same manner you would see in an old Willie Coyote cartoon. It’s also every part in the same vein as Raimi’s Evil Dead; it has the same gross out humor minus the ridiculous amount of gore. But don’t worry there is still enough blood, slime, spit, maggots, mud and eyeballs to make any Evil Dead fan smile ear to ear, I know I was. However the movie does have a downfall, being that you can’t help but compare it to The Evil Dead movies. While it is a very good movie it isn’t as good as The Evil Dead but really, what can be?

Drag Me to Hell is gritty and the cinematic equivalent to a roller coaster ride in hell. Unlike anything you have seen recently, a throwback to when horror was fun and scary. Oh and if you have a problem with the PG-13 rating just remember Poltergeist was only PG and besides being one of the best horror films ever it had some pretty damn gory face ripping!

From the minute I saw the old school Universal logo I knew what I was in for. Drag Me to Hell is a flashback to when horror movies were scary; it’s unsettling, it’s hilarious, it’s gross, it’s a breath of fresh air. Don’t let the PG-13 fool you folks Drag Me to Hell proves that Raimi is back and in full form.