Drag Me to Hell (2009)

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.

Director:

Sam Raimi

Writers:

Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi

Stars:

Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Ruth Livier

7 wins & 22 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

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.

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Plot Keywords:

psychic | evil | fight | psychologist | hell | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sequences of horror violence, terror, disturbing images and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Australia]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish Hungarian Czech

Release Date:

29 May 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Arrástrame al infierno

Filming Locations:

18421 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$15,825,480, 31 May 2009, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$42,100,625

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$91,388,487

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Ghost House Pictures, Buckaroo Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Sylvia Ganush attacks Christine in her car, Sylvia curses in Hungarian, "Az ördög szálljon beléd!" ("Shall the devil fly into you!") She also uses the Hungarian word "szajha" two times (the word means "bitch" or "whore" in English).

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Goofs

Ganush's obituary states she was born in the "Hungarian village of Szentendere." However, there is no such Hungarian village. The correct name of the town is Szentendre.

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Quotes

[shoving the 'button' envelope down Mrs. Ganush's throat]
Christine Brown: Choke on it, bitch!

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Crazy Credits

The 1960's Universal logo is used in the opening credits

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Alternate Versions

The unrated director's cut DVD adds four notable extended shots/sequences:

• 1. The scene where Christine's nose squirts blood is extended, adding a shot of blood pouring out of her mouth. She covers her mouth, causing the fountain of blood to erupt from her nose.
• 2. The shot of Christine raising the knife above her cat is extended, showing Christine plunging the knife down several times, with some squirting blood.
• 3. We also see the cat's bloodied body fall into the hole in Christine and Clay's yard, just before Christine begins to shovel dirt upon it.
• 4. When Christine drops the anvil on Mrs. Ganush, Christine still gets splattered with Mrs. Ganush's eyeballs and brain matter, but now it's blood red colored.

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Connections

Referenced in Atop the Fourth Wall: US-1 #6 (2016)

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Soundtracks

Pathetique
An arrangement of "Piano Sonata No. 8 'Pathétique'"
Written by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performed and Arranged by Chris Virzi

User Reviews

Deliciously pulpy return to horror for Raimi

"Drag Me to Hell" might be the victim of unfair expectations, or just plain incorrect assumptions. This might partially be down to the advertising campaign, which could lead audiences to believing this is purely serious horror, when in fact it is pulp silliness in the vein of the old EC comics, and fully aware of it. Sam Raimi, for whom the childhood experience of reading those pulp tales served as an inspiration for his now-legendary "Evil Dead" movies, and hence gave him his career, has made his most fun and entertaining film since "Army of Darkness", and probably his best since then as well (although I do need to see "A Simple Plan" again) in "Drag Me to Hell", which feels like it could be an adaptation of one of those horror tales.

Hopefully audiences will be expecting something along the lines of "Evil Dead" mixed with its sequels when they go in, or they could leave disappointed. Unless you're scared by old women and supernatural mumbo jumbo, unless you're a superstitious person, "Drag Me to Hell" probably won't be giving you any nightmares. Then again, I'm not scared by anything really. Still, one can't help but feel that this sort of thing (if done seriously) doesn't belong in today's age of rationality and would work only in the 50's, or maybe even then would be too late to really pack a punch.

That's why this is, like the "Evil Dead" movies, a cartoon. It is one cartoony horror set-piece after the other, more often than not with an overt comedic edge, and always, always with its tongue firmly in cheek. The characters are well-realized enough for the movie to be endurable, and well-played too (Justin Long is perfect for the role regardless of how limited his range is and I can't imagine anyone but Lohman playing this particular role), but Raimi doesn't really care about them. He cares more about piling on the pulp gross-outs, resorting here to all sorts of unsavory things (including embalming fluid gushing out of a corpse into Lohman's mouth, one of a multitude of things Raimi takes pleasure in introducing to that particular orifice of Lohman's body), but not much blood at all. It isn't needed either, the PG-13 rating may sound like a limitation but it's hard to imagine this movie with much more gore, although there are a few things that happen off-screen that I would have LOVED to see on-screen, but that might be because I'm a horribly sick person.

Utilizing an active, expressive camera akin to the sort of thing we saw in the "Evil Dead" movies, Raimi stages these ridiculous scenes with gusto and passion. This is not going to terrify many people, but it is absolutely terrific at being what it sets out to be- a live action EC comic. As long as you go in expecting that, you'll probably leave satisfied. I'd like to leave you with the wise words of AV Club critic Scott Tobias: "He wants viewers to jump out of their chairs, to laugh and scream and cheer, and to nudge each other over the transcendent ridiculousness of what they're witnessing. This is junk film-making at its finest."