With a “93% Fresh” rating on RottenTomatoes.com, it has had overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, stating pretty clearly that Sam Raimi is a master of slapstick horror. The film accomplishes quite nicely what it set out to accomplish; it’s funny when meant to be funny, and quite scary when meant to startle.

“Drag Me To Hell’s” plot is fairly straightforward — woman gets cursed, woman tries desperately to remove curse. Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is a loan officer at a bank and working towards a promotion. Due to the competition with Stu Rubin (Reggie Lee), she is forced to make the tough decision of not extending a third loan to an elderly lady who is about to lose her house. And as luck would have it, this particularly creepy-looking lady is some kind of gypsy witch who puts a curse on Christine.

After a few suspicious incidents occur, she goes to a psychic who confirms that she is indeed cursed and has three days until a dark spirit drags her to hell. Christine starts being attacked by this dark spirit in the silhouette of a goat's head. It breaks windows, throws her around, and makes loud noises only she can hear at inappropriate times, e.g., dinner with her fiancé’s parents. Eventually she decides to take matters into her own hands, and with the help of the psychic, starts trying to remove the curse through different rituals.

The movie pushes the audience’s buttons like no other with scenes involving cute kittens and surprising make-you-jump-out-of-your skin moments. The film is great fun to watch. The film’s heroine, Alison Lohman, can scream like you wouldn’t believe, then again I’m sure most could scream like that after being attacked by a decrepit old lady.

Any fan on the “Evil Dead” movies will instantly see the connection, and how obvious it is that the same person makes the movies. Regardless of the fact that the “Spider-Man” movies were a smash hit, Raimi truly shines in one genre: slapstick horror.

For more about “Drag Me To Hell”, click here.

Nick Jones is a film critic and writer. Originally from the East Coast, Nick followed his family out to California and he now lives and reviews movies here in the Coachella Valley. Nick covers film events in Palm Springs and throughout the Coachella Valley.