Sam Raimi makes a welcome return to horror with DRAG ME TO HELL
DRAG ME TO HELL (Sam Raimi, 2009)
MoMA Film
Saturday, October 31, 1:30 & 7:00
www.dragmetohell.net
Michigan-born writer/director/producer Sam Raimi makes a welcome return to the horror genre with DRAG ME TO HELL, his first thriller since 2000’s THE GIFT and only his second legitimate scarefest since 1987’s EVIL DEAD II. (In the interim, he has made such films as A SIMPLE PLAN, THE QUICK AND THE DEAD, FOR LOVE OF THE GAME, ARMY OF DARKNESS, DARKMAN, and the SPIDER-MAN trilogy.) Battling for a promotion, loan officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) decides not to give old, decrepit Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver) a third extension on her mortgage. But the vile-looking woman won’t give up that easy, getting into a frightening physical fight with Christine that ends when the craggy old bat casts a wicked spell on her. Christine tries to return to her safe, conventional life with her boyfriend, Clay Dalton (Justin “I’m a Mac” Long), but she is haunted by an evil creature that just might drag her to hell in three days if she can’t find a way to stop it. Written by Raimi and his brother Ivan, DRAG ME TO HELL is a potent mix of horror and humor, ire and irony, always ready with a funny joke or two, its tongue firmly imbedded in its cheek — when it’s not rolling out of Mrs. Ganush’s absolutely disgusting mouth.