Drag Me to Hell

Evil Dead director Sam Raimi returns to the realm of cartoonish gore with the splatter-horror fun house Drag Me to Hell. The film stars Alison Lohman as Christine, a sweet but ambitious loan officer who becomes victimized by a really loud demonic curse after foreclosing on an old gypsy woman. Raimi gleefully piles on the PG-13 goo—the movie can hardly go 10 minutes without someone vomiting insects into someone else’s mouth—but it’s rarely as fun or funny as you’d hope. It often feels like a nostalgic exercise for Raimi, a blood-spattered deep knee bend between Spiderman sequels. Drag Me to Hell is most effective at satisfying the horror genre’s thirst for seeing pretty young white girls put through the ringer, even though Lohman is encouraged to act like a dumb action hero.