Intentionally over-the-top horror tale in which a Los Angeles loan officer (Alison Lohman) is cursed to death and damnation by a woman (Lorna Raver) on whose home her bank is foreclosing and, with the reluctant support of her skeptical boyfriend (Justin Long), enlists the aid of a fortuneteller (Dileep Rao) in her increasingly frantic efforts to undo the spell. Gross-out sight gags abound in director and co-writer Sam Raimi's canny shockfest, but bloodletting is generally minimal and the occult elements, like the dubious premise that one person can consign another to Hades, need not be taken seriously. Some hand-to-hand violence, a premarital situation, a couple of uses of profanity and of the S-word, and a few crass terms. A-III -- adults. (PG-13) 2009

Drag Me to Hell (Full Review)

After a decade or so spent helming the "Spider-Man" franchise, director Sam Raimi returns to the horror genre of his "Evil Dead" trilogy with the provocatively titled "Drag Me to Hell" (Universal). As co-written with brother Ivan Raimi, the result is an intentionally over-the-top shockfest that abounds in gross-out sight gags, but is otherwise mostly harmless.

A 1969 flashback showing the awful fate of a young boy cursed to death and damnation by gypsies for purloining a necklace gives way to scenes of the very ordinary life of present day Los Angeles loan officer and Everywoman Christine Brown (Alison Lohman).

Anxious to secure a promotion, Christine is under pressure from her nebbish of a boss (David Paymer) to make tough decisions. So when Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver), a withered hag with a glass eye and a heavy Middle European accent, comes to the bank to plead for a third extension on her mortgage payment, Christine -- acting against her own better judgment -- refuses.

Shamed and enraged, Mrs. Ganush ambushes Christine in the office parking lot at the end of the day. After a ferocious struggle that sees Christine using a stapler as a defense weapon, her implacable opponent tears a button from her coat and uses it as a talisman to put Christine under the same spell as the lad in the opening scene.

As we later learn from Rham Jas (Dileep Rao), the neighborhood fortuneteller to whom Christine turns for help, this "curse of the Lamia" means that, for three days, Christine will be stalked and attacked by a goatlike demon called a "lamia" who, at the end of that time, will pull her into Hades.

With the reluctant support of her skeptical boyfriend, Clay (Justin Long) -- though the two don't live together, a scene in which they share a bed implies a physical relationship -- Christine makes increasingly frantic efforts to escape her fate.

Whether perky or terrified, Lohman makes her character a sympathetic victim, and the canny script's surprising blend of humor and chills had the audience at a recent screening in stitches laughing at their own fear. One spectacular nosebleed aside, bloodletting is minimal, while occult elements that might be of concern in a more serious offering, like the dubious premise that one person can consign another to hell, need not be taken seriously.

Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

The classifications are as follows:

• A-I -- general patronage;
• A-II -- adults and adolescents;
• A-III -- adults;
• A-IV**
• L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
• O -- morally offensive.
  

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