Drag Me to Hell - DVD and Blu-ray Review

UNIVERSAL
Street: Oct. 13
Prebook: now
> Bile and bad tidings flow in Sam Raimi's return to low-budget horror.

Sam Raimi takes a break from the Spider-Man saga (he directed all three installments and is currently in pre-production on the fourth) to return to the Evil Dead-styled low-budget horror roots that helped forge his career nearly 30 years ago. This time around, co-writer/director Raimi spins a tale of a bank loan officer (Alison Lohman) who denies a mortgage extension to a haggard gypsy woman (Lorna Raver), who in turn sets hellish matters into motion by placing a curse on her. A retro-styled genre soup is then served, complete with creaking floorboards, mysterious hallucinations, possessed flies and, like the Evil Dead series, all manner of viscous liquids flowing, be they blood, sputum, vomit or even embalming fluid. There's a surprising amount of goo and intensity in the PG-13 theatrical version of the film—and even more in the unrated director's cut, which also is included here.

Shelf Talk: Fans of Raimi's horror efforts will be all over Drag Me to Hell, and they'll be particularly happy that both versions are available in one package. Ferocity and phlegm notwithstanding, this one is a lot of fun and should be recommended.