What I like about Raimi is that he embraces the fact that his movies are not award winning caliber and that some films are just meant to entertain, and this one does it all! Featuring up and coming actors from “blink-and-you’ll miss-them” roles such as Alison Lohman (“White Oleander”, Matchstick Men”, yes, with Nicholas Cage!!!), and Justin Long (movies like “Waiting” and of course being associated as one of Drew Barrymore many revolving boyfriends on call), the casting and acting are actually quite superb.
Lohman’s character is endearing and Long is the ever-supportive boyfriend who completes her picture perfect world before it is shattered by Lorna Raver’s character, Mrs. Ganush.

The basic storyline is that of a classic morality tale; a young woman named Christine (Lohman) works as a loan officer in a California bank and is desperate to prove to her boss and snooty co-worker that she has what it takes to snag the new assistant manager position available, so when she denies an old woman an extension on her house loans to prove she has a backbone, all Hell breaks loose! The old woman, who Raimi makes no qualms about when featuring her repulsiveness, later waits for Christine to leave work before claiming her revenge on the young girl by dragging her into one of the most raucous, action –packed, violently gruesome and horrific girl-on-hideously old woman fights theater-goers have seen in years! Afterwards, she places a curse on Lohman’s character and the ramifications are far from desirable; a demon torments the accursed for 3 days before descending on them and, as the title depicts, dragging them to hell to burn for all eternity. Her only chance at survival is to find a way to pass off the curse to someone else within the allotted time, or else suffer the consequences…

This movie’s got the lockdown on suspense and the plot moves at a great pace, leaving no gruesome stone unturned, from the customary séance to rid the evil spirit to the ritualistic animal sacrifices. The audience becomes a fly on the wall as Christine’s world crumbles in both a comedic and horrific way with suspenseful twists and turns around every corner. By the end of the film we see a changed heroine whose fate leaves the audience riveted down to the last seconds of the film.

What I like about this movie is that Raimi doesn’t take himself too seriously. Too many horror movies nowadays try to recreate something that’s already been done and fail miserably, but Raimi proves that campy imagery and gory special effects can translate themselves into a new quirky genre of horror all on its own. I laughed, I cringed, I inwardly shrieked, and had the best time I’ve had in the theater in a very long time!