Drag Me to Hell (2009, USA)

Drag Me to Hell is easily the Raimiest Sam Raimi movie since Army of Darkness. Animated corpses! Demonic possession! Popping eyeballs! Vomiting! Laffs! As much as I enjoyed the first two of his Spider-Man movies, this is the Raimi I really love. There are so few directors who know how to scare effectively and simultaneously go for cheesy laughs, and with another decade and a half of filmmaking experience under his belt, it’s great to see what he can do with a sharpened skill set and some extra money. One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is Raimi’s tendency to punish his lead. Poor Allison Lohman. I hope Bruce Campbell took her out for a beer before shooting started to let her know what she was in for.

Slightly off-topic, I’ve heard some rumblings about a supposed Raimi-helmed redo of The Evil Dead. Seriously? I could bitch and moan for a bit about what a weird and unnecessary idea this is, but essentially – when he (and Ivan) can still make a movie as scary, hilarious and awesome as Drag Me to Hell, what’s the point? If he’s jonesing for a return to horror comedy, I’m sure he and his brother aren’t short of fresh ideas. Then again, if the rumored Spider-Man 4 is any indication (not to mention the profusion of things that get vomited on Lohman in Hell), Raimi might not always know when to leave well enough alone.