Drag Me to Hell (2009)
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The story
In modern-day Los Angeles, a bank loan officer named Christine Brown seeks a promotion by making a difficult decision: denying a mortgage extension to an elderly Romani woman named Sylvia Ganush. Following the refusal, Sylvia places a retaliatory curse on Christine. As the days pass, Christine begins to experience escalating torment and supernatural occurrences. To combat the growing threat, she seeks help from a medium, but the situation becomes increasingly dire as the curse of the 'Lamia' begins to manifest, threatening to drag her into the depths of Hell.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
The film begins in 1969 with a medium, San Dena, attempting to help a family whose son is haunted by a demon after stealing a Romani woman's necklace. Forty years later, Christine Brown, a loan officer in Los Angeles, refuses a mortgage extension for Sylvia Ganush. Sylvia retaliates by placing a curse on a button from Christine's coat. As the curse of the Lamia takes hold, Christine experiences horrific hallucinations and physical torment. She seeks help from a medium, Rham Jas, and eventually pays for a session with San Dena. During a ritual to banish the spirit, San Dena is possessed and dies. To break the curse, Christine must give the button to someone else. She initially tries to give it to a coworker, Stu, but later decides to give it to the deceased Sylvia by placing it in her corpse's mouth. However, she had previously given a similar envelope to her boyfriend, Clay. At a train station, Clay presents her with the actual cursed button. As she realizes her mistake, demonic hands emerge from the ground and drag her into Hell.
- First release year
- 2009
- Runtime (minutes)
- 99
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Sam Raimi
- Writers
- Sam Raimi · writer; Ivan Raimi · writer
- Cast and characters
- Alison Lohman · Christine; Justin Long · Clay Dalton; Lorna Raver · Mrs. Ganush; Dileep Rao · Rham Jas; David Paymer; Adriana Barraza
- Genres
- supernatural horror; comedy horror
- Themes
- consequences of greed
- Tone and mood
- dark humor; suspense; scare/laugh hybrid
- Setting
- 1969 Pasadena and present-day Los Angeles.
- Premise and plot tags
- morality tale; curse; supernatural
- Source material / true-story basis
- The Curse
- Content notes
- gore
- Reception
- The film received positive reviews from critics and grossed $90.8 million worldwide.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 92% · scale: percentage · review count: 270; Metacritic · score: 83 · scale: 100 · review count: 32
- Awards and nominations
- Saturn Award · Best Horror Film · 2009 · win; Scream Awards · Best Horror Movie · 2009 · win; Scream Awards · Best Scream-play · 2009 · win; Teen Choice Awards · Choice Movie: Horror/Thriller · 2009 · nomination
- Production trivia
- The script was written in the 1990s and was intended as a morality tale.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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