Sam Raimi must have really missed demonic vomit, bursting eyeballs and other such gory delicacies. After directing three Spider-Man films, Raimi returned to the outrageous (comic?) grotesqueries of his early career (The Evil Dead) with Drag Me to Hell. It was vastly overpraised as a piece of auteurism, but then again my enjoyment of said vomit is limited. Alison Lohman stars as a plucky loan officer who denies a creepy older woman an extension on her house payments in hopes of getting a promotion. Instead, she gets a curse. Despite coming out in the midst of the housing crisis that helped spur the Great Recession, Drag Me to Hell does little with the thematic implications of the plot. It’s more concerned with gonzo gore. Raimi has a distinct touch, to be sure – this certainly qualifies as an auteurist work – but I prefer him diluted.
