Drag Me to Hell

Halloween Week at Union Films kicks off with a US horror movie that isn't a remake...wow!

It's a testament to the sheer strength of this film that in a time of such economic misery, it can make you feel truly sorry for a loan manager at a big-city bank. After the three massive Spider-Man films, Sam Raimi returns to his Evil Dead roots with a barnstormingly brilliant horror flick.

When lovely loan manager Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) denies an extension to an elderly old gypsy woman (the aptly named Lorna Raver) in order to secure a promotion, the old woman doesn't react too well and places a curse on Christine. For three days, she'll will be tormented by a rather unpleasant Satanic demon known as the Lamia. Oh, and after the three days are up, the Lamia will come and drag her down to Hell for all eternity. As soon as Christine notices that something might actually be happening to her (notably her being thrown across the room by an unseen force several times), she consults a fortune teller and tries everything in her power to prevent her fate. As time goes by and Christine tries increasingly desperate measures, you begin to wonder...does she deserve her fate after all?

Raimi's first true horror film since Army of Darkness (aka Evil Dead 3) is a corker - gory, scary, and in true Raimi fashion, often hilarious. Fans of the Evil Dead series should find plenty to love here (one callback to the talking moose head of Evil Dead 2 might just be the high point of the entire movie), and those who only know Sam Raimi for the Spider-Man trilogy will see just how much they've been missing.