Drag Me To Hell: Oh, The Stuff That Went Into Alison Lohman's MOUTH!!

Yes, that's right, Alison Lohman deserved extra battle pay for all the nasty stuff they had in her mouth in this film.  AND not just because of personal preference....GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER!  The girl tries to shed her farmland roots and pays the ultimate price......demonic torment, torture, and a stupid boyfriend.  My rating:  $7.00 (1.-10.). 

Fragile-appearing Christine Brown (Lohman) once showed hogs at the county fair as a chubby preteen.  Dad died and Mom became an alcoholic so there's no love lost.  Fifty pounds less and financial smarts emerging, she's up for the vacant Assistant Manager's position at the local bank.  Recently hired dweeb, Stu Rubin (Reggie Lee - supporting roles in "Tropic Thunder'/'Star Trek 2009"), is her challenger for the job because her boss, Mr. Jacks (mostly TV actor, David Paymer), is a horse's patootie. 

We find later in the film that Christine has jockeyed the bank into position to handle a big corporate merger using actual brilliant mental capacity no one would suspect by looking at her.  She knows she's smart.  Boyfriend, Clay (Justin Long playing straight man), professes to know she's smart while treating her like a cream puff.  He's a 'politically correct' boyfriend for our age.  Poor Christine is still handicapped by her lack of self-confidence and insecurities about her quaint origins.  Such is the scenario that sets her up to be mean for, probably, the first time in her life.  She decides to step on an indigent, sickly, old woman to reach her goal.  The woman needs her third home loan extension to avoid being put out on the street.  The bank will gain a lot of equity if they can foreclose.

Long-time character actress, Lorna Raver, plays Mrs. Ganush -- scary before she even gets to be evil.  Huge age spots on her thin face, slimy false teeth she removes frequently, and a blind, white, right eye.  Raver has both talent and guts to be so convincing in this part.  Kudos!  She has a thick Hungarian (gypsy - we discover) accent.  She's also strong and gets around fast when she wants.  I'm talking about getting into a locked car and beating up a healthy 20-something woman.  The parking garage scene is one of many that are almost too manipulative of the characters.  But it serves to get Christine cursed.  (If you see this movie --- ask yourself why she just doesn't curse her instead of going to all that physical stuff.)

The fun starts about 30 minutes into the film as the curse evolves.  You will learn all kinds of occult lessons in this movie.  Excellent Latina actress, Adriana Barraza, plays Shaun San Dena, a medium and exorcist.  Dileep Rao, familiar face in Indian roles, plays psychic Rham Das who helps Christine (and us) follow and understand all the occult stuff.  Chelcie Ross and Molly Cheek play Clay's snooty parents. 

I was most impressed that writers Sam and Ivan Raimi made most of the scary scenes happen in broad daylight.  It still makes my hair stand on end when I think about that loud, metal screeching that happened just before the demonic shadows appeared ever so subtlely on the billowing curtains then becoming more visible on the walls.  Shadows accompanied by slow, resonating footsteps that come from everywhere at once.  The best scariness, for me, was when the demon chases her into an upstairs room with slow, stretching shadows.  As she tries to open the window to escape, the demon's face - taking up the whole screen - pops up for a split-second before the glass breaks inward.  With no hesitation, it invisibly picks her upside-down and spins her and all the objects in the room like a tornado.  I haven't gotten spooked like that since "The Exorcist"!!

Oh, curious about some of the things that enter Christine's mouth?  They come unexpectedly and so thoroughly, you'll groan every time... I guarantee it.  Worms, tons of green mucus, a fly that just toured her nose, dirt, false teeth.....ahhhh!!  Blah!! Ptew, Ptew!

At an hour and 39 minutes, the movie keeps a good pace.  There's hardly a moment of peace for Christine or us.  Some insinuation of animal sacrifice may offend some.  A scene with a piece of cake is both funny and gross.  The rating is 'PG-13' but PLEASE don't take preteens -- no excuses that they love this type of movie.  I still get chills telling you about it and remembering some of the disturbing parts.  Demonic possession is also something small kids don't need to see. There's not so much gore as imaginative use of special effects to scare by what's NOT seen. Directed by  Sam Raimi, it's one of the better, truly scary films I've seen in awhile.  Ghost House Productions keeps its corner on the market.   

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