
Life isn't easy for Christine Brown (Alison Lohman). She's dating college professor Clay (Justin Long), whose mother doesn't consider Christine a serious girlfriend. At her bank job, Christine is competing with Stu (Reggie Lee) for an assistant manager position, and manager Mr. Jacks (David Paymer) is always alternating between Christine and Stu about who's first in the competition. He tells Christine that she has to make the hard decisions.
Enter Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver), an ancient gypsy with long yellow fingernails, horrible teeth, and a creepy yellow eye. Mrs. Ganush has had two loan extensions and needs a third or she'll lose her home. Christine chooses this time to become assertive, earning the anger of the gypsy.

Clay doesn't believe anything supernatural is happening, but Christine turns to Rham Jas (Dileep Rao), a psychic who helps Christine (while always taking her money). Christine has three days to get rid of the evil spirit that Mrs. Ganush has sent after her, or Christine will, well, you know the title of the movie. (This gruesome fate befalls a little boy who stole from a gypsy, in a scene shown before the opening credits.)

The cast is good, even if they're present in service of the scares. Alison Lohman looks, sounds, and acts just like Pam from The Office, as she moves from timid to assertive to terrified and slightly insane. Justin Long has little to do as the skeptical-but-supportive boyfriend, but Lorna Raver is wonderful as the decrepit old woman whose vengeance is relentless.
Drag Me to Hell is an enjoyable little horror movie, something that mixes scares and comedy to nice effect. This flick doesn't have great acting or original ideas, but it hearkens back to the age of the good B-movie matinee movie.
Overall grade: B
Reviewed by James Lynch
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