Drag Me to Hell is a 2009 American supernatural horror film co-written and directed by Sam Raimi. The plot, written with his older brother Ivan, focuses on a loan officer, who, because she has to prove to her boss that she can make the "hard decisions", chooses not to extend an elderly woman's mortgage. In retaliation, the woman places a curse on the loan officer that, after three days of escalating torment, will plunge her into the depths of Hell to burn for eternity.
Raimi wrote Drag Me to Hell with his brother, Ivan, before working on the Spider-Man trilogy. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was released to critical acclaim. It was also a box office success, grossing over $90 million worldwide. Drag Me to Hell won the award for Best Horror Film at the 2009 Scream Awards and the 2010 Saturn Awards.
Plot[]
In 1969 Pasadena, a Hispanic couple seek help from young medium Shaun San Dena (Adriana Barraza), saying their son is ill and hears evil voices after stealing a silver necklace from a Gypsy wagon, despite trying to return it. San Dena prepares a séance, but an unseen force attacks them and drags the boy to Hell. San Dena vows to fight the demon again one day.
In present-day Los Angeles, bank loan officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) vies for a promotion with conniving Stu Rubin (Reggie Lee). Her boss advises her to demonstrate tough decision-making. Sylvia Ganush (Lorna Raver), an elderly and disheveled European Roma woman, asks for a third extension on her mortgage. After Christine denies her request, Ganush cries and begs not to have her house repossessed. Security guards arrive and she leaves, angrily accusing Christine of shaming her.
In the garage, Ganush ambushes and violently attacks Christine. After a long struggle, Ganush rips a button from Christine's coat and curses it. Later, Christine and her boyfriend Clay Dalton (Justin Long) visit fortune teller Rham Jas, who tells Christine a dark spirit is haunting her. At home, the entity begins to attack Christine. At work, she hallucinates about Ganush and bleeds profusely from her nose while vomiting blood on her boss. Amid the chaos, Stu steals a file from Christine's desk.
Christine goes to beg Ganush for forgiveness but discovers she has recently died. Christine returns to Jas, who explains that as long as she owns the cursed button, a powerful demon known as Lamia will torment her for three days before dragging her to Hell. He suggests a sacrifice may appease it. Christine reluctantly sacrifices her pet kitten before meeting Clay's parents at their house for dinner, where grotesque hallucinations torment her again.
Christine returns to Jas, who requests a fee of $10,000. He introduces her to San Dena, who prepares a séance to trap Lamia in a goat and kill it. Things go awry when the Lamia possesses her and then her assistant, who vomits up the corpse of Christine's cat, saying it wants her soul. San Dena manages to successfully banish the Lamia from the séance, but dies afterwards.
Jas seals the button in an envelope and tells Christine she can only remove the curse by giving the button to someone else. Christine considers giving the envelope to Stu, but reconsiders. Following Jas's suggestion that she give the button to a dead person, she digs up Ganush's grave and gives the corpse the envelope just at dawn.
Christine returns home and prepares to meet Clay at Los Angeles Union Station for a weekend trip. She is even more cheerful when her boss notifies her of the promotion after Stu confessed to stealing her file and was fired. At the station, Clay, hoping to propose to Christine, hands her the envelope with her missing button he found in his car, unaware of its significance. She realizes she accidentally gave the wrong envelope to Ganush, which means the curse was never lifted. Horrified, Christine backs away and falls onto the tracks, just as fiery, demonic hands emerge. Clay tries to rescue Christine, but a train speeds through and he can only watch as the hands drag her to Hell. Now holding the cursed button, a shaken Clay stares at the empty tracks, with no trace of Christine.