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"DRAG ME TO HELL" (2009) (Alison Lohman, Lorna Raver) (PG-13) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Mild Heavy Extreme Extreme Mild Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Moderate Heavy Extreme None Heavy Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Moderate None Mild Moderate Heavy QUICK TAKE: Horror: A bank loan officer must contend with a curse put on her by an irate customer that promises her three days of demonic torment before being dragged down to Hell. PLOT: Christine Brown (ALISON LOHMAN) is a young loan officer working at Wilshire Pacific Bank who's vying for an open assistant manager position. Yet, her new coworker, Stu Rubin (REGGIE LEE), is also after the job and is doing his best to impress their boss, Jim Jacks (DAVID PAYMER), and make her seem weak in comparison. Accordingly, when Jim leaves it up to Christine about whether to grant a third loan payment extension to elderly client Sylvia Ganush (LORNA RAVER), she makes her decision based on professional and not compassionate reasons. Mrs. Ganush begs for another chance, but then feels that Christine has publically shamed her. As a result, she attacks Christine in the parking lot late at night, putting an evil curse on her. Christine's boyfriend, psychology professor Clay Dalton (JUSTIN LONG), thinks the latter is just a bunch of hooey, but when weird things start happening, she decides to visit seer Rham Jas (DILEEP RAO). He informs her that Ganush has unleashed a supernatural force, the Lamia, on her, and that after three days of poltergeist type hauntings, the demon will literally drag her down to Hell. With Clay still not believing any of this but trying to remain supportive, Christine does what she can to deal with the supernatural attacks, all while hoping to make amends with Ganush and/or remove that curse from herself before it's too late WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? If they're fans of director Sam Raimi, anyone in the cast, or horror films, they just might. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13 For sequences of horror violence, terror, disturbing images and language. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: ALISON LOHMAN plays a young bank loan officer who has to make a judgment on Ganush's request for a third extension based on her own professional ambitions rather than her desire to be compassionate. Accordingly, she must then endure the wrath of Ganush, not only in a surprise physical attack, but also from the curse the old gypsy woman places on her. From that point on, she tries to make amends with the woman and/or find a way to have the curse lifted. She uses some profanity. JUSTIN LONG plays her boyfriend of one year, a psychology professor who's skeptical about most all of that as well as Christine's visits to seers, but tries to remain supportive. We see that they've slept together at least once, and he uses some profanity. LORNA RAVER plays the old gypsy woman who becomes vindictive toward Christine when she feels the young loan officer has shamed her. Accordingly, she places a demonic curse on Christine. DILEEP RAO plays a seer who informs Christine of what's occurred and then tries to help her out of her predicament. DAVID PAYMER plays Christine's boss who wavers on his view of her work and promotion worthiness. REGGIE LEE plays her newer coworker who's also vying for that promotion and thus does everything he can to kiss up to the boss while making her appear unworthy of the job. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: Here's a brief summary of the content found in this horror film that's been rated PG-13. Profanity consists of at least 1 "f" word, while other expletives and colorful phrases are also uttered. Off-screen sex is implied, a woman is seen in a wet and muddy shirt that reveals the shape of her breasts, an old drawing shows bare breasts, and cleavage is present in various scenes. Violence consists of an older woman and supernatural/demonic entities attacking various people, related fighting and struggling, and some characters being yanked down into Hell, while a kitten is killed off-screen as a desperate animal sacrifice. A woman dies from a supernatural encounter with a demon, while other deaths and bad injuries occur, but due to their supernatural connection, they turn out not to have occurred in reality. Some of that has bloody results, while other gross-out material is present in various scenes. That violence, moments of potential peril, and other supernatural material and visuals might be unsettling, suspenseful and/or scary to viewers. Some of those scares and other behavior might be enticing for some kids to copy. Some drinking occurs in a few scenes and there's a comment about parents with alcohol problems, while various characters have bad attitudes. If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. For those concerned with bright flashes of light on the screen, there's some of that from lightning. For those prone to visually induced motion sickness, there's rapid camera movement showing Christine being thrashed about in the air by an invisible force. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE Ganush's adult granddaughter holds what looks like a drink. We then see others drinking at a wake. Christine, Clay and his parents have wine. Clay's mom presses Christine on why the latter doesn't see her own mom. It's then mentioned that her mom kept to herself following her husband's (Christine's father's) death, with Christine adding that her mom is an alcoholic. That prompts Clay's mom to state her mother had a drinking problem as well. BLOOD/GORE Ganush coughs up some phlegm into her hanky, and then removes her slimy dentures to have some candy. Christine has a bloody lip following an encounter with a demonic spirit. As Christine sleeps in a bed with Clay, a fly lands and crawls about on her face. It goes up one nostril and then out the other before crawling into her mouth. She bolts upright in bed, thinking it was a dream, but we later hear fly sounds from inside her. Even later, and while having dinner with Clay and his parents, she starts to choke and then coughs out that or another fly. During the first part of the above, Christine lies down, only to find the ghastly looking Ganush lying next to her. The gypsy woman then attacks her while on top of her in bed, biting at her repeatedly before vomiting worms and such all over Christine. Some blood drops down onto papers on Christine's desk, followed by a view of her with a nosebleed and some on her hand. She then suddenly projectile bleeds, with blood spraying and splattering all over her boss who's concerned about whether he got any in his mouth or not. Christine accidentally stumbles down onto a dead body on display at a wake. In shock from that, she accidentally pulls the body over on top of her, with embalming or other fluid pouring from the body's open mouth all over Christine's face. An old drawing shows an animal sacrifice (pig) with some blood present. Clay notes some blood on Christine's sleeve (from having killed her kitten as a desperate animal sacrifice to try to appease the demonic spirits), but she says it's something else. While having dinner with Clay and his parents, Christine hears a loud screeching sound, followed by seeing an eyeball poke out from a slice of cake she made. Christine stabs that with her fork, with blood coming out that then turns into filling or something similar. Christine pulls a curtain aside in a garage, suddenly revealing Ganush who attacks her, pushing her back and forcing her fist and part of her arm into Christine's mouth and down her throat. Christine then struggles to release a rope holding an anvil that then falls and lands on Ganush's head, causing her eyeballs and related goo to squirt out onto Christine's face. During a séance, a possessed goat bites a man on his hand/arm, drawing blood. A possessed man regurgitates the dead body of a previously killed kitten. Christine digs up a fresh grave, eventually opening the casket to reveal the dead woman's face at night during a thunderstorm, and that includes maggots crawling in that. As a woman is pulled down into Hell, her face partially burns away, revealing a skeletal look and exposed eyeballs. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE In a scene set in 1969, we hear that a young boy stole a necklace from a gypsy and then was afflicted with resultant demonic attacks. Stu is also vying for the open assistant manager job at the bank and thus kisses up to his boss while trying to make Christine look unworthy of the promotion. This occurs in several scenes, and he even goes so far as to steal documents and sabotage an important business deal she was brokering. We hear Clay talking to his mom on the phone and she keeps on about how he could do better than Christine and should date someone who could help him socially and professionally. Ganush puts a spell on Christine that ensures her being tormented for three days before being dragged down to Hell. Some viewers might not like Christine looking at her kitten after being told by Rham Jas that she might have to make some sort of animal sacrifice to appease the demonic spirits afflicting her. After a violent encounter with a demonic spirit, she goes looking for the kitten while holding a knife and we see the cat lying in a basket. We then hear a pained meow, and then see her finishing burying it outdoors. Clay's mom has a condescending attitude toward her upon meeting her for the first time, commenting on her being a bank teller (rather than loan officer) and having grown up on a farm. FRIGHTENING SCENES Scenes listed under "Violence," "Blood/Gore" and "Jump Scenes" may be unsettling, suspenseful and/or scary to younger viewers and/or those with low tolerance levels for such material. The various views of the mean/angry/scary Ganush might have the same effect. In a scene set in 1969, a young boy is brought to a seer for help with demonic issues. We then see a stained glass skylight of sorts with all sorts of shadows of demonic looking hands and arms crossing that, while we also hear demonic voices. An invisible force then grabs and yanks a woman away while also attacking and knocking others around. It then blasts the boy over a railing to the floor below. We don't see the impact, but do see the boy trying to get up as the floor starts to crack open around him. The flames of Hell as well as demonic hands come up through that, and the latter grab the boy and pull him down into that fire, while we see long arm and hand shadows reaching up toward the seer, but she's unharmed. Old drawings of demonic possessions and afflictions show various images of demons as well as scared and anguished people. Christine goes into the nearly deserted parking garage at night, and becomes apprehensive after spotting Ganush's car parked in another row. She gets in her car and then spots a hanky floating from Ganush's. After slamming into her windshield, it travels around the outside of her car, and we then see Ganush in the backseat of Christine's car. She then attacks Christine, yanking her head backwards by her hair and earring. Christine then drives the car backwards until it crashes, followed by more struggling, grabbing and hitting, including with Christine slapping a stapler twice to Ganush's head, with one of them stapling her bad eye shut. With Ganush all over her from the backseat, Christine drives forward, managing to put on her own seatbelt just before crashing into a parked vehicle. That sends Ganush flying across the seat where she bashes into the dash, dislodging her dentures. She tries biting Christine's chin without them, gumming her, with Christine then jamming something long (like a ruler) into Ganush's mouth. After a moment of choking, the latter spits that out, with the object nearly hitting Christine as is breaks through the window behind her. Christine then kicks Ganush from her car and gloats at having defeated her, but Ganush then raises a cinderblock or something similar and smashes that through the passenger's side window. She then drags Christine from the car, rips off a button, and places a demonic curse on her. After being cursed, leaves ominously swirl around Christine at night. While visiting Rham Jas, a strange breeze blows through the room, glass cracks in a picture frame, and Rham Jas has a flash image of some demonic face. He then informs Christine that she's been afflicted with demonic spirits that will torment her for three days and then drag her down to Hell after that. Christine is alone in her house at night when she starts hearing strange noises, including screeching sounds, creaking, and thumps from above. The lights then go out, some hanging pots and pans suddenly clang together, and then light enters the house showing the shadow of a demonic figure. An invisible force then blasts her backwards into a counter, leaving her with a bloody lip. As Christine sleeps in a bed with Clay, a fly lands and crawls about on her face. It goes up one nostril and then out the other before crawling into her mouth. Christine suddenly bolts upright in bed from that, thinks it was a bad dream, and then lies down, only to find the ghastly looking Ganush lying next to her. The gypsy woman then attacks her while on top of her in bed, biting at her repeatedly before vomiting worms and such all over Christine. Christine sees that Stu's hand suddenly looks like that belonging to Ganush, old and with bad looking skin and sharp fingernails, the latter impatiently tapping in sequence on her desk. Christine accidentally stumbles down onto a dead body on display at a wake. In shock from that, she accidentally pulls the body over on top of her, with embalming or other fluid pouring from the body's open mouth all over Christine's face. During that, the body somehow clutches and pulls out a handful of Christine's hair. Christine hears sounds in the house during the daylight and slowly goes to investigate. She then sees demonic shadows outside and then inside the house, including coming up the stairwell. She then races to a bedroom and closes the door, only to see shadows of demonic feet under the door, followed by the same of long hands/arms extending under the door toward her. Her cell phone then loses battery power, but shows a flash image of Ganush's face on the screen. She then tries to go out the window, but encounters another such image there, with an invisible force then grabbing and lifting her up toward the ceiling where it thrashes her about. While having dinner with Clay and his parents, Christine hears a loud screeching sound, followed by seeing an eyeball poke out from a slice of cake she made. Christine stabs that with her fork, with blood coming out that then turns into filling or something similar. She then starts choking, followed by coughing out a fly and then throwing a glass at a closed door. Christine pulls a curtain aside in a garage, suddenly revealing Ganush who attacks her, pushing her back and forcing her fist and part of her arm into Christine's mouth and down her throat. Christine then struggles to release a rope holding an anvil that then falls and lands on Ganush's head, causing her eyeballs and related goo to squirt out onto Christine's face. A female medium, her assistant and Rham Jas hold a séance to try to rid Christine of her demonic affliction. That includes bringing out a goat to which the spirit will be transferred and then slaughtered with a machete. Poltergeist type activity then occurs in the room, including ghostly laughter and then some images of ghosts, including a ghastly one, while loud sounds cause the humans pain. The female medium then becomes possessed by a spirit, showing all white eyes before partially resembling Ganush in appearance, with sharp teeth, etc. Christine grabs her hand and places it on the goat, with the assistant going to kill it, but misses. The goat then bites him on the arm/hand, drawing blood, and speaks before transferring to that assistant who then grabs and hits Rham Jas, followed by sending a chair into him. Ganush is suddenly in the road in front of Clay and Christine in their car, but then turns into an older man who they nearly hit and keeps telling Christine that she'll burn in Hell. Ganush's face is suddenly at Christine's car window, followed by the former's hanky, that then enters the car and plasters itself on Christine's face. She gets out and struggles to pull it off, followed by it zipping into her mouth. She barely grabs the end and pulls it out, followed by tearing it in half. Christine digs up a fresh grave, eventually opening the casket to reveal the dead woman's face at night during a thunderstorm, and that includes maggots crawling in that. She then smashes a shovel down into the mouth to open it and shove an envelope in there. But the grave is filling with flood water and mud, preventing Christine from crawling out. That also causes the body to float up and around Christine, followed by a large stone cross falling in there and hitting Christine on the head. She's knocked out and sinks below the surface, but pops up moments later. A woman falls off a train station platform to the tracks below, with a train quickly approaching. The ground then breaks open, revealing hellish fire and demonic hands that grab and pull her down into Hell just as the train races through (her face partially burns away, revealing a partial skeletal look). GUNS/WEAPONS Two bank guards wear sidearms. After a violent encounter with a demonic spirit, Christine goes looking for her kitten (for a desperate animal sacrifice to try to appease the spirit) while holding a knife and we see the cat lying in a basket. We then hear a pained meow, and then see her finishing burying it outdoors. A medium's assistant tries to kill a possessed goat with a machete, but misses. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "You're so full of sh*t," "Holy sh*t," "You're gonna drive yourself nuts," "You shamed me," "I beat you, you old bitch," "This is so nuts," "Try not to piss off any old ladies today," "Jeez," "Leave me the hell alone," "Screw it," "You black-hearted whore," "You will burn in Hell," "Shut up," "I'll shove it down your G*ddamn throat" and "Choke on it, bitch." Some of the scares present might be enticing for some kids to try to copy to scare others. Ganush's adult granddaughter has a tattoo on her arm. JUMP SCENES Many of the jump scenes listed below are also accompanied by sudden and loud music on the soundtrack. An invisible demonic force suddenly hits and yanks a woman away. Ganush's floating hanky suddenly hits Christine's windshield, followed by Ganush suddenly being spotted in the backseat from where she attacks Christine who's in the front. Rham Jas has a flash image of a demonic face while looking into Christine's spirit. Some hanging pots and pans suddenly clang together. After what she thinks was a bad dream, Christine lies back down in bed, only to find the ghastly looking Ganush lying next to her. Ganush's face suddenly appears on Christine's cell phone screen, followed by another image at a window where she's suddenly grabbed by an invisible image. Christine pulls a curtain aside in a garage, suddenly revealing Ganush who attacks her. A sudden goat sound might startle some viewers. Ganush is suddenly in the road in front of Clay and Christine in their car. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) An extreme amount of suspenseful, ominous, and scary music plays in the film. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) None. PROFANITY At least 1 "f" word, 2 "s" words, 1 damn, 1 hell, 10 uses of "Oh my God," 2 each of "God" and "Oh God" and 1 use each of "For Christ's sakes" and "G-damn." SEX/NUDITY Old drawings of demonic possessions and afflictions show various images of demons as well as scared people, including a woman with her arm across her chest, but part of her bare breast is visible (in sketch form). Clay playfully states that Christine is cocky, sexy and unbelievable. As she leaves, we see the motion of him patting her on her clothed butt (no contact is actually seen). Clay and Christine briefly kiss, and then do more, leaning back out of the camera shot. We next see them in bed, under the covers and asleep (he's partially seen shirtless). Christine shows some cleavage. In a drawing of the Lamia, we see a sketch image of a woman's bare breasts. Christine shows some cleavage. Christine shows cleavage in another outfit. While digging in a grave during a thunderstorm, Christine ends up covered in rain and mud, with her clingy shirt then revealing the shape of her breasts. We see a head and shoulders view of Christine showering (nothing explicit) followed by a view of her wrapped in just a towel. Christine shows some cleavage. SMOKING None. TENSE FAMILY SCENES Clay's mom presses Christine on why the latter doesn't see her own mom. It's then mentioned that her mom kept to herself following her husband's (Christine's father's) death, with Christine adding that her mom is an alcoholic. That prompts Clay's mom to state her mother had a drinking problem as well. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT The public perception of banks and related loans, etc. Whether someone can put a spell on another person. Psychics, mediums and such. Clay's mom presses Christine on why the latter doesn't see her own mom. It's then mentioned that her mom kept to herself following her husband's (Christine's father's) death, with Christine adding that her mom is an alcoholic. That prompts Clay's mom to state her mother had a drinking problem as well. VIOLENCE In a scene set in 1969, a young boy is brought to a seer for help with demonic issues. An invisible force then grabs and yanks a woman away while also attacking and knocking others around. It then blasts the boy over a railing to the floor below. We don't see the impact, but do see the boy trying to get up as the floor starts to crack open around him. The flames of Hell as well as demonic hands come up through that, and the latter grab the boy and pull him down into that fire, while we see long arm and hand shadows reaching up toward the seer, but she's unharmed. After Christine calls for security to deal with Ganush on the floor, grabbing her dress, the latter lunges at Christine and has to be restrained and removed by two guards. Christine goes into the nearly deserted parking garage at night, and becomes apprehensive after spotting Ganush's car parked in another row. After a few moments, we then see Ganush in the backseat of Christine's car. She then attacks Christine, yanking her head backwards by her hair and earring. Christine then drives the car backwards until it crashes, followed by more struggling, grabbing and hitting, including with Christine slapping a stapler twice to Ganush's head, with one of them stapling her bad eye shut. With Ganush all over her from the backseat, Christine drives forward, managing to put on her own seatbelt just before crashing into a parked vehicle. That sends Ganush flying across the seat where she bashes into the dash, dislodging her dentures. She tries biting Christine's chin without them, gumming her, with Christine then jamming something long (like a ruler) into Ganush's mouth. After a moment of choking, the latter spits that out, with the object nearly hitting Christine as is breaks through the window behind her. Christine then kicks Ganush from her car and gloats at having defeated her, but Ganush then raises a cinderblock or something similar and smashes that through the passenger's side window. She then drags Christine from the car, rips off a button, and places a demonic curse on her. Christine is alone in her house at night when she starts hearing strange noises, including screeching sounds, creaking, and thumps from above. The lights then go out, some hanging pots and pans suddenly clang together, and then light enters the house showing the shadow of a demonic figure. An invisible force then blasts her backwards into a counter, leaving her with a bloody lip. Following what she thinks was a bad dream, Christine lies back down, only to find the ghastly looking Ganush lying next to her. The gypsy woman then attacks her while on top of her in bed, biting at her repeatedly before vomiting worms and such all over Christine. An invisible force grabs and lifts Christine up toward the ceiling where it thrashes her about. After a violent encounter with a demonic spirit, Christine goes looking for her kitten (for a desperate animal sacrifice to try to appease the spirit) while holding a knife and we see the cat lying in a basket. We then hear a pained meow, and then see her finishing burying it outdoors. Christine throws a glass against a door in anger in Clay's parents' place. Christine throws a chair in anger in Rham Jas' place. Christine pulls a curtain aside in a garage, suddenly revealing Ganush who attacks her, pushing her back and forcing her fist and part of her arm into Christine's mouth and down her throat. Christine then struggles to release a rope holding an anvil that then falls and lands on Ganush's head, causing her eyeballs and related goo to squirt out onto Christine's face. A female medium, her assistant and Rham Jas hold a séance to try to rid Christine of her demonic affliction. That includes bringing out a goat to which the spirit will be transferred and then slaughtered with a machete. Poltergeist type activity then occurs in the room, including ghostly laughter and then some images of ghosts, including a ghastly one, while loud sounds cause the humans pain. The female medium then becomes possessed by a spirit, showing all white eyes before partially resembling Ganush in appearance, with sharp teeth, etc. Christine grabs her hand and places it on the goat, with the assistant going to kill it, but misses. The goat then bites him on the arm/hand, drawing blood, and speaks before transferring to that assistant who then grabs and hits Rham Jas, followed by sending a chair into him. A female medium dies from a supernatural encounter with a demon. Ganush's face is suddenly at Christine's car window, followed by the former's hanky, that then enters the car and plasters itself on Christine's face. She gets out and struggles to pull it off, followed by it zipping into her mouth. She barely grabs the end and pulls it out, followed by tearing it in half. Christine digs up a fresh grave, eventually opening the casket to reveal the dead woman's face at night during a thunderstorm, and that includes maggots crawling in that. She then smashes a shovel down into the mouth to open it and shove an envelope in there. But the grave is filling with flood water and mud, preventing Christine from crawling out. That also causes the body to float up and around Christine, followed by a large stone cross falling in there and hitting Christine on the head. She's knocked out and sinks below the surface, but pops up moments later. A woman falls off a train station platform to the tracks below, with a train quickly approaching. The ground then breaks open, revealing hellish fire and demonic hands that grab and pull her down into Hell just as the train races through (her face partially burns away, revealing a partial skeletal look). Reviewed May 26, 2009 / Posted May 29, 2009

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