A crazy old lady curses sweet Christine Brown who then has three days to save her soul. Otherwise, she’ll be dragged straight to hell.

Watch our Sam Raimi interview here!

For everyone who loves Evil Dead-era Sam Raimi, it’s been intriguing to see his development as a blockbuster A-lister. Fanboys rejoiced when he was given the reins in Spider-Man; where he’d previously made the camera into a monstrous force that hurtled through the woods, he was now given a monstrous budget, and his eye followed the swinging superhero around Manhattan to exhilarating effect.

However, the ghost of the past has constantly haunted him; there’s barely been an interview where he hasn’t been asked when he’s getting onto Evil Dead 4. And maybe it was the excesses and criticisms of Spider-Man 3 that spurred him to return to his roots – or maybe he just wanted to go back to his favourite toybox – but Drag Me To Hell is vintage Raimi through and through.

The first proper horror film he’s directed since 1992’s Army Of Darkness, Drag Me To Hell is based on a short story Raimi wrote with his brother Ivan 15 years ago, and is knowingly simple and silly. After being viciously attacked and cursed by a mad gypsy woman in a staggeringly brutal and disgusting car park showdown, sweet Christine (Alison Lohman) finds herself having to undertake all manner of gruesome tasks in an attempt to avoid being dragged into, well, Hell.

What follows is a string of increasingly ridiculous and astoundingly OTT horror set-pieces. If you’ve ever wanted to see exactly what Evil Dead-era Sam Raimi could do with a Hollywood budget, look no further, as this film features buckets of blood, incredibly gory slapstick, and impressively gooey CGI.

By the time we’re done with the set-up and Raimi really gets going, there’s no doubt that this is the man who gave us Evil Dead 2, mixing horror with comedy to create a wholly disposable but joyous thrill-ride. Demonic forces throw people around, body parts fly off, people get buried alive… certainly by the time the goat gets possessed, his cards are on the table.

This is the cinematic equivalent of a ghost train. Sure, the dialogue’s hokey and the plot is dumb – as Raimi is happy to admit – but it’s not important. And Raimi clearly had the time of his life; he recently confirmed he’s writing Evil Dead 4 now. See this and you’ll see why… as throwaway as it is, it shows an unmistakable master at work.

BOTTOM LINE: A seat-jumping classic – see it with an audience.