Sam Raimi: Ranking His Movies From Worst To Best

10. Drag Me To Hell (2009)

Drag Me To Hell Alternatively known as Back to the Well, Raimi's return to horror after the Spider-Man trilogy required quite the suspension of disbelief from the viewer. It required one to believe that an early '20s blonde with little education could become an assistant manager of a bank, that she would be cursed because an old gypsy woman doesn't know how American banking works, and Justin Long could be a psychology professor. Made for around $30 million, it brought in just over $42 million. This ones gives a feeling of too-much studio interference, like some of Raimi's other works - like they told him in casting they wanted it to skew towards a younger audience, hence the age of the leads. There are a few gems in here, but it's pretty run-of-the-mill 'cursed by a gypsy' script with a couple of great laughingly gross scenes, including a talking goat, a strategically positioned anvil (seriously? why does she have an anvil?), and probably the most obsessive screaming handkerchief ever. In the first act, the Delta 88 pulls a 'Christine' like obsession on the lead actress who also happens to be named Christine which never really comes to fruition. Maybe it's a subtle nod to the Stephen King novel cum movie. You never know with Raimi, which is what makes him so great. To give you an idea of what this movie is, when told she may have to sacrifice an animal to appease the demon stalking her, the lead cries "but I'm a vegetarian!" Then it cuts to a shot of her kitten. So, there you have been forewarned. Unfortunately, these moments of camp were too few and far between to give it Army of Darkness cred and too much to give it Evil Dead cred. Nothing too new here in terms of technology either, but it does show that Raimi hasn't lost his touch when it comes to comedy/horror.
Contributor
Contributor

Been there, done that but not too well. Continually financially restrained. Now (and still) lives in Western Canada and talks some hockey and parenting on ogieoglethorpe.blogspot.ca and watching trailers on 2minutemovies.blogspot.ca.