I've tried to make this as spoiler-free as possible.

Drag Me to Hell was the only film I saw in Austin over South by Southwest, but it was a great choice. Sam Raimi lost a whole lot of goodwill after Spider-Man 3, but the ingenious set pieces are macabre humor here show that the guy still has some tricks up his sleeve.

So what makes this a great horror film - a tremendous rarity in this day and age? It doesn't take itself too seriously, it has a rascally wit when it comes to playing on the audience's expectations, and most surprisingly, Alison Lohman. You'll be impressed with how gamely she goes through disgusting, terrifying, and hillarious punishment. Justin Long does not fare nearly as well. He was believably frightened in Jeepers Creepers, but in his second horror outing he has very little charm or presence to offer. On the other hand, Sam Raimi's presence can be felt fully. He said the tone of this film is somewhere in between Evil Dead 1 and 2, and I'd say that's fairly accurate. There's a lot of nasty humor here, and the plot is happy to dish all sorts of gross liquids and torture upon our poor protagonist. Best of all, like the best horror films it goes in directions that are plumb unexpected, but had the audience squealing in delight.

I've read reporst of how unfinished the movie was in this cut. They're sharper than I - there were some imcomplete effects, but rarely did it ever take me out of the movie. I will totally acknowledge that my opinion may be different from most - the 1,200 Paramount Theater was packed to the brim with people who were stoked to see this. I can certainly understand why some internet writers proceed to write such hyperbolic reactions as my own, if this screening is any indication. Still, I can't see any true horror fans being dissapointed, provided there not fools who only like their scary movies to take themselves way too seriously to actually be, y'know, scary.