Drag Me To Hell (2009)

Going back to your roots is always a risky proposition. As directors grow, the things that made them able to make the kind of experience that sparked their career fade. It's nice to see that Sam Raimi doesn't really have that problem. In some of the best possible ways this shows that Raimi may not have evolved at all since the days of Evil Dead. It's every bit the cheesy, crowd-pleasing scarefest that he cut his teeth on. The story of a woman cursed to be, of course, dragged off to Hell, has plenty of easy hooks and evenly placed jumps, but is also remarkably direct with its intentions. It knows exactly what kind of movie it is, and gives off clever smiles as often as demonic fright. In the end, it's nothing more than is standard for the genre, but is so much fun that it hardly matters.

8 out of 10.