Drag Me To Hell is certainly a provocative title, and it’s certainly taking a lot on its shoulders in terms of expectations to deliver. And at the same time, this is the first horror genre film directed by Sam Raimi since 1993’s Army of Darkness. But time’s not only a factor for Raimi, there’s also the fact that he’s now about as well known, if not more well known, for being the director of the Spider-Man movies. So does Raimi still have the goods? You better believe he does. Despite its PG-13 rating, Drag Me To Hell is frightening with a few stomach-churning gory moments, but its also smartly and skilfully made.

Drag Me reminded me of a classic Twilight Zone or Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode in terms of the way it was self-contained story with a lot of punch, and maybe an important life lesson in their somewhere for balance. Submitted for your approval is Christine Brown (Allison Lohman), a bank loan officer anxious to prove her managerial chops by telling an old lady that despite her illness, age and infirmary, the bank must take her house. But the old woman is a gypsy, and the shame she endures at Christine’s hands must only be responded to with the most ancient and horrific gypsy curses possible. Christine has three days of torment ahead of her, culminating in cashing in an express ticket to Hell for eternity.

Raimi clearly defines himself as a master of the craft, calling back to his Evil Dead days to balance horror shocks and bits of cheese in the storytelling. The tension is built up well, and along the way you get hit with a significant number of bumps, nudges and outright gory segments, featuring projectile bodily fluids, that make you squirm. Interesting that this film got a PG-13 because it seems the only reason why is because there’s no bad language or nudity. But really, this is intense. At least I though it was intense. Raimi reminds us that what’s in the shadows can be the scariest thing of all, and that a creaking gate can be as grating a sound as any other possible harbinger of doom.

But this film loses points for the acting talent assembled though. Lohman feels kind of miscast as Christine Brown. I have to say that this character’s survival really wasn’t much of a concern to me, not because it could be argued that she had it coming – she kind of did – but because she’s kind of bland and rather plain. If I was the old gypsy woman (played with remarkable menace by Lorna Raver), I would have asked myself what’s the point before going curse crazy. And the casting Justin Long as the boyfriend felt remarkably like Raimi was trying to find a sublimate Bruce Campbell, who presumably would have played the part had this film been made years earlier. But the bottom line is that no one can replace “The Chin.”

But despite the fact that the two leads are rather, well, insert a word better than “blah” if you can think of one, the movie works very well. It’ll make you jump, make squeal and make you squirm. Horror films of this kind of craftsmanship are rare, and what I appreciated was how engrossing Raimi made this world. You could truly believe that curses were around every corner and were powerful and vengeful. It may not appeal to the Saw crowd, but I was glued to my seat even though I had a rather certain idea about how the whole thing was going to develop. That’s how you know when you’re in the hands of master, when you trust him or her to take you where you need to go. It’s nice to know that Raimi’s still got it so far as the evil dead are concerned.