Drag Me to Hell
Short description
Christine Brown works as a loan officer at a Los Angeles bank, where she hopes to impress her manager and secure a promotion. Her comfortable life with her boyfriend, the professor Clay Dalton, is upended when an elderly woman named Mrs. Ganush comes to the bank asking for more time to pay off her mortgage. Christine refuses the request in order to protect her career, and Mrs. Ganush loses her home as a result. The woman retaliates by placing a curse on Christine, who soon finds herself tormented by a malevolent spirit. Her boyfriend remains doubtful, so she turns to a psychic named Rham Jas for help in breaking the curse before it drags her soul to hell.
Sam Raimi directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Ivan Raimi, with Robert Tapert and Grant Curtis also producing. It was Raimi's thirteenth film as director in chronological order, arriving after Spider-Man 3 and before Oz the Great and Powerful. Alison Lohman plays Christine, Justin Long plays Clay, Lorna Raver plays Mrs. Ganush, and Dileep Rao, David Paymer and Adriana Barraza appear in supporting roles. Made for about 30 million dollars, the film took roughly 91 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.6/10 from around 230,000 votes, on TMDB 6.5/10 from more than 4,000 votes, while a critics' rating stands at 7.7/10 from 268 reviews, higher than the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Sam Raimi's cameo: one of the spirits appearing during the demon's exorcism.
- Sylvia Ganush's car number is 99951.
- The director's brother appears in the film as a doctor. His face is not shown, only his voice is heard.
- Elliot Page (formerly known as Ellen Page) was originally cast to play the role of Kristina, but due to commitments to other filming projects, they left the project.
- The medium in the film is named Ram Jas. His name is similar to Ram Dass, the name psychologist Richard Alpert took after becoming a New Age spiritualist guru.
- The goat led to the demonic summoning session is mechanical. The filmmakers abandoned the idea of using a live goat because it was too cute and distracted everyone during filming. This is revealed in the film's behind-the-scenes video diary.
- The film's script was written by Sam and Ivan Raimi immediately after completing 'Army of Darkness' in 1992, but Sam was busy with other projects and couldn't get 'Drag Me to Hell' made.
- In the film, Shawn San Dena speaks about her deceased husband, Sander, who was also a medium. This is a tribute to Sam and Ivan Raimi's older brother, Sander, who drowned at the age of fifteen.
- The film features a 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale, which was first used in "The Evil Dead", also directed by Sam Raimi, and appeared in other films of his.
- Lalo Schifrin's 'The Exorcist Symphony' had not been used anywhere previously (except in the trailer for 'The Exorcist' in 1973). It is heard at the end of 'Drag Me to Hell'.
- David Palmer's character was named after James Jacks, a longtime friend and producer of Sam Raimi.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
