Drag Me to Hell 9.5/10

Eyeball cake, nosebleed geysers, evil spirits mouth fisting the living, an old lady gumming her oppressor, and a corpse spewing embalming fluid all over the protagonist. Yes, horror fans, rejoice -- Sam Raimi is back.

The "Evil Dead" writer/director makes his triumphant return to horror with his brew of frightful, gorefilled slapstick in “Drag Me to Hell.” Fans of the Evil Dead films (notice I didn’t say trilogy. That’s a bar debate for another night) will be ecstatic as Raimi brings more of what fans have become used too, including his yellow 1973 Oldsmobile.

Christine (Allison Lohman) conjures Ash Williams, sans chainsaw, delivering his campy one-liners, as she tries to rid herself of an evil spirit that wants to, drum roll please, drag her to hell. Along for the ride is boyfriend Clay Dalton (Justin Long) who, despite the hip philosophy professor job and Prius, still manages to act like an uptight Windows user for most of the film until he realizes that his lady’s outbursts may not be easily explained away by Freud or as an early indicator of Tourette’s.

Add a decrepit, doe-eyed, yellow-fingernailed gypsy villain played brilliantly by Lorna Raver who, pissed that Christine denied her a third extension on a bank loan, returns the favor with a curse (while still stealing all of the complementary candy) and a Carl Jung quoting psychic (Dileep Rao) turned supernatural savior, and Raimi has produced a living “Tales From the Crypt” style movie.

“Drag Me to Hell” is a return to true horror greatness, arguably even surpassing the "Evil Dead" films. Where those films delivered lovable over the top, disgusting slapstick comedy, Raimi’s latest installment has more substance as it continues to gross out and deliver laughs while also leaving viewers terrified. The twist at the end won’t win Raimi any 1960’s dance-offs, but it is still more than enough to leave movie goers satisfied.

Based on “Drag Me to Hell,” we can only hope that Raimi will give the “Spider-Man” style blockbusters a rest and save movie goers from the overproduced teen screams, Japanese rehashes, and snuff film horror of today. If he doesn’t, hopefully Peter Jackson will take note and start filming fright-filled slapstick again. The world can always use more 10 minute scenes of zombies being mowed over.