For Drag Me to Hell, director Sam Raimi returns to his schlocky Evil Dead roots. Like a master chef, he puts together tried-and-true elements with wicked glee, serving up a ghoulish stew that’s the tastiest horror dish of the year, and perhaps of the decade.

Drag Me to Hell may be full of tribute, wit, and style, but Raimi hasn’t forgotten the main purpose of a horror thriller: to scare us to death. There are least ten major scares in this movie, and a lot of minor ones along the way. Using sound effects (including sinister surround sound), excellent acting from a perfect cast, a sonorous score by Christopher Young (complete with the Devil’s instrument, the Gypsy violin), suggestive shadows, a mere 20 or 30 seconds of garish gore, and varied camera angles, Raimi plays the audience like Arturo Toscanini or Fritz Reiner, exacting perfect unanimity from the hundred players of a symphony orchestra. He never missteps; I was aware, right from the prologue, that the next 99 minutes of my life would be in the hands of a master, so I might as well dig into my popcorn, perch on the edge of my seat, and prepare myself to be deliciously frightened.

Drag Me to Hell stars talented Alison Lohman as Christine Brown, an attractive young woman who works as a bank teller but dreams of landing the newly open position of assistant manager, for which she is competing with the ethics-challenged Stu Rubin (Reggie Lee). Her boss, Mr. Jacks (David Paymer), is an obvious sexist, so Christine must try even harder than usual to impress him. When Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver), a dirty, snaggle-toothed old lady, comes in to ask for an extension on her mortgage payment, Christine’s first reaction is to grant the request -- then, remembering that Mr. Jacks prefers employees who stand strong for the bank, she denies it.

However, Mrs. Ganush is a Gypsy. She puts the curse of the Lamia on Christine, who learns from a friendly if commercial spiritualist, Rham Jas (Dileep Rao), that a demon will scare her to death for three days, then come to get her in order to obtain the cursed item she has in her possession -- a button that Mrs. Ganush ripped from her coat, cursed, and then gave back. The only person who shares Christine’s belief that she’s been cursed is her wholesome-looking boyfriend, Clay Dalton (Justin Long), whose shrewish mother (Molly Cheek) intensely dislikes the hapless girl.

Christine is plagued by many frightening events, none disclosed here so that you can be thoroughly scared by them. (I do warn pet lovers, however, that they may never hear the phrase "Here, kitty, kitty" in quite the same way again.) Is Christine literally dragged off to Hades, or merely put through a metaphorical hell? I’m not telling, except to assure you that in finding out, you’ll have one of the best horror experiences of your life.

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