History Film / DragMeToHell

* BeYourself: The first Aesop presented in the film, [[spoiler: and the first one broken by Christine.]]
* BlackComedy: It's a Sam Raimi horror, so naturally it runs on this. The [[CruelTwistEnding ending]] is a particularly brutal punchline.

* BreakTheCutie: [[spoiler: Christine]] breaks at the train station. Which eventually [[spoiler: leads to [[KillTheCutie killing the cutie]]]]. Clay also breaks after she's dragged into Hell.

* BeYourself: The first Aesop presented in the film, [[spoiler:and the first one broken by Christine.]]

* BreakTheCutie: [[spoiler: Christine]] breaks at the train station. Which eventually [[spoiler:leads to [[KillTheCutie killing the cutie]]]]. Clay also breaks after she's dragged into hell.

* ChekhovsBoomerang: [[spoiler:Christine accidentally leaves her cursed cuff button in Clay's car, and dear sweet Clay is thoughtful enough to return it to her at noon on the Third Day.]]
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:Again, the button]].
* ContrivedCoincidence: [[spoiler:Christine is carrying the button in an envelope while Clay gives her a ride in his car while he has a bunch of paperwork in the backseat, plus at the same time he also has there a rare quarter dollar coin in a blank envelope. Sylvia's spirit briefly influences Clay to drive into a bump, sending papers flying everywhere, and of course Christine and Clay accidentally mix up the envelopes. However, Clay having this improbable and plot-convenient baggage that allows for the mixup in the first place seems to just be pure coincidence.]]

* CreatorThumbprint: Along with the Oldsmobile mentioned above, Christine discovers plot-crucial information from an article in a newspaper near the climax. This also occurs in ''Film/SpiderMan1'' and ''Film/ASimplePlan'', all directed by Creator/SamRaimi. [[spoiler:What makes this plot device so specific to Sam is that, after each [[TheProtagonist protagonist]] reads the relevant article, they act with the belief that their situation will improve because of the information they read; [[FromBadToWorse every time it deteriorates]]]]. Likely, this reused plot detail references his original cult horror film, ''[[Film/TheEvilDead1981 Evil Dead]]''.

* DeathOfAChild: The prologue features a 10 year-old or so boy being [[AndIMustScream doomed to burn in Hell for all eternity]].

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Despite all attempts to cancel out the curse and save herself from eternal damnation, Christine ends up being pulled down into the burning flames of Hell all the same. And Clay can only watch helplessly.]]

* FacialHorror: [[spoiler:As she's being dragged to hell, the flesh on Christine's face starts melting.]]

* FireAndBrimstoneHell: According to [[spoiler: the ending and]] Rham Jas' book, this is what Hell looks like[[spoiler:, and Christine ends up being dragged there. Her skin starts to melt off as a result]].

* FormerlyFat: Christine is ashamed of the fact that she used to be a chubby farmgirl. In her EstablishingCharacterMoment montage, she glances longingly at some sweets in a store window. When she hits rock bottom, she gorges on ice cream.
* FortuneTeller: This is Rham Jas' job; he deduces that Christine has been cursed.
* TheFunInFuneral: Christine [[TheReveal realizes]] that she has arrived at [[spoiler: Mrs.Ganush's]] funeral about twenty steps from the final stair to the basement. Then she sees the corpse [[FromBadToWorse and falls face-first on top of it; then, pedestal holding the coffin snaps, causing it to fall - Christine and contents included; then, as she rolls off the coffin after impact, she pulls the corpse off with her]] ([[RunningGag it having clasped her hair]]), [[FromBadToWorse after which it lands on top of her and pours the digested and congested contents of the deceased's last meal and inner infection out of her open mouth and into Christine's]].
* {{Gonk}}: Ganush's immediate impression with her false teeth and filthy fingernails at the bank.

* HighPressureBlood: A high pressure ''nosebleed''.

* MoodWhiplash: As the film ends, Christine, who had been condemned to [[FireAndBrimstoneHell Hell]] for most of the plot prior, happily greets her boyfriend, Clay, at the train station, having disposed of her cursed jacket button the night before. Before they board the train, [[{{Aesop}} she admits to him that the old lady who cursed her to Hell was right to do so, because she had done wrong by her to refuse to extend her stay in that house]]. Clay wonders how she could be such a good person, [[ChekhovsBoomerang then asks her why she left the button of her old jacket in his car]]. [[spoiler: [[DraggedOffToHell Down]] [[SuddenDownerEnding she goes]].]]

** Christine's boss is motivated purely by profit. He excitedly notes that kicking Ganush out of her house will result in a big windfall for the bank. When Christine refuses the loan extension, he tells Christine that she handled the issue perfectly.

* NiceGuy: Clay, who destroys superstitions for a living as a teacher, comforts Christine [[spoiler: by paying Shaun San Dean her ten-thousand dollar fee to treat Christine]] without any evidence of supernatural happenings to support Christine's assertion that she's been cursed.
* NotWorthKilling: Christine was considering to pass the cursed button onto her weasel of a co-worker Stu Rubin, but after seeing him as a DirtyCoward groveling and begging to her, Christine felt he wasn't worth it.

* OrificeInvasion: The fly that ends up going into one of Christine's nostrils while she is sleeping, audily buzzes around inside her nasal cavity for several seconds, then crawls out her ''other'' nostril. And she doesn't wake up!
* PoorCommunicationKills: Evidently, the following is Clay's thought pattern before he meets Christine on the platform: "Why is there a coat button in this envelope? Oh, that's from Christine's jacket. I'll return it when I see her." The first day of their holiday also happens to be the final day in the cycle of the curse. In the end, the trope is [[spoiler:PlayedStraight]].
* RedemptionInTheRain: When Christine finally [[spoiler:emerges from the [[RiseFromYourGrave old woman's grave]] in the rain, it montages into her taking a shower]]. [[spoiler:{{Subverted|Trope}} in that the rain stops pouring the moment after [[HoistByHisOwnPetard the deed]] [[KarmicDeath is done]]]].
* RubberOrifice: Most supernatural activities involve something entering or leaving someone's mouth. At one point Christine is attacked by a [[DemonicPossession demonically possessed]] old hag who shoves her entire arm into Christine's mouth. At another, a a living cat leaves a man's mouth.

** There's also the fact that the Lamia [[spoiler:torments its victims for three days before actually coming to drag them to Hell.]]
* RunningGag: Literally: ''[[IncrediblyLamePun a gag]]''. If something gross and scary turns up on screen, [[VisualPun rest assured it's going to end up in Christine's mouth]]. Though instances of Mrs. Ganush grabbing and tearing locks of Christine's hair out [[spoiler: - even while dead -]] occur more frequently are [[LampshadeHanging protested against by Christine on the third occasion]].

* SadlyMythtaken: So off, it ''must'' be intentional. Lamia are Greek, female, (usually) half-serpent demons that either eat children or young men in the vein of succubi. The Lamia in the movie is a goat (the fortune-teller used an illustration of Baphomet while explaining everything to Christine). They must've been keeping the real Lamia in mind, because during its first visit to Christine its silhouette is first a shapely woman, which then changes into a goat.

* ShootTheDog: More like [[spoiler:stab the kitten]].

* YankTheDogsChain: Christine actually gets two of these in the film. The first is after the ritual where it seems they successfully got the Lamia off her back. [[spoiler: Only to be told they just ''banished'' it away for the moment and the curse is still in effect. If that wasn't bad enough, the only one who could stop it just died using up all her energy]]. So she's given the button in an envelope and told to give it away to another poor sap to save herself. After a few considerations [[spoiler:Christine actually makes a surprisingly smart choice and tries to give it to Ganush, despite the fact she recently died.]] After much struggle, it seems she finally pulls it off and everything is all peachy. Good things are happening to her and her BF and she are set for a romantic getaway. However while waiting on the train platform [[spoiler:said BF pulls out the button, it having gotten mixed up during a near car accident.]] And well... the rest is history.

* ConvectionSchmonvection: Averted. [[spoiler: Christine's [[FacialHorror face graphically melts]] when she is being dragged to the burning flames of Hell.]]

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: PlayedStraight for nearly the entire film, [[spoiler: but [[JustForPun diabolically]] subverted at the end.]]

* {{Jerkass}}: The [[SmugSnake underhanded]] and [[DirtyCoward cowardly]] [[AsianRudeness Stu]] and arguably [[ObnoxiousInLaws Clay's mother]] are this.
* JumpScare: The movie has a total of ''thirteen'' jump scares, to the point it gets kind of excessive.

* MorallyBankruptBanker: Stu, Christine's rival, is prepared to [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking steal, cheat, lie, professionally slander, and flatter]] (in that order) to advance his career.

* AesopCollateralDamage: A Meta-example. In this fictional reality, [[spoiler: Christine and the young boy]] burn in Hell because there is potential that that is what the viewer wants: [[MeaningfulName the film's title]] suggests that the only reason anyone watched it was from a desire to be affected by the possibility (if it exists) of damnation. [[AuthorTract This is the point of the film]]. [[PoesLaw You may read it two ways]]: as a meticulously and painfully well-paced joke, or as an incredibly pointed reminder of the greatest pitfall one can traverse on the path to enlightenment - the concrete and active pursuit of another's damnation. [[{{Camp}} It's possible, of course, to watch it both ways]].

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Literature/{{Thinner}}'', [[WholePlotReference which also involves]] an upper class protagonist in a RaceAgainstTheClock to remove a stereotype Roma curse from them before their time is up. Interestingly enough, the music composer for ''Thinner'' Daniel Licht was a protege of Christopher Young, the music composer for this film. Both Licht's and Young's ensemble orchestras performed for those movies were even the Northwest Sinfonia.

* ShootTheShaggyDog: See DownerEnding.

* BeYourself: The first Aesop presented in the film[[spoiler:, and the first one broken by Christine.]]

* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: Christine, an atypically nice horror heroine is cursed to Hell because she evicted a senior citizen from her home to live with her granddaughter. [[spoiler: [[JustifiedTrope She justifies the curse]] by [[SadisticChoice the last act she commits out of sheer terror]].]]

* ChekhovsBoomerang: [[spoiler:Christine accidentally leaves her cursed cuff button in Clay's car, and dear, sweet Clay is thoughtful enough to return it to her at noon on the Third Day.]]

* DevelopingDoomedCharacters: The trope driving the plot [[spoiler: for the entire film, [[BrownNote and the reason the movie can be difficult to watch]]]]. Christine attempts nearly every practical and physical method within her reach to escape hell [[spoiler: [[CatScare and fails because of a mishandled]] JumpScare]].

* HeroicBSOD: Christine pulls one late in the film [[spoiler: at the sight of [[ChekhovsGun the envelope]] carrying [[ChekhovsBoomerang the cursed button - which she thought she retrieved from Clay's car - in Clay's hands at the train station]].]]
** The ''very last'' shot of the film shows [[spoiler: Clay pulling a MASSIVE one. After having witnessed Christine being dragged to Hell, he can only look at the train tracks and at the cursed button with a mix of horrified disbelief and heartbreak.]]

* {{Jerkass}}: The [[SmugSnake underhanded]] and [[DirtyCoward cowardly]] [[AsianRudeness Stu]], and arguably [[ObnoxiousInLaws Clay's mother]].

** Chrisine's boss Jim Jacks is named after real-life movie producer Jim Jacks who was the producer of Darkman and ASimplePlan
* ShowerOfAngst: Averted. [[spoiler: Rather than contemplatively considering every action she took over the past three days after her visit to Mrs. Ganush's grave - deliberately condemning someone to hell, possibly taking the wrong envelope from Clay's car - ]] Christine goes home and takes a nice, hot shower, only with the regret of refusing the old woman an extension.

''Drag Me to Hell'' (2009) is Creator/SamRaimi's long-awaited return to the [[Franchise/EvilDead horror genre]]. The movie stars Creator/AlisonLohman as Christine Brown, a loan officer who forecloses on an old Gypsy woman's home for the sake of a promotion. This proves to be a big mistake, as Sylvia Ganush, the woman in question, proceeds to lay a curse on her that sets a horrendous demon against her to terrorize her for three days, after which she will be DraggedOffToHell. Now Christine must find a way to break the curse before she suffers this [[FateWorseThanDeath most awful of fates]].

* CoolCar: Creator/SamRaimi includes his [[CreatorThumbprint 1973 Oldsmobile in all his movies]]. Here it is the Gypsy woman's.

* CurseEscapeClause: Discussed and invoked. Christine can pass along the gypsy-cursed button to someone and they will be dragged to hell in her place. [[spoiler:And ultimately subverted. She considers passing it to her loving boyfriend, but changes her mind; she tries to TakeAThirdOption in giving it to Madam Ganush's corpse. However, she unknowingly put the wrong button in the grave, the curse is not lifted, and she is dragged to hell.]]

* HeroKiller: [[spoiler: The Gypsy Curse]] has yet to fail.

* RedemptionInTheRain: When Christine finally [[spoiler:emerges from the [[RiseFromYourGrave gypsy woman's grave]] in the rain, it montages into her taking a shower]]. [[spoiler:{{Subverted|Trope}} in that the rain stops pouring the moment after [[HoistByHisOwnPetard the deed]] [[KarmicDeath is done]]]].

* ShowerOfAngst: Averted. [[spoiler: Rather than contemplatively considering every action she took over the past three days after her visit to Mrs. Ganush's grave - deliberately condemning someone to hell, possibly taking the wrong envelope from Clay's car - ]] Christine goes home and takes a nice, hot shower, only with the regret of refusing the gypsy an extension.
* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Literature/{{Thinner}}'', [[WholePlotReference which also involves]] an upper class protagonist in a RaceAgainstTheClock to remove a gypsy curse from them before their time is up. Interestingly enough, the music composer for ''Thinner'' Daniel Licht was a protege of Christopher Young, the music composer for this film. Both Licht's and Young's ensemble orchestras performed for those movies were even the Northwest Sinfonia.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Evidently, the following is Clay's thought pattern before he meets Christine on the platform: "Why is there a coat button in this envelope? Oh, that's from Christine's jacket. I'll return it when I see her." The first day of their holiday also happens to be the final day in the cycle of the curse. In the end, the trope is [[spoiler: PlayedStraight]].

* {{Tuckerization}}: Creator/SamRaimi named Creator/DavidPaymer's character after his long time friend producer James Jacks.

* YankTheDogsChain: Christine actually gets two of these in the film. The first is after the ritual where it seems they successfully got the Lamia off her back. [[spoiler: Only to be told they just ''banished'' it away for the moment and the curse is still in effect. If that wasn't bad enough, the only one who could stop it just died using up all her energy]]. So she's given the button in an envelope and told to give it away to another poor sap to save herself. After a few considerations [[spoiler: Christine actually makes a surprisingly smart choice and tries to give it to Ganush, despite the fact she recently died.]] After much struggle, it seems she finally pulls it off and everything is all peachy. Good things are happening to her and her BF and she are set for a romantic getaway. However while waiting on the train platform [[spoiler:said BF pulls out the button, it having gotten mixed up during a near car accident.]] And well... the rest is history.

* HopeSpot: An absolutely merciless one. [[spoiler: [[LampshadeHanging It even lampshades the page quote]].]]

* CurseRelay: Discussed and invoked. Christine can pass along the gypsy-cursed button to someone and they will be dragged to hell in her place. [[spoiler:And ultimately subverted. She considers passing it to her loving boyfriend, but changes her mind; she tries to TakeAThirdOption in giving it to Madam Ganush's corpse. However, she unknowingly put the wrong button in the grave, the curse is not lifted, and she is dragged to hell.]]

''Drag Me to Hell'' (2009) is Creator/SamRaimi's long-awaited return to the [[Franchise/EvilDead horror genre]]. The movie stars Creator/AlisonLohman as Christine Brown, a loan officer who forecloses on an old Gypsy woman's home for the sake of a promotion. This proves to be a big mistake, as Sylvia Ganush, the woman in question, proceeds to lay a curse on her that sets a horrendous demon against her to terrorize her for three days, after which she will be DraggedOffToHell. Now Christine must find a way to break the curse before she suffers this [[FateWorseThanDeath most awful of fates.

''Drag Me to Hell'' (2009) is Creator/SamRaimi's long-awaited return to the [[Franchise/EvilDead horror genre]]. The movie stars Creator/AlisonLohman as Christine Brown, a loan officer who forecloses on an old Gypsy woman's home for the sake of a promotion. This proves to be a big mistake, as Sylvia Ganush, the woman in question, proceeds to lay a curse on her that sets a horrendous demon against her to terrorize her for three days, after which she will be DraggedOffToHell. Now Christine must find a way to break the curse before she suffers this most awful of fates.

''Drag Me to Hell'' (2009) is Creator/SamRaimi's long-awaited return to the [[Franchise/EvilDead horror genre]]. The movie stars Alison Lohman as Christine Brown, a loan officer who forecloses on an old Gypsy woman's home for the sake of a promotion. This proves to be a big mistake, as Sylvia Ganush, the woman in question, proceeds to lay a curse on her that sets a horrendous demon against her to terrorize her for three days, after which she will be DraggedOffToHell. Now Christine must find a way to break the curse before she suffers this most awful of fates.

* BreakTheCutie: [[spoiler: Christine]] breaks at the train station. Which eventually [[spoiler:leads to [[KillTheCutie killing the cutie]]]].

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Despite all attempts to cancel out the curse and save herself from eternal damnation, Christine ends up being pulled down into the burning flames of Hell all the same.]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Literature/{{Thinner}}'', [[WholePlotReference which also involves]] an upper class protagonist in a RaceAgainstTime to remove a gypsy curse from them before their time is up. Interestingly enough, the music composer for ''Thinner'' Daniel Licht was a protege of Christopher Young, the music composer for this film. Both Licht's and Young's ensemble orchestras performed for those movies were even the Northwest Sinfonia.

* {{Badass Grand|pa}}ma: For an old woman, Sylvia Ganush, the gypsy who sets the Lamia's curse on Christine, puts up a formidable fight [[spoiler:and wins]].

* CruelTwistEnding: ''Indeed''. [[spoiler:The end reveals that Christine is not quite lifted from the curse, and is dragged off to Hell.]]

* BattleInTheRain: Christine finally faces the source of her strife by driving to the cemetary where Mrs. Ganush is buried. After she arrives, the rain starts. She digs out Mrs. Ganush's grave, opens the coffin, and [[ChekhovsGun shoves the cursed button inside the corpse's mouth]]. However, she is deep in the ground, and the rain is heavy: the grave begins to flood, miraculously allowing the corpse of Mrs. Ganush to grab her hair in an attempt to pull her under. [[spoiler: Christine successfully subdues the corpse and escapes the grave.]] The rain stops.

* [[BadassGrandpa Badass Grandma]]: For an old woman, Sylvia Ganush, the gypsy who sets the Lamia's curse on Christine, puts up a formidable fight [[spoiler:and wins]].

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: PlayedStraight for nearly the entire film, [[spoiler: but [[IncrediblyLamePun diabolically]] subverted at the end.]]

* BloodyHilarious: The [[{{HighPressureBlood}} nosebleed scene]]. "Did I get any in my mouth?"
* BreakTheCutie: [[spoiler: Christine]] breaks at the train station. Which eventually [[spoiler:leads to [[KillTheCutie killing the cutie]].]]

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The movie is called ''Drag Me to Hell''. Guess what the curse does? [[spoiler: [[CruelTwistEnding And guess what happens]] [[SuddenDownerEnding to Christine]] [[DownerEnding at the end]]?]]

* FireAndBrimstoneHell: According to [[spoiler: the ending and]] Rham Jas' book, this is what Hell looks like[[spoiler:, and Christine ends up being dragged there. Her skin starts to melt off as a result.]]

* InterClassRomance: Christine is from humbler roots than wealthy Clay, and the whole plot is caused in part because she wants a promotion to measure up to his family.

* VoiceOfTheLegion: The Lamia speaks like this whenever it possesses someone.
* {{Yank The Dogs Chain}}: Christine actually gets two of these in the film. The first is after the ritual where it seems they successfully got the Lamia off her back. [[spoiler: Only to be told they just ''banished'' it away for the moment and the curse is still in effect. If that wasn't bad enough, the only one who could stop it just died using up all her energy]]. So she's given the button in an envelope and told to give it away to another poor sap to save herself. After a few considerations [[spoiler: Christine actually makes a surprisingly smart choice and tries to give it to Ganush, despite the fact she recently died.]] After much struggle, it seems she finally pulls it off and everything is all peachy. Good things are happening to her and her BF and she are set for a romantic getaway. However while waiting on the train platform [[spoiler:said BF pulls out the button, it having gotten mixed up during a near car accident.]] And well... the rest is history.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Literature/{{Thinner}}'', [[WholePlotReference which also involves]] an upper class protagonist in a RaceAgainstTime to remove a gypsy curse from them before their time is up. Interestingly enough, the music composer for ''Thinner'' Daniel Licht was a protege of Christopher Young, the music composer for this film.