Title: Drag Me to Hell (2009)
Director: Sam Raimi • Genre: Supernatural horror, dark comedy
Runtime: 99 min • Country: USA
Cast: Alison Lohman (Christine Brown), Justin Long (Clay Dalton), Lorna Raver (Mrs. Ganush), Dileep Rao (Rham Jas)
Keywords: curse, guilt, ambition, moral choice, Lamia, button
1) Plot summary and main characters
Christine Brown is a kind but ambitious loan officer in Los Angeles. She competes with a smug coworker for a promotion and wants to show her boss she can make “tough decisions.” When an elderly woman, Mrs. Sylvia Ganush, begs for a third extension on her mortgage, Christine refuses to look weak and denies it. Humiliated, Ganush attacks Christine and places a powerful curse on her: in three days the demon Lamia will come to drag Christine to Hell.
From that moment, Christine is haunted by violent, often grotesque supernatural events—shadowy figures, poltergeist attacks, and nightmarish visions. She seeks help from a fortune teller, Rham Jas, who explains that the curse is attached to a small object—Christine’s coat button—that Ganush took during the attack. If Christine cannot appease the demon, she will be claimed on the third day at sunrise.
Desperate, Christine tries different ways to survive: a séance to trap the Lamia, a failed animal sacrifice, and finally a plan to “gift” the cursed button to someone else to transfer the curse. She decides to give it back to Ganush by forcing the envelope with the button into the dead woman’s mouth at her grave. Christine believes she is free. The next morning, she plans a romantic getaway with her boyfriend Clay—until a tiny detail reveals a terrible mistake.
- Christine Brown — a capable but insecure banker whose single ruthless choice triggers the curse.
- Clay Dalton — Christine’s rational, loving boyfriend who doesn’t believe in curses until it’s too late.
- Mrs. Sylvia Ganush — an elderly woman evicted after being denied help; she invokes the Lamia.
- Rham Jas — a calm, knowledgeable psychic who lays out the rules and risks of the curse.
2) Meaning made simple
The film works like a modern morality tale with a nasty sense of humor. At heart, it asks: what is the real cost of “success” if it means denying empathy? Christine’s choice is small but telling—she wants the promotion, so she hardens her heart. That single decision opens a door to relentless consequences. The Lamia is less a random monster and more a symbol of guilt, shame, and the way systems (like predatory lending) crush vulnerable people. Christine tries shortcuts—rituals, loopholes, passing the blame—rather than owning what she did and making true amends.
Sam Raimi also satirizes rational skepticism: Clay dismisses the supernatural, while Christine’s world becomes undeniably haunted. Comedy and horror blend to show how everyday compromises can spiral into moral horror. The lesson is simple: choices matter, and you can’t outsmart guilt by shuffling it onto someone else. In this universe, responsibility is sticky like a cursed button—once it’s yours, it will keep coming back until you truly confront it.
3) Ending explained (clear and step-by-step)
On the last night, the séance fails to permanently banish the Lamia. Rham Jas tells Christine there’s one harsh workaround: she can gift the cursed object (the button) to someone else, making them the owner and target. Christine decides to give it to Ganush herself, now dead, because the rules allow gifting to the deceased. She digs up the grave in a storm and shoves an envelope—believed to contain the button—into Ganush’s mouth, shouting that she “gifts” it. She leaves thinking she won.
At the train station at sunrise, Clay shows Christine a coin he found in his car—the coin she thought she gave him earlier. Christine realizes, with horror, that she mixed up two similar envelopes the previous night: one with her office coin, one with the cursed button. She put the coin into Ganush’s mouth and still has the button. The rules were clear: the curse stays with the button’s current owner. Because the button was never transferred, the Lamia’s deadline arrives.
- Clay proposes; Christine steps back in shock.
- She stumbles onto the tracks as the morning train approaches.
- The ground cracks open like a burning maw; fiery hands pull her down.
- Clay watches helplessly as she is literally dragged to Hell. 🚆🔥
Key takeaways:
- The curse is tied to ownership of the button. Without a valid transfer, nothing changes.
- The “loophole” is real, but it demands precision: the right object, clearly gifted. Christine’s plan fails on a tiny, human error—an envelope mix-up.
- The ending is not ambiguous: Christine is damned. Raimi’s title is a promise, not a tease.
Cause-and-effect at a glance
| Christine’s Choice | Motive | Immediate Result | Ultimate Consequence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deny Ganush the extension | Ambition, fear of seeming weak | Public humiliation of Ganush | Ganush curses the button |
| Seek occult fixes (séance, sacrifice) | Desperation, avoidance | Temporary relief, chaos | Clock keeps ticking to Day 3 |
| Gift button to the dead | Exploit a loophole | Graveyard scene “seems” to work | Envelope mix-up voids the transfer |
| Meet Clay at sunrise | Closure, new start | Coin revealed | Lamia arrives; Christine is dragged to Hell |
Why this matters thematically: the film makes a dark joke out of “paperwork precision.” A career built on strict rules and documents is undone by one envelope mistake. The universe in Drag Me to Hell doesn’t reward half-measures or cosmetic apologies; it demands true responsibility. Christine tries to outsource blame, then to outsmart fate. In the end, the system she served—rules, ownership, signatures—becomes the trap that seals her doom. 😈