If Sam Raimi’s long-awaited return to horror, Drag Me to Hell, is, as Rob Tapert classified it last December, “… a wild ride with all the chills and spills that Evil Dead delivered, without relying on the excessive violence of that film,” then I’m going to assume he plans on torturing the living Ash out of his lead.  Groovy.  That he’s chosen to cast a female in the Bruce Campbell role is interesting; that he’s settled on Academy Award-nominee Ellen Page is the second greatest thing I’ve read all day (behind the Ricky Gervais/Matt Robinson screenplay for This Side of the Truth).

Raimi calls Drag Me to Hell a “spook-a-blast”.  I’d prefer an addition to the “spam in a cabin” genre, but anything that doesn’t entail a bunch of folks with super powers begging each other’s forgiveness is fine by me.  Variety‘s Michael Fleming describes the film as a “morality tale about the unwitting recipient of a supernatural curse”.  Somehow, “spook-a-blast” is more specific.  While Page is also attached to Drew Barrymore’s roller derby flick, Whip It, Fleming claims that this will be her next movie (it’s currently scheduled to begin production on March 17th out here in Los Angeles).  You didn’t need another reason to adore Page, but here you are. 

Universal Pictures will finance and distribute Drag Me to Hell.  If this is truly a down-and-dirty (in terms of scale) horror film, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s ready for theaters before the end of the year.