Sam Raimi spent nearly two decades away from the horror genre before making Drag Me To Hell. And yet, by the accounts of most, the film is chock-full of the director’s trademark jumpscares. Be honest, is there one that frightens you the most?
The film follows Christine Brown (Alison Lohman), a young bank teller who becomes cursed by a gypsy-witch after failing to give her a loan. Soon, a demonic entity called the Lamia is out to destroy Christine forever. With Raimi’s signature gross-out horror and mordant sense of humor, here are the 10 Best Jumpscares in Drag Me To Hell.
Church Doors Burst Open
Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? After all, one of the most startling jumpscares in the film happens to be the very first.
In the opening sequence, a couple attempts to rid their son of demonic possession. The fevered boy sees evil shadows reaching down for him from the ceiling. His mother attempts to ward off the spirits by holding a seance. However, a moment of calm stillness is interrupted when the church doors suddenly fly open behind the boy’s mother in a loud, violent fashion.
Ganush’s Office Attack
Most of Ganush’s violent outbursts towards Christine come with some sort of jumpscare. Yet few are as frightening as the first.
After Christine is forced to deny Ganush a bank loan, the old gypsy-witch begins to beg. Once she is denied again, the public shame is too much for Ganush to accept. But before placing a demonic curse on Christine, she terrifies the young woman by suddenly accosting her. Just as the authorities escort Ganush out of the bank, she breaks free and violently lunges at Christine while speaking in tongues.
Ganush’s Handkerchief
Who knew a handkerchief could be so horrifying? Well, Christine finds out the hard way not once, but twice, when the evil gypsy-witch Ganush rattles her with a wicked piece of fabric.
The first handkerchief jumpscare comes when Christine leaves work. She enters the dark and quiet parking garage and unlocks her car. Soon, Ganush’s handkerchief floats in the air and suddenly slams onto Christine’s windshield with a loud screech. When Christine is driving down the road much later, the handkerchief flies onto the windshield again, this time with Ganush’s growling face superimposed.
The Lamia’s Shadow
One of the most effective jumpscares in the film comes when Christine finds herself home alone. When she senses a sinister presence in her house, she begins to investigate. In retrospect, she probably wishes she hadn’t.
Christine cautiously climbs the stairs to her bedroom, only to be startled by the sudden image of the Lamia (a hooven beast) silhouetted on the curtains. The brief image comes with a howling scream, which sends Christine running for her life. The shadow continues to torment her throughout the scene until the next jumpscare arrives.
Ganush’s Face In Phone
Poor Christine. Mere moments after being harassed and haunted by the Lamia’s shadow, Ganush gives her a double dose of danger.
Once Christine parries the Lamia’s shadow, she attempts to call her boyfriend, Clay. As she makes the call, the Lamia, now in physical form, slowly nears her bedroom. As the tension mounts, Christine peers down at her phone. With the battery running out, the screen goes blank before a zooming close-up of Ganush’s face abruptly appears on the phone display. A shrill scream punctuates the jumpscare.
Milos’ Possession
During the climactic seance, Christine faces no shortage of scares. However, one particular jumpscare rises above the rest — literally.
While attempting to summon the Lamia so they can destroy it, Christine seeks the help of the mother from the film’s opening. The mother has an assistant named Milos. During the seance, the Lamia quickly possesses Milos, which gives Christine a crippling jumpscare. Milos is fine one moment, bitten by the Lamia the next, and when Christine goes to check on him, he turns around and levitates with a demonic expression.
Ganush In Grave
Here’s a good-old twofer. In the penultimate scene, in which Christine exhumes Ganush’s corpse, Raimi gives viewers two mortifying jumpscares in just a few seconds of screen time.
The first comes when Christine tries to pull the envelope from Ganush’s cold dead hands. With no luck at first, Ganush’s body suddenly lurches upright. A jaw-dropping shot of Ganush’s maggot-ridden face follows. Moments later, Christine accidentally falls back into the grave as it fills up with rainwater. While submerged and out of sight, Ganush’s corpse alarmingly pops up out of the water for one final scare.
Rham Jas’ Vision
One of the best jumpscares occurs when Christine visits the medium Rham Jas. Who knew demons could haunt a psychic vision?
That’s precisely what occurs when Christine agrees to engage in a seance to summon the Lamia. A calming and quiet moment of reflection is abruptly subverted when Rham Jas is haunted by a startling vision. The camera slowly zooms onto Christine and Rham’s faces, then smash cuts to flaming demonic imagery along with a loud, screeching hiss.
Ganush In Shed
In typical Raimi fashion, he gives the audience a jumpscare just when you think it’s safe to relax. But Evil Dead fans ought to know bad things happen in the dang tool shed!
During the scene in which Christine retrieves items from the tool shed, the audience is lulled into submission. Christine pulls back part of a curtain and gathers a power drill before grabbing her ice-skates. When she goes back and pulls the curtain a second time, Ganush suddenly lunges out as she wails and screams. The shaky-cam zoom Raimi employs is what sells the scare.
Ganush In Bed
Who could deny that the most spine-tingling jumpscare comes when Christine suddenly finds herself in bed with Ganush?
Raimi does everything possible to give the audience a false sense of comfort. Christine abruptly awakes in bed, only to find her boyfriend, Clay, sleeping peacefully beside her. Christine sits up and looks around the room for a few beats. When she lays back down, it isn’t Clay next to her, but rather Ganush. As the gypsy-witch attacks, a frightening zoom and close-up onto her odious face culminates with Ganush vomiting hundreds of maggots onto Christine.
