“Drag Me to Hell” (2009)
Summary: When a bank officer is ordered to evict an old woman from her home she finds herself the recipient of a supernatural curse, which turns her life into a living hell. In desperation, she turns to a seer to try and save her soul, while evil forces work to push her to a breaking point.
Screenplay: Sam Raimi & Ivan Raimi
Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, David Paymer
Great job, Matt! Keep em comin’. Nick
thanks Nick - even though the movie is sort of bubblegum horror, all wild camera moves, cheap thrills, and narrative tropes, I really feel like this is one of the most tightly and deliberately structured scripts to come out of Hollywood in recent years. Those Raimis, real pros!
Nice work Matt, thanks for share! Thiago. from Brazil.
Great beats Matt. Nice site Nick. Britt Olsen-Ecker is friends with my gf, Amy. She forwarded over the URL. Good to see a fellow screenwriter with such a fun, fresh new website.
Keep it up.
Best,
Patrick Mediate
Email: Patrick.Mediate@mac.com
Loved this movie. Read a near-final draft of the script last week. Here’s some of the major differences I thought you might be interested in.
1. Entire opening sequence not in this draft.
3. On her way into work, a stray cat comes up to her. She takes it to work with her. She has a roommate named Ellen who visits her at work and takes the cat home with her so Christine won’t get in trouble for bringing a cat in to work. (This is the cat from #22. Works much better in the finished film since we assume it’s a long-term pet which is a much bigger sacrifice than a kitty she just picked up off the street.)
18. The nosebleed was just a nosebleed. It didn’t spray all over Jacks, which was one of the coolest scenes.
19. Mrs. Ganush is still alive the first time Christine goes to her house.
25-1/2. After the dinner with the parents, Christine breaks up with Clay, then goes back to Ganush, who is now dead (beat 19 in the finished film).
28. Christine calls her estranged mother to try to get the money from her. She also asks her roommate Ellen for money. They both turn her down.
34. Surprisingly, this important beat was not in this draft!
Also, Christine was called “Stephanie” and Clay was called “Ray.”