After years and years away from the genre, the creator/director of THE EVIL DEAD series is back! Sam Raimi took the stage on Friday, April 17th to preview his latest film DRAG ME TO HELL! Raimi surprisingly nervous brought on stage 2 of the stars of the his latest opus, Justin Long and Lorna Raver. (FANGORIA's current cover girl!)

Raimi explained the basic premise of the film. Alison Lohman plays Christine, an eager to please bank teller who makes a choice to foreclose on Mrs. Ganush, a creepy looking gypsy type. What'd ya know? She's definitely a gypsy or witch of some sort, because now she's cursed Christine who will be tortured by the ghoulish old woman until the demons of hell come for her soul.

Raimi debuted a clip from the film that featured Lohman in bed with her boyfriend (played by Justin Long) and a fly hovering above the unconscious Christine. To spoil the madness that insues would be unfair, but let's just say it was trademark vintage EVIL DEAD 2-style Raimi on full display. A fly going in spots you'd never want a fly to crawl in? A creepy witch? Tons of fluids being spewed? Oh yeah, DRAG ME TO HELL will be a blast and a lot of fun.

One of the best questions from the audience was "In DRAG ME TO HELL, will we see Bruce Campbell, Ted Raimi or Venom?" Raimi laughed and confirmed that Venom is not in this picture. Ted shot a brief cameo that you'll probably completely miss, and he never commented on why Campbell's not in this latest flick. As always, he danced around the subject of a new EVIL DEAD film, saying what he usually always tells us eager fans. He'd love to do one but now he's focused on DRAG ME TO HELL and then SPIDER-MAN 4. He did point out that despite earlier reports on-line, he's only signed to helm SPIDER-MAN 4 and not 4 & 5 like speculated.

Justin Long talked a bit about starting out in the genre with JEEPERS CREEPERS and jumping at the chance to work with Sam. Lorna was unfamiliar with the horror genre but had a great time playing the evil Mrs. Ganush.

This panel and the clip shown solidified that Raimi is back to what he does best in a big way. At the close of the panel, Creation Entertainment's Adam Malin and FANGO's Tony Timpone presented Sam with a lifetime achievement award. Below are the pictures! 

























(Pictures by Shannon Robles)