In Drag Me To Hell, Alison Lohman stars as Christine Brown, a young woman whose idyllic world becomes a living hell when she’s placed under a merciless curse. Fortunately for Lohman, this initiation to the macabre comes under the guidance of horror maestro and acclaimed director, Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead; Spider-Man), whose new film, anchored by Lohman’s performance, is already generating considerable buzz. A child actor since the age of nine, Lohman first made her mark in Hollywood in 2002 with the drama White Oleander, opposite Michelle Pfeiffer, Renée Zellweger and Robin Wright Penn. She’s gone on to star in Matchstick Men with Nicolas Cage; Big Fish, for director Tim Burton; Things We Lost In The Fire, with Halle Berry and Beowulf, for director Robert Zemeckis.

DRAG ME TO HELL IS A DEPARTURE FOR YOU – YOUR FIRST HORROR FILM. WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THE ROLE?
Sam Raimi. I remember first talking with him on the phone about it. I think it was a three-hour conversation, maybe more. He went into such detail, like a little kid telling a story around a campfire, and I just knew I had to do this movie with him. The thing is, I’m not a big horror fan. It takes a lot for me to be scared. Before I spoke with Sam, I didn’t think it would be right for me. I didn’t think I had my finger on the pulse of it or for any kind of horror movie. Fortunately, I learned what makes the best horror movies so good and what makes Sam so great. If you have rich characters and circumstances interesting enough for the audience to get involved, even without the horror part, only then do you have the makings of a great film. Unfortunately, a lot of contemporary horror movies I’ve seen don’t have that which is why I wasn’t initially interested. I always felt like the characters in these movies were kind of waiting for the horror, for the scary moments to happen.

WHAT DID SAM RAIMI TEACH YOU ABOUT HORROR FILMS?
I love Sam because it’s never about the horror only. Sometimes it is about those scary moments, but it’s more about the characters. In Drag Me To Hell, he really cared about Christine, her relationships, and having these moments that are very real, that we can all relate to. By the time she has to confront this demon, you’re there with her. The horror, in a way, is just the icing on the cake. You enter this other world with him that’s so solid and detailed that you feel supported by it. And you trust it to take you on that ride.

HOW DID YOU PREPARE FOR THE FILM?
I had meetings with Sam to get an idea of what he was thinking in terms of the character. I also met with a loan officer, which is what I play on screen. I didn’t know anything about banking and I’m awful with numbers, so I needed to have an idea of what that life was like and the people who actually live it. I also hung out with Justin Long, who plays my boyfriend, just to get to know each other better, to have that rapport on screen. And then, of course, I watched horror classics every day, looking for those moments. Whatever film I was watching, I would look at the rhythm and the pacing. I mean, I would just sit there, turn off the lights, and watch films like The Shining. Other times, I would watch just a single clip from a movie to find that inspiration for what I needed to do.

HAD YOU SEEN ANY OF SAM’S HORROR FILMS BEFORE?
Not the horror ones, no. So I watched The Evil Dead movies, Army of Darkness. I’d seen A Simple Plan and The Gift before, which I loved. I mean, I’ve always loved Sam’s work, especially the Spider-Man movies. You can see his personality in all of them. He has a very wry and dry sense of humor. And that humor that you see in this movie is also there in his personality.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE WORKING WITH SAM?
Amazing. We actually did a lot of rehearsal, going over scenes, talking them through and playing with them, which was incredibly helpful. Sam is great in that way – very collaborative and open to the actors being involved in the process. It makes you want to bring even more, because he’s so accepting of it. I love that about him. It’s really rare to find that in a director.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE FILMING THE SPECIAL EFFECTS AND ACTION SEQUENCES?
Well, the fight scene in the car took about two weeks to film. It was all very choreographed, very specific, coordinating our actions with the camera. A lot of it is about hitting marks while making it look as wild, frenetic and spontaneous as you can, like when I knock Mrs. Ganush’s dentures out on the front seat.

THAT WAS CHARMING.
I know… There are some interesting moments, some uniquely Sam Raimi moments when you have this older women, Lorna Raver, gnawing on your chin with her saliva on your face.

WHICH WAS?
Weird and gross! I didn’t believe him. I would never believe him when he’d tell me about the things he was planning. When you read the script, it actually describes it, “she suckles on her chin.” And I thought, ‘Oh, yeah, right, he’s just trying to be flowery on the page.’ No, he actually meant suckling on the chin. I had no idea that he was really going to do that until we did it (laughs). Yeah, we had some strange moments. Sam choreographed the whole thing. But we had to make it look as spontaneous as we could.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE MEETING YOUR CO-STAR AND SCREEN NEMESIS, LORNA RAVER, IN MAKEUP FOR THE FIRST TIME?
Lorna in makeup (Laughs). Well, I’d met her before, and she’s very sweet. But I have to say, it was hard for me to separate Lorna and her character Mrs. Ganush when we were filming. When we would cross paths on the way to our trailers or whatever, it was hard not to fear her. She played the character that well. She’s good. She’s a good actress. She evoked a lot of feelings in me (laughs).

WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR YOU?
Sleep. I didn’t have any sleep during this movie. It takes enormous amounts of energy to keep your adrenaline high, filming scenes where you’re being scared all the time and fighting for your life. So I was really trying to survive the movie while my character was trying to survive this demon (laughs). I would come home and wouldn’t know how to come down from it. But, you know, you learn little tricks. A lot of times just going for a long walk can do it. Or tequilla works too (laughs). It was a wild movie, I’m telling you. Nothing that I’ve experienced in my life comes close. I felt run down a lot of the time. I actually got shingles afterwards. The only thing that kept me going was Sam. Not only would he push me and force me to keep going, but he also inspired me. Even though he was torturing me throughout this movie, he’s

such a gentleman. I mean, he really is a contradiction. He would be so sweet and nice and then he’d be literally, bouncing me off the ceilings.

DID YOU DO YOUR OWN STUNTS?
I think there were a couple of parts where I had a stunt person, but for the most part it was me. It’s definitely me flying throughout the room. And I wanted that. So to be fair, it wasn’t just Sam. I asked for it, basically!

WHAT SURPRISED YOU MOST ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE?
Looking back on it, that I had fun. I would have thought I’d say, ‘Oh, that was a nightmare. I’m never going to do that again. Why the hell did I do that?’ But now, looking back on it, I can easily say I had a lot of fun working on it, while being tortured at the same time (laughs).

DO YOU BELIEVE IN THINGS LIKE CURSES? ARE YOU SUPERSTITIOUS YOURSELF?
No, not really. Though sometimes, I am. Today, actually, I walked in my bedroom and had these random thoughts that someone was in there, watching me. I don’t normally have those feelings. Maybe it has more to do with making this movie (laughs). And that’s not really being superstitious (laughs).

WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES FOR DRAG ME TO HELL?
Obviously, I hope it does well. But my hopes are already fulfilled. I’m just so incredibly happy with the performance and with the movie itself and what Sam created. I just hope that people will like it as much as I do.

WOULD YOU MAKE ANOTHER HORROR FILM?
I don’t know. I think it takes too much energy. It really does. But I would really love to work on another Sam Raimi movie. That I’d do in a heartbeat.