This is NOT a spoiler-free review of the movie
Drag Me To Hell, so you've been warned.
In this movie, Christine Brown is a loan officer at a bank who denies a third extension on her loan to an old gypsy woman. The woman begs for her help, but Christine refuses. That night in the parking garage, the old woman attacks her and then curses her. For three days, a llamia will torment her and then drag her to hell.
OK, first off, while it's sad the woman was going to lose her home, the bank is a business. A third extension is pushing things a bit. Christine suggested moving in with family or a nursing home, and the woman refused those ideas outright. While it's true that Christine's motive for refusing the extension was selfish (she was gunning for a promotion), I felt the catalyst for the horror was weak. Trying to run a profitable business is hardly an evil act.
Secondly, a psychic (the real deal, of course; they always are in these movies) tells her she can get rid of the curse by passing along the cursed object (a button from Christine's jacket). Mistake one was that the woman stole the button, and we never saw it given back to her. Seriously, Christine just suddenly had the button on her without the movie letting the viewer know that.
Anyway, the psychic tells her she can pass along the cursed object, so she gets the smart idea to dig up the old gypsy woman (who died the day after Christine met her) and give it to her. Seems like a good idea, right? That woman was genuinely evil after all, and if anyone deserved to be dragged to hell, it was her.
So Christine does that, and the next day dawns bright and sunny. She and her loving boyfriend are meeting at the train station to take a weekend vacation. While they're talking about how wonderful everything is, the boyfriend pulls out an envelope, telling her he thinks she gave him the wrong one. Surprise! She accidentally gave him the evil button.
She's shocked and horrified and backs away, falling onto the train tracks. Here's where the story messes with its own rules. She gets dragged to hell in front of her boyfriend's eyes. Why? Why did this happen? The rules clearly stated the person who was gifted the button would get taken. Why didn't she have to watch in horror as the man who loves her is the one taken?
I rated this movie a 2 stars on Netflix. Changing the rules of your world at the end of the story is a no-no. Making a heroine who doesn't actually deserve the torment fail at the end is also a bad idea. Part of the story was to show Christine become a stronger, more confident person. She learned to fight for herself. And then it was all taken away by the last scene.