After helming three “Spider-Man” films, Sam Raimi will return to his genre roots to direct Drag Me to Hell, a supernatural thriller he wrote with his brother, Ivan Raimi.
According to Variety, the morality tale about the unwitting recipient of a supernatural curse will go into production early next year. It will be financed through Ghost House Pictures, a joint venture Raimi and Rob Tapert formed several years ago with Mandate Pictures.
Raimi and Tapert will produce with Grant Curtis, and Josh Donen will executive produce with Mandate’s Nathan Kahane and Joe Drake.
Tapert said the Raimis penned the script well before the formation of Ghost House. It was originally written under the title “The Curse” and completed right after the siblings collaborated on 1992’s Army of Darkness, which Sam Raimi directed.
“Sam calls it a ‘spook-a-blast,’ a wild ride with all the chills and spills that ‘Evil Dead’ delivered, without relying on the excessive violence of that film,” Tapert said. “When one has done three very expensive movies, they get used to eating caviar. Sam will have to ponder what it means to come down from the mountaintop for a moment.”
After Drag Me to Hell, Raimi is expected to take the helm of “The Hobbit” films for New Line and MGM now that Peter Jackson has made it clear he won’t direct.
