The story focuses on a loan officer, who, because she has to prove to her boss that she can make the "hard decisions" at work, chooses not to extend an elderly woman's mortgage.

The old woman places a retaliatory curse on her that, after three days of escalating torment, will plunge her into the depths of Hell to burn for eternity.

In 1969 Pasadena, a Hispanic couple seek help from young medium Shaun San Dena, claiming their son Juan is hearing evil voices after having stolen a silver necklace from a Gypsy's wagon, despite his attempts to return it.

In present-day Los Angeles, bank loan officer Christine Brown vies for a promotion to assistant branch manager with her co-worker, Stu Rubin.

Christine returns to Jas, who explains that as long as she owns the cursed button, a demon known as the Lamia will torment her for three days before literally dragging her to Hell.

Christine reluctantly sacrifices her kitten before meeting Clay's wealthy parents at their house for dinner, during which she is again tormented by grotesque hallucinations.

Christine angrily returns to Jas, who offers to introduce her to San Dena for $10,000, which a sympathetic Clay pays on her behalf.

At an all-night diner, Christine calls Stu, telling him she knows about his theft of her file and demanding he meet her there, intending to give him the button and pass on the curse.

It turns out to contain her cursed coat button; before digging up Ganush's grave, she had confused it for a similar envelope containing a rare coin she had given to Clay.

Horrified, Christine stumbles and falls onto the tracks, where demonic hands emerge from the ground and drag her to Hell, leaving Clay staring in shock.

The film includes cameo appearances by Raimi himself as an uncredited ghost at the séance, his younger brother Ted as a doctor, and his eldest children Emma, Henry, and Lorne in minor roles.

Drag Me to Hell has been noted for its relevance to the subprime mortgage crisis and more broadly, the Great Recession, which were ongoing at the time of the film's release.

"[4] Also shortly after its release, a fan theory garnered attention online, positing that Christine—who’s depicted as being overweight in her youth—is experiencing hallucinations as a result of an eating disorder rather than a supernatural curse with her delusions repeatedly involving food or vomiting.

[10] The Raimis wrote the script as a morality tale, desiring to write a story about a character who wants to be a good person, but makes a sinful choice out of greed for her own betterment and pays the price for it.

[16] In 2007, Sam Raimi's friend and producer Robert Tapert of Ghost House Pictures had the company sign on to finance the film.

[10] Elliot Page was originally cast for the main role of Christine, but dropped out of the project due to SAG strike-related scheduling issues.

Raver was not aware of the specific nature of her character until being cast, stating that all she had read was "about a little old lady coming into the bank because they're closing down her house.

[10] Dileep Rao, who plays Rham Jas, made producer Grant Curtis mildly hesitant in casting him, stating that during his audition "he was a little bit younger than he read in the script.

"[10] Many of the actors playing secondary characters in Drag Me to Hell have appeared previously in Raimi's films, including Joanne Baron, Tom Carey, Molly Cheek, Aimee Miles, John Paxton, Ted Raimi, Bill E. Rogers, Chelcie Ross, and Octavia Spencer.

[18] Drag Me to Hell was edited by Bob Murawski, who has collaborated with Raimi on several films including the Spider-Man series, The Gift, and Army of Darkness.

For me, it's so relaxing, unlike pre-production, which is fraught with anxiety and fear about how we're going to do things, and production, which is so rushed and a sleepless time and you're just racing to finish every shot and worrying about focus and so on.

[18] The final sound mix was completed at the Dub Stage in Burbank with mixers Marti Humphrey and Chris Jacobson.

[18] The effects in Drag Me to Hell were created in many different ways, including green screen, puppets, prosthetics and computer-generated imagery.

The site's critical consensus states, "Sam Raimi returns to top form with Drag Me to Hell, a frightening, hilarious, delightfully campy thrill ride.

[36] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an "A" rating, stating that "Raimi has made the most crazy, fun, and terrifying horror movie in years.

"[37] Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times praised the film, writing that it "should not be dismissed as yet another horror flick just for teens.

"[38] Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune described the film as a "hellaciously effective B-movie [that] comes with a handy moral tucked inside its scares, laughs and Raimi's specialty, the scare/laugh hybrid.

"[40] In a positive review, Variety said of the film: "Scant and barren of subtext, the pic is single-mindedly devoted to pushing the audience's buttons...

"[45] Vic Holtreman of Screen Rant stated that the film blends comedy and horror in a similar fashion to the way Army of Darkness does.

[50][51] In March 2023, Raimi revealed that Ghost House Pictures was actively trying to come up with ideas for a potential sequel for the film.