Sam Raimi has returned from the wilderness of the summer blockbusters to make a movie for his devoted horror fans. Though not exactly lighting the boxoffice on fire, Raimi has made a movie that hits every horror button and then some.  Alison Lohman plays an earnest young gal who makes the mistake of insulting a financially-strapped old gypsy crone (the athletically gruesome Lorna Raver) and horrible curses ensue. One of the great set-pieces of the film is a slobberknocker between the girl and the gypsy in a parking garage. Much like some of the classic sequences in Raimi’s Evil Dead II, surprises and shocks snowball until they are literally fighting with the old witch’s dentures! The cast is uniformly fine with a nice appearance by the dependable David Paymer as Lohman’s unsympatheitc boss. The inevitable and fiery conclusion, though foretold repeatedly, comes as a genuine surprise in this day of generic and formula horror. Rated PG-13 for  sequences of horror violence, terror, disturbing images and language.

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