But Raimi, whose Evil Dead films were so violent they had to be released unrated, says that although a PG-13 was mandated by Universal Pictures when the studio agreed to finance the film, the rating never became a creative restriction.

''You have to remember that most people don't love the Evil Dead pictures or have even heard of them,'' Raimi says. ``They're just a particular flavor that some people adore. But we were trying to do something different in the horror genre and not repeat ourselves, and I knew that although the fans wanted me to make another Evil Dead, I would lose if I just gave them the same old thing. So I decided to make another kind of horror picture -- one that didn't rely on the blood and gore which is all the Evil Dead pictures rely on.''

Despite the lack of ultra-violence, Drag Me to Hell will never be mistaken for a Disney picture: This is still a film in which a staple gun is taken to someone's eye, one in which another character gets an anvil dropped on her head, sending her eyeballs flying.

What distinguishes Drag Me to Hell from the grim likes of Saw and Hostel -- and no doubt helped land that PG-13 -- is its overall tone. Raimi intends to scare you, but he also wants you to have a raucously good time.

''A lot of contemporary horror films are trying to break new ground by pushing things further than ever before,'' Raimi says. ``[Hostel director] Eli Roth is trying to show you something you've never seen before, which is part of a filmmaker's job. The horror audience wants to go over a higher hill or deeper valley than they've ever been. What vision of beyond the grave does this particular vision present that I've never seen before?''

With Drag Me to Hell, Raimi wasn't so much interested in pushing the envelope as he was in using old tricks to new effect. For example, the movie's sound mix is sophisticated and essential to the story, much the way creaking doors and whistling winds creeped out audiences in 1963's G-rated The Haunting, still widely considered one of the most effective horror pictures of all time.

''Most people don't appreciate how integral sound is to making a film effective, especially a horror film,'' Raimi says. ``Forty-five percent of this film is the soundtrack. Whatever you think of it, you can blame most of it on the soundtrack. It's a subliminal tool you can use to suggest atmosphere, the presence of something behind you, the mood of your characters. And the absence of sound is also very effective in a movie like this. When you have constant sound, and then you take it away, the audience starts leaning forward in their seats, figuring something is about to happen. They're in a state of suspense.''

Although Drag Me to Hell has no shortage of monstrous creatures, Raimi never gets around to giving you a good, long look at the film's chief Big Bad.

SHADOWS OF THINGS

''I wanted to let the audience use their imagination and show them as little as I could, just give them cues, like shadows of things that might be lurking there,'' he says. ``We also use a lot of anticipatory frames -- putting the character on one side of the frame with a lot of empty room on the other, so you're waiting for something to pop up there. These are all really old tricks that count on the audience and treat them with respect. They can always put together a better monster in their imagination than I could ever show them.''

Now that he's satisfied the horror itch with Drag Me to Hell, Raimi is preparing for preproduction on Spider-Man 4, now being written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David LindsayAbaire (Rabbit Hole). And even though Spider-Man 3 was the highest-grossing film in the series, Raimi says he has taken the mixed reaction to the movie to heart.

''Spider-Man 3 was not received well by the critics, and some of the fans didn't like it as much,'' Raimi says. ``I'm an entertainer, and I want to please the audience, so I really want to do a much better job on this chapter. The character of Peter Parker is so great, and I love him so much, there's no reason the fourth one can't be the best one. I've learned a lot from making mistakes on Spider-Man 3, so I'm really going to try to give them a picture that will really wow.''

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