Tippett used every trick in its arsenal: set extensions, CG train, rock simulation with Maya nParticles, CG demon hands and creative matchmoving and comping. All Images: Tippett Studio / Universal Pictures © 2009 Universal Studios.

Beware: Major Spoiler Images Included Below

There was no kicking and screaming to entice Tippett Studio to work on the two hellish set pieces for Drag Me to Hell, director Sam Raimi's return to horror about a loan officer (Alison Lohman) cursed by an old woman after not getting her an extension on her mortgage.

"We did not have much direct contact with Sam Raimi (Bruce Jones, the overall visual effects supervisor, served as liaison), but this was a lot more fun to work on because I'm such a fan of Evil Dead and Army of Darkness and horror overall," admits Matt Jacobs, Tippett's visual effects supervisor on Drag Me to Hell. Thomas Schelesny, another Tippett visual effects supervisor, also worked on the project.

"And now that I've seen it, I realize what a return it is to those pictures," Jacobs offers. "But Raimi is particular about what he wants and has a real sense of where he's going. I'd say one of the more interesting aspects of it was editorializing the effects: the beats that we knew to hit…"

The "drag me to hell" sequences Jacobs refers to consists of a floor opening up at the beginning and a child being grabbed by demonic arms; and a train mowing someone down at the end and, again, the person being pulled down by the same demonic arms.

"The most interesting thing we did on the show," Jacobs continues, "was we built a miniature for the shots where we're looking in hell instead of using a digital approach because of the resources we have here at the studio, and we incorporated the help of some of ex-ILM model builders. So we went about building a small prop -- these stalactites looking down into hell and it went underneath the train track. We also used it for the opening sequence when this boy is dragged into hell. And it was a good approach. We used the RED camera and we shot it here at the studio. And it actually made getting the hell look a lot more direct and a lot faster, I think, than going through the usual computer CG pipeline because when you shoot a miniature, you're a little more locked in to what you're doing -- it's more of a calculated approach."