DISSECTING THE DIRECTOR: Sam Raimi

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

“SAM RAIMI”

There are two things which come to mind when the words Sam Raimi appear, horror and Spider-man. Certainly for me, horror comes to mind first, as that is how I first discovered him (at that time Spider-man wasn’t even a glimmer in his eye). What sets him aside from the other director’s who have tackled the genre, is his amazing ability to balance horror and comedy successfully. While not all of his films have that comedy element, those that do tend to be the ones we remember. He is a very versatile director, having dipped his feet in many other genres including crime, adventure and the western. He has proven himself as quite the talent, one that continuously impresses and entertains me.

BEST WORK

Sam Raimi has a lot of films to love and enjoy, and picking the stand out of the bunch is no easy task. On a personal level for me, it comes down to two films, the ones which I would classify as his best. Those two would be Evil Dead II and Drag Me To Hell, they are two films which could easily be brother and sister. If I had to chose the ultimate best out of those, I would go with Evil Dead II, but just by a small margin. This film can be seen as one of two things, a sequel to The Evil Dead or a remake of The Evil Dead, in my opinion it is a bit of both. With a bigger budget, Raimi set his sights high with this one. Not only does he expand on what he created, he injects a lot of new things into the mix, including some fantastic humor. The main character of Ash (played so perfectly by Bruce Campbell) really goes to hell and back in this one, even his own hand is against him. Raimi manages to balance such horror and terror with an amazing array of slap stick comedy. If you look at it on paper, this shouldn’t have worked, in the right hands it has become a classic (at least that is the way I see it).

The film has some amazing practical affects, including one possessed woman locked up in the basement. It is so well done, so disgusting and morbid that you would never guess that underneath all that make-up lies one Ted Raimi. It doesn’t really stop there, the film is one non-stop attack from the ‘evil’ which possesses the cabin. There is no real way to fight it, just to go with instincts and no matter what happens, nothing seems to work. The situation itself that Ash (and soon after the others) finds himself in, is truly something frightening. No where to run, no real way of fighting what’s out there, it is an impossible situation that any normal person wouldn’t want any part of. Raimi manages to create that sense of dread and terror in the film, while giving us an outlet for it all through the antics of Ash. He really created something fantastic with this film, I honestly felt like he looked into my head and wrote down my own recipe for a terrifyingly good time.

WORST WORK

Spider-Man 3, that emo dance thing that Peter Parker does is truly frightening! But in all seriousness going back over all of his films, it is hard to determine which is the worst of the bunch. There is one which does stick out more than others, and that is Crimewave. This was Raimi’s first studio picture, and upon watching the film it really feels to be missing something. The film is a mixture of horror/crime/comedy, the script was written by Raimi’s good friends Joel and Ethan Coen. Surely that would equal awesome right? Well unfortunately no, the film doesn’t quite engage the audience at all until at least 20 minutes in. It is confusing, I had to re-watch scenes several times to get a grasp of what exactly was going down. The pacing is all over the board, at times I found myself looking at the clock. The three stooges element runs wild, perhaps a little too wild, for the story at hand it felt so out of place. The film itself isn’t altogether terrible, it certainly does have some good qualities (Bruce Campbell for one and the extremely creepy hit-men brrr), as a whole though it is perhaps Raimi’s weakest effort. He personally has stated making this film was a terrible time (it does show), and the shoot was plagued with problems which Campbell goes into in his first autobiography. There is that special spark that Raimi seems to inject into his films that is missing here. While it certainly looked good on paper, the execution here was not all that good. A real shame too, it certainly had a lot of potential, but in the end it just doesn’t live up to the rest of his resume.

TRADEMARKS

Sam Raimi has a lot of trademarks, no matter which of his films you are watching, you know it’s one of his. My absolute favorite of his trademarks, is his use of ‘the classic’ which is a yellow 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 car. He has used this car in every one of his films (he even claims it made it’s way into The Quick And The Dead), it took Ash and friends to the Cabin and Sylvia Ganush (Drag Me To Hell) and Uncle Ben (Spider-man) both owned the car. Raimi also likes to appear in his own films in a cameo appearance, similar to the way Hitchcock used to do with his films (he even dresses the same way Hitchcock used to whilst filming). He is well known for using his brother Ted and Bruce Campbell in his projects, the pair have appeared in both his trilogies. With the Evil Dead series Bruce has played the same character of Ash, while Ted has had many different roles. This is the opposite with the Spider-man trilogy, where Bruce has played different roles and Ted has played Ted Hoffman who works at the Bugle. Some of his other well known trademarks include the use of a chainsaw, fake shemp (in reference to The Three Stooges), Whip-Pan camera shot, voice-overs and montage sequences.

HIDDEN GEM

One of Raimi’s film that I think has gone under the radar since it’s initial release is The Gift. This film seems to only get mentioned in conjunction with Katie Holmes nude scene. But there is definitely more to this film than her boobs, and I do believe it does get over looked. It is a great film, something quite different for Raimi when you look back at his career. The Gift is a supernatural horror/thriller, which focuses on its main character Annie (Cate Blanchett) who is a psychic/fortune teller. She sees things which haven’t happened yet, and upon meeting Jessica King she sees that something terrible is on the horizon for her. Soon enough Jessica is announced as missing, and the towns folk call on Annie for help. It doesn’t help that Annie seems to have made a few enemies in town including Donnie Barksdale (Keanu Reeves) who is the abusive husband of one of her clients Valerie (Hilary Swank). While the mystery at hand in this film might seem obvious at first, what unravels is something else entirely. The thing that makes this work so well is the great atmosphere Raimi has created, as well as these quirky cast of characters. The film has this classic supernatural feel, the mystery of it all is what drags you right in. It helps that Annie is such an interesting character and someone you can stick with throughout the film. Not to mention the performances are all great, even Keanu manages not to be so wooden. And of course, there is that Katie Holmes nude scene!

NEXT PROJECT

Where do I even begin? As a director Sam Raimi has been attached to everything under the Sun. As of right now Raimi is attached to direct the big screen adaptation of the popular World Of Warcraft game. He also been confirmed as the director of OZ: The Great And Powerful for Disney. This would be the prequel to the original Wizard Of Oz, with production set to start next year and even 3-D is likely to be thrown into the mix. With his time away from the director’s chair is also hard at work producing, his upcoming project is Priest which is set for a release next year. He also serves as an executive producer in the on going Spartacus: Blood and Sand. To say he is one busy man would be a complete understatement.

OVERALL 

Sam Raimi is such a fantastic director, his films will always hold a special place in my heart. His were amongst the first which really got me hooked into the more gore infested horror films. I owe a lot to him, without Raimi I don’t think I would be as big of a fan as I am of the genre. He is an amazing talent, he even managed to make a PG-13 film seem like it was really an R-rated one. No matter what he’s tackling you can be rest assured you are in capable hands, he delivers the goods. If you want to find a film maker who makes films that have a high re-watch value to them, look no further.