The 10 Best Films Directed By Sam Raimi

Some directors have a very unique style to their filmmaking, easily identifiable even by casual viewers. Some directors don’t just direct films, but they also write and produce films. Some directors make cult classics, and others make blockbusters. Then there’s Sam Raimi, who does all of the above and then some. With talks of a new Evil Dead film under Raimi’s guidance and Raimi in talks to direct Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the return of Raimi to the big screen to direct after having dabbled in television is an exciting idea.

Sam Raimi is among the most fascinating directors to grace the scene, a man of immense talent with a wicked sense of humor, horror, and heart. Not including films produced or solely written by Raimi, here are 10 of his directorial films worth a watch. Sorry Oz: The Great And Powerful, you didn’t make the list.

10 The Gift

The Gift feels more like an M. Night Shyamalan film than a Raimi film, in terms of its basic premise and the fact that it’s a 2000s thriller. Even the post’s color scheme and design look akin more to a Shyamalan movie.

The film is about a fortune teller who gains knowledge of murder through ESP (hence the film’s title). The film has lots of twists and turns concerning her visions (That’s So Raven style) and all all-star cast for a $10 million budget film, and is a decent film, but not an entirely memorable one.

9 Spider-man 3

Spider-man 3 has a pretty brutal reputation. An understandable one, but an unfair one. Even with all of its extremely hoaky and convoluted scenes, Spider-man 3 is still a memorable movie. Sure, the first Amazing Spider-man might have been more competent, but it had a very small impact on culture.

Through criticism, memes, and even some fans, Spider-man 3 lives on. For every bad thing in the movie, there is also a good thing to counter it. And even then, some of the bad things are pretty entertaining. Exhibit A: Peter Parker dancing around Manhattan.

8 Darkman

Liam Neeson played the gruff star of an action movie years before Taken. Raimi created the character in a short story he had previously written and managed to turn it into a film after his film career took off. Darkman was one of the few pre-2000s superhero films that were actually pretty competent.

Darkman is a cross between characters like Batman and The Shadow, both of whom Raimi wanted to make films on, but was unable to. The design is like The Shadow, and the thirst for vengeance is akin to Batman. However, Darkman is also a bit of a mentally unstable loose cannon. It makes for a creative and engaging film.

7 Spider-man

Along with X-Men, Sam Raimi’s first Spider-man film started the superhero film genre’s second life in the 2000s. Spider-man has aged a bit, and it’s distracting to see Tobery Maguire (at the time nearing 30) play a high schooler, but the film’s high points are high. Uncle Ben’s death is heartbreaking, and subsequent Spider-man films have been too scared to utter “with great power comes great responsibility.”

The Green Goblin is a joke, but Willem Dafoe’s performance is legendary. The upside-down kiss with MJ is one of the most iconic shots in cinema. Spider-man is a solid first entry in what would become one of the most influential superhero trilogies ever made.

6 The Evil Dead

The jumpstart to both Sam Raimi and star Bruce Campell’s careers, The Evil Dead is among the most important films for aspiring filmmakers to study. The entire production was infamously unstable and grueling, and the budget was not ideal. The crew filmed and lived in a cabin in the woods to make their product, but the movie came out shockingly well.

The concept is simple: Ash Williams and his friends go to a creepy cabin for a getaway trip. They read from an evil book and creatures known as “deadites” attack and posses the friends as a punishment. The willpower and creativity poured into this movie is a testament to one of the most admirable aspects of making movies.

5 Drag Me To Hell

After his Spider-man trilogy, Raimi did a return to roots and played around with horror again, specifically, horror-comedy. Drag Me To Hell is a disgusting and intense movie with seemingly no brakes on its insanity.

The film is about a loan officer who doesn’t extend an old gypsy woman’s mortgage and is cursed to eternal damnation for it, after 3 days of torment. With stakes like that, the film isn’t playing around, and yet, it totally is, because this movie has some of the best Raimi comedy despite its intense and thrilling premise.

4 A Simple Plan

People often cite The Usual Suspects and Silence of the Lambs as among the greatest 90s thrillers, but often ignore A Simple Plan. It appears Sam Raimi’s friendship with the Coen Brothers influenced him in the making of this film because A Simple Plan is oddly reminiscent of a Coen film, just as The Gift seemed like a Shyamalan film.

A Simple Plan has three men come across a plane wreck with millions of dollars in cash present in the dead pilot’s bag. With a premise like that, it’s easy to imagine how the film spirals out of control. Seeing extraordinary things happen to (seemingly) ordinary people is always a treat, and it is one of Sam Raimi’s biggest and most common calling cards.

3 Evil Dead II

Evil Dead II is among the oddest movies ever made. It really isn’t a sequel to the first Evil Dead so much as a reboot. The film recounts the previous film’s events in the loosest manner possible, and the tone shifts drastically from a horror film to a horror-comedy. Raimi had tried to do other films, but after his film Crimewave did poorly, he had to make a sequel to Evil Dead to stay afloat.

Raimi originally wanted to toss Ash Williams in the Middle Ages, but that would have to wait (somewhat). Evil Dead II is hilarious, insane, and the most iconic entry in the Evil Dead franchise for good reason. There’s nothing quite like seeing a man with a chainsaw hand fight possessed people.

2 Army Of Darkness

The greatest tragedy in cinema was the fact that this film’s original title was changed from “The Medieval Dead” to “Army Of Darkness.” Following off the bizarre ending to Evil Dead II (and lightly re-tooling the story yet again), Army of Darkness is a simple concept, albeit an insane one. Ash Williams has to fight the deadites in the Middle Ages. In the film, Ash’s iconic chainsaw hand gets a robot hand treatment instead, which is a little disappointing, but fun nonetheless.

And “fun” is the best way to describe this movie. The horror is almost completely gone at this point, with Army Of Darkness playing itself as a straight comedy throughout its runtime. This is the movie that Raimi wanted to do for years on end, and was finally granted a free pass to do. And it shows. Raimi and Campbell clearly enjoyed themselves so much while making this film, and that sense of fun is contagious to the audience.

1 Spider-man 2

Spider-man 2 was to the pre-MCU era what Iron Man and The Dark Knight were to the next phase of superhero cinema. Spider-man 2 is a near-perfect movie (with the exception of Mary Jane Watson’s character), and remains to this day, among the top tier of superhero movies. It captures the essence and difficulty of being Spider-man so perfectly.

Peter Parker’s humanity is what made comic readers fall in love with the character in the first place and Raimi’s shadow still affects the character to this day. If Tobey Maguire’s Spidey ever makes a comeback, audiences will care because of Raimi’s impeccable love and dedication to making the character relatable and memorable.

About The Author

Rafael Sarmiento
(90 Articles Published)

I was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and am Spanish/Venezuelan-American. I graduated from the University of New Mexico with a degree in History, and in Film. I write for both ScreenRant and CBR, along with other projects on Medium, so feel free to stalk me. I love to read discussion, even when it’s totally awful, so leave comments all over my articles, folks.

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