The Greatest Sam Raimi Films, Ranked

Sam Raimi may sound like an unassuming Midwesterner, but his films are an art form. Frequently collaborating with Bruce Campell, he’s made some of the most intense and inventive horror films of all time.

Raimi and Campbell made their mark with The Evil Dead in 1981, a basic cabin-in-the-woods story elevated by Raimi’s exciting direction. Since then, Raimi has gone on to dabble in various other genres, including baseball drama and westerns, but is most famous for revolutionizing superhero movies with Spider-Man 2, considered by many to be the best the genre has to offer.

Not all of Raimi’s movies hit, but they all deserve some attention.

Evil Dead II (1987)

Like its predecessor, Evil Dead II has very little in the way of plot. So little, in fact, that the first act simply repeats the plot beats of The Evil Dead, making the movie something between a remake and a sequel. But with that extra room and extra budget, Sam Raimi crafts something even more daring and thrilling than the original.

Melding his love of slapstick with horror gore, Raimi amps up the comedy in Evil Dead II, taking full advantage of Bruce Campbell’s movie idol looks and willingness to be beaten up on the screen. Together, the duo makes Ash into the most unlikely of everymen, the guy who survives every attack the world throws at him, only to be harassed some more.

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

After the success of Spider-Man, Sam Raimi came back to Spider-Man II with astounding confidence. The screenplay by Alan Sargent — which also featured work from Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, and Michael Chabon — pits Spider-Man against the brilliant but tragic villain Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), and gave Peter a crisis of faith that results in the loss of his powers.

From that set-up, Raimi leaned into the high emotions of the story, cribbing from King Kong to imagine Doc Ock’s attacks and high romance for the yearning between Mary Jane and Peter. Raimi also crafted the best scene in all of superhero cinema, in which a crowd of New Yorkers gently carry Spidey’s body after he expends all of his energy saving them. Visually impressive and earnest to a heartbreaking degree, the scene captures everything great about superheroes.

A Simple Plan (1998)

As this list shows, Raimi works best when he’s moving his camera around, attempting dizzying and dynamic shots. And yet, one of his best films is also one of his most sedate. Directed from a screenplay by Scott B. Smith, adapting his novel by the same name, A Simple Plan tells a sad story of a family brought to ruin when they find a cache of money in the Minnesota snow.

Instead of constantly thrilling his audience, Raimi builds tension through human drama. Bill Paxton stars as good guy Hank, who sacrifices his better judgment when he keeps the money, leading to a host of problems, including inducing Lady MacBeth-like scheming in his wife (Bridget Fonda). But the real power of the film comes from Billy Bob Thornton’s kind and tragic turn as Hank’s dimwitted brother, a performance Raimi wisely uses as the centerpiece of the movie.

The Evil Dead (1987)

Almost any young filmmaker could make a horror movie about a bunch of kids in a cabin attacked by demons. Sam Raimi went to work having written the barest of scripts, with character development limited to a couple of romantic and familial connections and a plot that consisted of a few unrelated incidents. But no other young filmmaker could make a movie that looks like The Evil Dead.

Even on this, his first feature fully displays Raimi’s relentless visual style. Rushing his camera through the set to capture the point of view of the evil Deadites, Raimi chases down and gleefully tortures Bruce Campbell’s Ash, immediately declaring himself as one of the cinema’s most distinctive voices.

The Quick and The Dead (1995)

Although she didn’t have the respect she deserved, by 1995, Sharon Stone did have the clout she needed to get a passion project made. She chose western The Quick and the Dead by Simon Moore and picked Sam Raimi to direct. What seemed like an odd choice soon revealed itself as inspired, as Raimi perfectly suited the video game-like plot about gunfighters converging for a quick-draw tournament.

While Raimi keeps intact character beats involving Stone’s silent fighter The Lady, domineering John Herod (Gene Hackman), dreamy criminal Cort (Russell Crowe), and cocksure The Kid (Leonardo DiCaprio), his zany visuals remain the movie’s real draw.

Drag Me to H (2009)

Some wondered if success had made Sam Raimi soft, suggesting that years of directing Hollywood superhero movies had buried the guy who made the gnarly Evil Dead films. Raimi dispelled those fears with the opening scene of Drag Me to H, in which a little boy gets carried away by a demon. Things only grow more absurd from there, with a script he and brother Ivan wrote under the influence of EC Comics.

As banker Christine (Alison Lohman) deals with the consequences of her mistreatment of an elderly woman (Lorna Raver), she’s subjected to all manner of gooey humilities, including getting her chin gummed upon and being sprayed with unearthly slime. Fun, mean, and terrifying, Drag Me to H reminded viewers that they can never count out ol’ Sam Raimi.

Spider-Man (2002)

For decades, Spider-Man tried to crawl onto the silver screen. Despite the character’s overwhelming popularity in other media, Spider-Man never made it into production. Even James Cameron made an attempt that would have starred Leonardo DiCaprio as Peter Parker and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Doctor Octopus. Fortunately, when Spidey did hit theaters, he did so under the guiding hand of Sam Raimi.

A longtime reader of the comics, Raimi understood the soap opera heart of the character and cast Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst as wide-eyed, overly earnest versions of Peter and Mary Jane. More importantly, Raimi brought his eye for dynamic action sequences, crafting fight scenes that still outclass most superhero movies, more than two decades later.

Army of Darkness (1992)

Evil Dead II tempered the ghastly horror of The Evil Dead by adding slapstick humor, but the third in the trilogy Army of Darkness completes the transformation as a full-on comedy. Picking up where Evil Dead II left off, Army of Darkness takes place in medieval England, where mild-mannered S-Mart employee Ash (Bruce Campbell) has fully transformed into a swaggering (and kind of stupid) action hero.

While the script that Sam Raimi wrote with his brother Ivan leaves room for the monsters summoned by the Necronomicon, it’s more interested in eye-poking and face-slapping, bringing The Three Stooges into the world of Ray Harryhausen.

Darkman (1990)

Despite having the needed filmmaking skills and the passion for the character, Warner Bros. passed over Raimi, who chose disinterested art student Tim Burton to direct 1989’s Batman. Like a bitter ex, Raimi showed the world what they missed with Darkman, a fiery superhero story in the pulp tradition. Liam Neeson stars as Dr. Peyton Westlake, a brilliant scientist disfigured by the evil Durant (Larry Drake).

Using his miracle synthetic skin to create disguises for himself, Darkman goes on a vendetta of revenge while also romancing attorney Julie Hastings (Frances McDormand). As straightforward as the plot may be, Raimi gives it an overabundance of style, making Darkman one of the greatest kiss-offs in cinema history.

Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness (2022)

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness felt like a failure waiting to happen. A long-delayed sequel to a mediocre superhero movie, Doctor Strange 2 had already lost a director in Scott Derrickson, who seemed more willing to work under the constraints of the Marvel system. To be sure, the movie has problems of modern superhero films, including a plot that depends on other entries and belabored lore.

But somehow, Raimi brought his nasty sense of humor to the film, gleefully killing cameo heroes, and crafting some of the most remarkable fight sequences in the genre, especially a battle in which wizards throw musical notes at each other.

Spider-Man 3 (2007)

When Spider-Man 3 hit theaters, fans responded with anger and disgust. Not only did Sam Raimi, his brother Ivan, and Alvin Sargent overstuff the script with extra characters, including Vernon and Gwen Stacy, but viewers hated the sequence in which a corrupted Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) tried to look cool.

While not everything in Spider-Man 3 works, the film still has more character and energy than the large majority of superhero movies that have been released since.

Crimewave (1985)

Raimi directed Crimewave from a script he wrote with Joel and Ethan Coen, the great American filmmaking duo. With so many legends working together, Crimewave must be amazing, right? Well, it is for fans of over-the-top slapstick. Sam Raimi indulges his love of Looney Tunes and The Three Stooges in this zany story of cops and robbers.

The aesthetic doesn’t work for everyone, especially given the garish look Raimi and cinematographer Robert Primes create. But for fans that share the director’s sense of humor, then Crimewave is a blast.

The Gift (2000)

Raimi is a master of horror, but Southern gothic horror sits outside of his wheelhouse, as demonstrated by The Gift. The script by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson wallows in nastiness as fortune teller Annie (Cate Blanchett) gets pulled into a mystery after she sees the death of a troubled local girl (Katie Holmes).

Raimi gets to show off a bit visualizing the movie’s surreal scenes, and Keanu Reeves turns in one of his best performances as an abusive husband. But overall, The Gift is just too relentlessly bleak to be enjoyed.

For Love of The Game (1999)

As a Michigan native, Raimi loves working references to his home state in his films. No wonder he accepted Kevin Costner’s invitation to direct a movie about an aging pitcher for the Detroit Tigers.

As the person with final say and final cut, Costner had control over the production of For Love of the Game, and viewers can sense Raimi’s removal from the proceedings. Without his usual flair to liven things up, For Love of the Game operates as a mediocre baseball movie, unoffensive but competent.

Oz, The Great and Powerful (2013)

Late in Oz, the Great and Powerful, Theodora (Mila Kunis) turns to the dark side after having her heart broken by the con artist Oz (James Franco). In a fit of anger, Theodora eats a mystical apple, which sends her writhing in pain, until she falls behind a table. Suddenly, a clawed green hand shoots in the air and scratches deep grooves in the table, announcing Theodora’s transformation into the Wicked Witch of the West. And thus begins and ends the only part of Oz, the Great and Powerful with any personality.

Outside of this one sequence, Oz is a leaden programmer, a cheap attempt to cash in on a recognizable property, lacking almost any of the character Raimi brings to most of his work.