All 15 Sam Raimi Movies, Ranked

The stylish director known for ‘Spider-Man,’ ‘Evil Dead,’ and ‘Drag Me to Hell’ returns after nine years away from the camera.

Few film producer have a directing style as immediately recognizable as Sam Raimi , who manages to sneak little bits and homages from his favorite genre rule into even the most tonally locked - down superhero blockbuster , all while moving his tv camera and set in ways that should n’t even be physically possible . A ace of practical force and a loyal collaborator with his longtime Quaker Bruce Campbell and former roommates Joel and Ethan Coen , Raimi is seated among the pantheon of Hollywood weirdos whose name in a film ’s credit elicits an galvanising oomph of excitement .

But Raimi is n’t all Deadites and Marvel Hero . Did you know that , between his two wildly successful series , theEvil Deads and theSpider - Mans , Raimi tried his mitt at directing a Western , a neo - noir crime film , and a straightforward baseball play ? We were n’t about to let any underappreciated directorial efforts slip through the cracks , and so , on the even of Raimi ’s return to directing after nine foresightful years with Marvel ’s delightfully creepyDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness , we ’ve look out and range all 15 of his lineament film , from the diabolical horror flick that got slapped with a " video nasty " rating by the United Kingdom ’s film security review committee , to a certain world - famousbug - themed superhero , and everything in between . It has been , as an iconic Raimi grapheme might say , groovy .

15.For the Love of the Game(1999)

After asterisk inBull DurhamandField of Dreams , Kevin Costner picked up a baseball again for this ill - think Latinian language , a movie that lack the humour or the poignance that made his old approximate range outings so memorable . Instead , as Detroit Tigers ace Billy Chapel , the actor gives one of his sleepiest performance in a story that tally about as heavily as the many adult - contemporaneous songs that paper the soundtrack . Raimi , applying a mostly workmanlike approach to treacly material , takes great pleasure in staging the baseball sequences , which do manage to put you right on the mound in Yankee Stadium . But the movie ’s key geomorphologic amour propre — an senesce pitcher mull over what went wrong in his relationship with the woman he loves ( Kelly Preston ) while throw a perfect plot — never generates much tenseness , passion , or even rarity . With a running prison term of 138 minutes , it ’s at least shorter than an real baseball game . — Dan Jackson

14.Oz the Great and Powerful(2013)

Before his nigh 10 - year absence from the big screen , Raimi made Disney ’s largely forgottenWizard of OzprequelOz the Great and Powerful . Even some Raimi - isms in the camera ork ca n’t stop this from feeling like an endeavor from the studio apartment to see anotherAlice in Wonderland - style run into packed to the lip with CGI . Raimi ’s leading military man does him no favors . James Franco , reuniting with hisSpider - Mandirector , approach Oz with a level of winking " I ’m in force than this " caustic remark even when his conduct witches ( Michelle Williams , Mila Kunis , and Rachel Weisz ) essay their best . — Esther Zuckerman

13.Crimewave(1985)

12.Spider-Man 3(2007)

Do n’t let our current era of flop revisionism fool you : Spider - Man 3just is n’t very unspoiled . It ’s far from the bad film Raimi ever made , and it ’s sure enough effective than a mint of films of its sort that come after it , but it is wad so full ofstuffthat none of its multiple patch bow is allowed any room to breathe . Peter Parker is about to finally propose to Mary Jane Watson when an extraterrestrial symbiote turn him into a fuckboy , an at large convict gets cohere in a corpuscle gas pedal and turns into a sand monster , Peter ’s best friend Harry is out to down Spider - Man and is turning himself into the next Green Goblin , and an upstart photographer is out to slip Peter ’s job by sell fake Spider - Man pictures to J. Jonah Jameson . Any one of these game could have been a movie of its own , but becauseSpider - world 3tries to do everything all at once , it fall back focus on the things that made these movies great in the first place . At least we got aniconic saltation numberout of it . — ES

11.Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness(2022)

Fans ' excitement when none other than Sam Raimi was announce to directDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnesswas twofold : he ’s creditworthy for some of the best superhero movies ever with his Spider - Man trilogy , and , with theEvil dead andDrag Me to Hellunder his belt , he ’s well suited for the horror - ish movieMultiverse of Madnesswas styled to be . Now only too cognizant of the risk of the multiverse , Stephen Strange ( Benedict Cumberbatch ) stumbles into a teenaged young woman named America Chavez ( Xochitl Gomez ) who possesses the indocile power to universe - hop and claims to have met another , darker version of himself while on the run from a unholy military unit . To help the kid out , foreign reach up Wanda Maximoff ( Elizabeth Olsen ) , which might not be the best idea — especially when the sweetener of a universe in which Wanda and her family are gayly together becomes too much to protest . The motion-picture show plays out the needed Marvel level round , but allows passel of elbow room for Raimi to do his thing , essentially trap his characters in a haunted sign of the zodiac edition of a superhero movie . — ES

10.The Gift(2000)

turn from a script co - written by Billy Bob Thornton , who establish Cate Blanchett ’s main case off his own psychical mother , Raimi gets to do a little bit of everything in this refreshfully uneven supernatural play . Blanchett plays Annie Wilson , a fortune - teller who gets wrapped up in a mystery surrounding the fade of a untested woman ( Katie Holmes ) and the possible involvement of a whole township ’s worth of sleazy , mercurial men . Part court - room thriller , part psychological potboiler , and part sweaty Southern melodrama , the movie recklessly bounces between musical genre and provides its ridiculously stellar hurl ( Keanu Reeves , Giovanni Ribisi , J.K. Simmons , Hilary Swank , Greg Kinnear , Kim Dickens ) with plenty of scenery to manducate . Somewhere between the cool quasi - prestige formalism ofA Simple Planand the daredevil shenanigans of his earliest horror oeuvre , The Giftfeels like " The Road Not Taken " for Raimi , a mid - budget character - dramatic event packed with visual genius but innocent of blockbuster spectacle . — disk jockey

9.The Evil Dead(1981)

For all the motion-picture show - geek mythology border its yield , uproariously document in star Bruce Campbell ’s memoir and beyond , The Evil Deadstill retains the power to frighten . All those imaginative optic tricks ( the " trembling Cam River " mounted to a art object of Sir Henry Joseph Wood ) and scurvy - budget particular effects ( the unsettling link lenses worn by the possess ) , follow up through a combining of design and desperation , in reality create an ambience of dread and uneasiness . The stripped - bones plot , which follow Campbell and acquaintance as they summon demons via a skin - cross book , allows Raimi and his crowd to focus on mood , tensity , and , yes , the grotesque . As a go - for - broke splatter - movie formalist , Raimi control the frenzied tone and delivers the requisite shock value with great style . He does n’t just make it look slow — from Campbell ’s carrying into action to the bucketful of blood , the backbreaking work is all on - screen — but he does make it look fun . — DJ

8.The Quick and the Dead(1995)

Sharon Stone recruit Raimi to direct this Western in which she toy a revenge - seeking gun who ride into a town built around a shooting competition . work on with a truly wild cast of act titans ( Stone , Gene Hackman ) and people who were about to become work titans ( Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe ) , Raimi takes a uncomplicated assumption and turns in a wildly originative frisson . In an attempt to take down the evil sheriff ( Hackman ) who destroy her biography , Stone ’s steely heroine must enter in a shot tournament . Faced with standoff after standoff , Raimi finds clever way to show the path of bullets and the human and women shooting them . Along the way , however , he never misplace the excited drive at the heart of the story . — EZ

7.A Simple Plan(1998)

Because of Raimi ’s close affiliation with the Coens — they were roommates — you might think this wintery criminal offence drama watch inFargo ’s footsteps , from its wink humour to its murderous game . But Raimi ’s good turn to serious play is very much that : It ’s serious , a ethical motive taradiddle that makes you experience like you need a million showers after watch . Adapted by Scott Smith from his own novel , A Simple Planfollows two brothers , Hank and Jacob ( Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton ) , and their admirer ( Brent Briscoe ) , who find a downed plane hide in the snow hold a fortune of cash . They decide to take the money with a plan for how to get away with what fundamentally number to stealing . Hank will keep it until they are sure no one is coming after it , then they will divide it up . But with the life - exchange cash under their noses , the site spirals , spur in part by Hank ’s pregnant married woman ( Bridget Fonda ) , who is initially disbelieving but then maniacally strategic in protecting her own interests . Without any of his familiar camera tricks , Raimi keeps building dread until it feel overwhelming . — EZ

6.Darkman(1990)

Given the way Raimi ’s career has put to work out , it ’s tantalizing to viewDarkman , an original superhero taradiddle in the venous blood vessel ofThe Shadowthat star Liam Neeson as a disfigured vigilance man seeking justice , as a warm - up for the comic - book blockbusters that look his future . for certain , the $ 14 million yield gave the new film maker , fresh off the furore achiever ofEvil Dead II , a chance to play with Universal ’s imagination : The apparition - strewn sets , the noirish costumes , and the stunts all stay striking and trenchant . ( It ’s also Raimi ’s first coaction with composer Danny Elfman , who would go on to compose theSpider - Manthemes . ) ButDarkman , a strange and often sinister spin on the standard origin story , merit to be seen as more than a footer to big projection . It casts its own eerie , rum magic spell . — disc jockey

5.Spider-Man(2002)

A music director who empathise the visceral appeal of gooey soundbox horror and yet also hump how to deliver a well - time emotional gut punch was perhaps the perfect soul to adapt a story about a teenager who develops hemipteron - theme superpowers after being bitten by a genetically mutated spider . Bladeand 20th Century Fox ’s X - Men serial are often credited with launch Hollywood ’s superhero craze , but Raimi’sSpider - Manis the one thateveryonesaw andeveryoneloved . Tobey Maguire is perfectly cast as this film ’s weirdo - nerd edition of Peter Parker , giving him a certain baby - face vulnerability during the slower , calm prospect that contrast the rest of the picture ’s almost cartoon - like natural action led by Willem Dafoe ’s absolutely terrify Norman Osborn / Green Goblin . It works in every way it possibly can , and is only improved upon by its fantastic sequel . Raimi’sSpider - Manmay have birthed our current epoch of assemblage - line superhero blockbusters , but it also shows us the era that could have been . — ES

4.Army of Darkness(1992)

Most sequel demo a problem : How do you top what come in before?Army of Darkness , the third entry in theEvil Deadseries , has the even more hard task of following up a motion-picture show that hacked off its protagonist ’s branch and supplant it with a chain saw . How could you perhaps go any crowing ? Luckily , that same sense of brainish one - upmanship drives Raimi and his henchman into even Billy Wilder dominion here , transporting Bruce Cambell ’s scattergun - wielding Cuban sandwich Ash to the 14th century and stag a number of bonkers comedic set composition . adequate parts Monty Python and Ray Harryhausen , Army of Darknessrevels in its own absurdness , serving as the ultimate portrait of a conductor and actor pal getting away with something ridiculous — and grinning the whole way through . — DJ

3.Drag Me to Hell(2009)

Reeling from the disappointment ofSpider - Man 3 , Raimi went back to his horror root with this delightful romp of a scarefest he co - wrote with his pal Ivan . Alison Lohman plays Christine Brown , who gets damn by an old Roma woman ( Lorna Raver ) when , trying to get a publicity , she refuses to give the guest a house loan to avoid legal ouster . Christine tries to retrovert to life as normal with her swain ( Justin Long ) , but now she ’s being pursued by a Lamia demon who offers up hallucination and various other terrors . drop behind Me to Hellbrings Raimi back in theEvil Dead 2orbit , where the interview has play because the demons seem to be stimulate a expectant time terrorizing not - so - poor Christine , whose ego - pursuit end up being her downfall . It ’s a whirlwind movie that keeps pulling you into its fossa with glee . — EZ

2.Evil Dead II(1987)

Evil Dead IIbegins with a kind of recap of its harbinger , The Evil Dead , which launched both Raimi ’s and his acquaintance Bruce Campbell ’s careers . But something is like a shot off : Most of the character from the first movie aside from Campbell ’s Ash Williams and his girlfriend Linda never reappear , and the pared - down retread of the first movie changes or outright ignores how it in the beginning ended . Also , it’sfunny , take on a lot of its slapstick cues from Raimi ’s co - writer Scott Spiegel . This incertain feeling immediately set the stage for the hysterical and totally disgusting revulsion - comedyEvil Dead IIturns out to be , once again trap Campbell in a rickety cabin in the woods and pitting him against an regular army of interdimensional body - possessing Deadites while protecting a group of people research the supernatural event . This time , though , his portrait of Ash is far from the repulsion - stricken sole subsister of a demonic onset , rather greet the bloody mayhem with an increasingly frenzied spark in his center . He fights off disembodied hands and howling zombified fauna like he was born for it . By the prison term the film generate to the makeshift chainsaw - handwriting prosthetic and Ash ’s signature " Groovy , " you scarce feel like you ’re check a revulsion picture at all . And then an enormous demon head with arms made of Tree crashes through the doorway to prompt you to scream . — ES

1.Spider-Man 2(2004)

WithSpider - Man , Raimi reinvented and set the template for modern superhero movie . WithSpider - Man 2,he perfected it . Raimi ’s subsequence deepen the play of Peter Parker and also has more fun with it . Maguire ’s Peter is now out of high school , a hapless college scholarly person and pizza pie saving boy moonlight as Spider - Man while view Mary Jane ’s star rise as she performsThe Importance of Being Earneston Broadway . He finds a foe in Alfred Molina ’s Doc Ock , a good scientist gone mad by his own innovation , infused with Molina ’s compounding of threat and pathos . Doc Ock give Raimi even more of a chance to incline into his repugnance origins , the tentacles acting likeEvil DeadDeadites as they destroy a room full of surgeons . Raimi watches the butchery unfold from one of the unwitting doctor ’s orb . It ’s just bravura succession after bravura sequence wherein Raimi set aside Spidey ’s saga to play out like anemo opera . All of the theatre director ’s side come out to work inSpider - Man 2 : There ’s the kid merely playing with his cameras , and the man who knows how to wrest human dramatic event and pain onto the screen door . — EZ