Sam Raimi’s love for the cinematic media has inspired entire dynasties of genres that are still dominating today. From practical horror nightmares to groundbreaking superhero visions. Some of the pioneering techniques he’s used have earned him the respect of some of the world’s best filmmakers. Raimi has been out of the director’s chair for nearly ten years, with the exception of a few television appearances. It’s Murder! , his first project, has a meagre budget of $2,000 to work with. It isn’t a masterpiece, but it’s a promising start for a rising star in the film industry. The films of Sam Raimi are listed here in chronological order.
Table of Contents
1. The Evil Dead (1981)
Cast- Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Ted Raimi
What better way to unwind than a weekend getaway? Nothing can prepare Michigan State University student Ash Williams and his companions—his fiancée Linda, his sister Cheryl, their buddy Scott, and his girlfriend Shelly. For what is about to happen when they arrive to a small, weather-beaten cottage in the tangled woods of rural Tennessee. Strange discoveries in the cellar and cryptic, unintelligible incantations soon lead to a terrifying night when hidden terrible forces emerge. A parasite power has now corrupted and mutated human flesh. Also, staining the solitude of the surrounding mountains with thick, bright-red blood.
2. Crimewave (1985)
Cast- Bruce Campbell, Joel Coen, Louise Lasser
Ernest Trend recruits Arthur Coddish and Faron Crush to kill his colleague Donald Odegard. He, who wants to sell their security firm. The hit guys do the task, but they go too far and kill others in the process. Victor Ajax, a security agency employee who was in the wrong location at the wrong time. He is charged with the killings, but his new buddy Nancy is determined to establish his innocence.
3. Evil Dead II (1987)
Cast- Bruce Campbell, Robert Tapert, Ted Raimi
A half-mad Ash battles to ward off the all-powerful demonic influence of the cursed woodland after surviving the horrors of the legendary Necronomicon by the skin of his teeth in The Evil Dead (1981). But evil never sleeps, and before long, everyone, including the late professor’s daughter, Annie, her partner, Ed, and a pair of unsuspecting locals, will be brought back to square one by a fatal blunder. Now, sanity is on the line as the unholy pathways draw ancient dark spirits into this world, opening the way for the arrival of pure evil.
4. Darkman (1990)
Cast- Liam Nesson, Frances McDormand, Bruce Campbell
Peyton Westlake, a scientist, is working on a synthetic skin project. Now he has a fault in his skin: it won’t stay stable for longer than 99 minutes. Julie, his attorney girlfriend, is looking into a developer. Peyton’s house is where she leaves some damning documents. When the lights in Peyton’s lab went out one night, he discovered that the synthetic skin had remained stable for 99 minutes, and he deduced that the skin doesn’t stay stable because of light. Robert Durant, a crazy criminal, enters at that precise time, demanding the documents Julie has left behind.
They assault Peyton, then blow up Peyton’s lab after discovering the documents. Peyton was blasted away, and everyone assumed he was dead, but he was discovered, severely burned, and a new surgery was performed on him that rendered him unable to feel pain, as well as giving him incredible strength and making him prone to violent outbursts. He’s now striving to perfect synthetic skin while also using his technology to create synthetic skin masks of the men who attacked him so he can retaliate.
5. Army Of Darkness (1992)
Cast- Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, Ted Raimi
Ash and his automobile are transported to the year 1,300 A.D., when they are seized by Lord Arthur and sold as slaves with Duke Henry the Red and a few of his troops. When Ash is thrown into a pit, he overcomes two monsters, earning Arthur’s army and vassals’ admiration. The Wiseman identifies Ash as The Chosen One to acquire the Necronomicon, but Ash is only concerned about getting back home. Ash resolves to travel to the horrible country of the Deadites after learning that the only way to return to his time is to use the Necronomicon.
In order to safely obtain the wicked book, the Wiseman tells him to recite the words “Klaatu Barada Nikto”. However, Ash forgets what he said last, and an army of the dead rises to attack Arthur’s citadel and reclaim the Necronomicon. The fight between the living and the dead is about to begin, and Ash and Arthur will only be able to vanquish the army of darkness with the help of Henry the Red.
6. The Quick and the Dead (1995)
Cast- Leonardo DiCaprio, Sharon Stone, Russell Crowe
Ellen, a mysterious female gunslinger, rides into a small, dingy, and dreary prairie hamlet with a hidden motive. A local preacher, Cort, is pushed through the tavern doors shortly after she arrives, while townfolk join up for a shooting competition. The prize pool is enormous, and the only requirement is that you follow Herod’s regulations. Herod also serves as the town’s owner, leader, and “ruler.” He seemed to have staged this gunfight in order to force the preacher to fight once more. Cort refuses to use a gun to murder anyone again, and Herod, who considers Cort to be one of the best, is determined to change his mind, even if it means killing someone.
7. A Simple Plan (1998)
Cast- Billy Bob Thornton, Bill Paxton, Bridget Fonda
When Hank, Jacob, and Lou discover $4.4 million in a wrecked plane in a nature preserve, they devise a strategy to keep the money secure until the plane is identified and the dust settles. However, Hank’s brother, Jacob, and a buddy, Lou, do not follow their plans. Lou, who is always in debt, is eager to get his portion of the farm, and Jacob wants to rebuild their parents’ farm. Slowly, the trusting attitude between unequal couples dissipates, and intrigues emerge. Accidents begin to occur, and when an FBI agent arrives in town in search of a wrecked plane, Hank and his companions find themselves in grave trouble.
8. For Love of the Game (1999)
Cast- Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston, Jena Malone
Billy Chapel, 40, is desperate to rekindle his relationship with Jane Aubrey, his former sweetheart. She tells him she’s leaving that evening for a job in London on the morning he’s supposed to pitch the final game of the season; he also hears that the Detroit Tigers’ new owners plan to trade him. He must decide whether to accept the trade or retire from the game he loves while he pitches that night, and in between innings, he remembers meeting Jane, their first date, happy times, miscommunication, and what could be his final break. Meanwhile, one Yankee hitter after another fails to reach first base, as Vin Scully announces.
9. The Gift (2000)
Cast- Cate Blanchett, Katie Holmes, Keanu Reeves
Annie Wilson, a widowed clairvoyant and mother of three, is blessed with the remarkable ability of second sight and struggles to make a living by foretelling the future in her hot and humid hometown of Brixton, Georgia. However, Annie will unintentionally be drawn into an arcane world of falsehoods and horrifying visions of death when the school principal’s fiancée and local temptress, Jessica King, goes missing, causing tension in the small community. As Annie becomes increasingly plagued by visions of the invisible, the circumstantial evidence points to a violent murder and a watery grave in the silent swamps.
10. Spider-Man (2002)
Cast- Tobey Maguire, Kristen Dunst, Willem Dafoe
Peter Parker, an insecure, bright orphan who is constantly bullied at school, can hardly stand up for himself, let alone earn the attention of Mary Jane Watson, the gorgeous redhead next door whom he adores. When a genetically altered spider bites Peter on a school field trip to a Columbia University laboratory, an astonishing metamorphosis ensues. Peter obtains peculiar spider powers and incredible fresh super-abilities as his body undergoes significant alterations, only to swiftly discover that great power comes with great responsibility. The deranged, unusually strong super-villain Green Goblin soon appears, eager to test Peter’s moral compass.
11. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Cast- Tobey Maguire, Kristen Dunst, Stan Lee
Peter Parker, now a physics student at Columbia University, is on the edge of a nervous breakdown when he discovers the hard way that life has just gotten tougher. Two years have passed following Norman Osborn’s death in Spider-Man (2002), and Mary Jane has given up on Peter, while Aunt May is facing foreclosure. As Parker struggles to find his footing, unsure whether or not he wants to be a crime-fighter, a rare accident in the name of science gives birth to a new super-villain: Doc Ock, the obsessed, multi-tentacled mad scientist. Peter must choose between keeping true to his calling and staying away from Mary Jane, the girl of his dreams, at a moment when the world most needs him.
12. Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Cast- Tobey Maguire, Kristen Dunst, Thomas Haden Church
Five years have passed since Peter Parker and Mary Jane’s life-changing event in Spider-Man (2002), and only a few months since Dr. Otto Octavius’ Utopian ideal in Spider-Man 2 (2004), but things are finally looking better for Peter Parker and Mary Jane. The Sandman, a powerful, shape-shifting mega-criminal with significant ties to Parker’s terrible past, enters the picture, set on terrorising the city, with Peter’s former best friend, Harry Osborn, still carrying a grudge. Plus, a reborn Green Goblin seeks vengeance, and a weird, parasitic black ooze attaches itself to Peter’s red-and-blue spider-suit, altering his psyche.
13. Drag Me To Hell (2009)
Cast- Alison Lahman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver
Mrs Ganush, a proud Romani woman, is imploring Christine, the charming and delicate loan officer, for a third extension on her house loan. Instead, as the young clerk tries to persuade her supervisors that she is capable of making difficult decisions, Christine makes the worst decision of her life: she denies the desperate client an additional mortgage extension. As a result, over the course of the days following this tragic incident, Christine will gradually realise that what appeared to be a hollow threat from a crazy woman is, in fact, a fiery and sulphurous curse; a devastating anathema involving a tyrannical female demon from the pits of hell and her impatient demand. Christine will be hers for the rest of her life in less than three days.
14. Oz The Great And Powerful (2013)
Cast- James Franco, Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams
Oscar “Oz” Diggs, an ambitious and cocky travelling circus magician, will finally end in the mythical Land of Oz after becoming stranded with his hot air balloon during a storm. He’ll meet many exotic creatures as well as the nice people of Oz on the streets of the Emerald City, all of whom will recognise him as the magician who was predicted to save the peaceful land from the Wicked Witch’s clutches. Oscar will eventually have to utilise all of his tricks in his sleeve, including equal parts creativity and sensory manipulation through theatrical illusion, all topped off with a dash of magic, to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is the Great Wizard of Oz.
15. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
Cast- Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Cumberbatch, John Krasinski
Doctor Strange partners up with a mysterious adolescent girl from his nightmares who has the ability to travel across multiverses to fight a variety of perils, including other-universe versions of himself, that threaten to wipe out millions of people across the multiverse. Wanda the Scarlet Witch, Wong, and others are enlisted to assist them.