Highly inventive US film director / producer / writer / actor who first came to the attention of film fans with the savage, yet darkly humorous, low-budget horror film "The Evil Dead (1981)". From his childhood, Raimi was a fan of the cinema and before he was ten years old, he was out making movies with an 8mm camera. He was a devoted fan of The Three Stooges, so much of Raimi's film work in his t ...
show all Highly inventive US film director / producer / writer / actor who first came to the attention of film fans with the savage, yet darkly humorous, low-budget horror film "The Evil Dead (1981)". From his childhood, Raimi was a fan of the cinema and before he was ten years old, he was out making movies with an 8mm camera. He was a devoted fan of The Three Stooges, so much of Raimi's film work in his teens, with good friends Bruce Campbell and Robert G. Tapert, was slapstick comedy based around what they had observed from Stooges movies.
Among the three of them they wrote, directed, produced and edited a short horror movie titled "The Within the Woods (1978)", which was then shown to prospective investors to raise the money necessary to film "Evil Dead (1981)". It met with lukewarm interest in the US with local distributors, so Raimi took the film to Europe, where it was much more warmly received. After it started gaining positive reviews and, more importantly, ticket sales upon its release in Europe, US distributors showed renewed interest, and "Evil Dead" was eventually released stateside to strong box office returns. His next directorial effort was "Crimewave (1985/I)", a quirky, cartoon-like film that failed to catch fire with audiences. However, he bounced back with "Evil Dead II (1987)", a racier and more humorous sequel to the original "Dead" that did even better at the box office. Raimi was then given his biggest budget to date to shoot "Darkman (1990)", a comic book-style fantasy about a scarred avenger. The film did moderate business, but Raimi's strong visual style was evident throughout the film via inventive and startling camerawork that caught the attention of numerous critics.
The third chapter in the Evil Dead story beckoned, and Raimi once again directed buddy Campbell as the gritty hero "Ash", in the Gothic horror "The Army of Darkness (1993)". Raimi surprised fans when he took a turn away from the fantasy genre and directed Gene Hackman and Sharon Stone in the sexy western "Quick and the Dead (1995)"; four years later he took the directorial reins on "The Simple Plan, A (1998)", a crime thriller about stolen money starring Bill Paxton and Bridget Fonda. In early 1999 he directed the baseball film "For Love of the Game (1999)" and in 2000 he returned to the fantasy genre with a top-flight cast in "Gift (2000)". In 2002 Raimi was really given the opportunity to demonstrate his dynamic visual style with the big-budget film adaptation of the Stan Lee comic book superhero "Spider-Man (2002)", and fans were not left disappointed. The movie was strong in both script and effects, and was a runaway success at the box office. Of course, Raimi returned for the sequel. "Spider-Man 2 (2004)", which surpassed the original in box-office takings.
Raimi remains one of Hollywood's most creative, exciting and intelligent filmmakers.
hide 
