On its surface, Drag Me to Hell checks all of the Evil Dead boxes – or rather, all of the Evil Dead II boxes, since it avoided the graphic gore of the original film in favour of slapstick violence ( Evil Dead II struggled to secure an R rating in 1988, but would probably qualify as a PG-13 by modern standards). Raimi was scheduled to do a fourth film, but behind-the-scenes strife had taken its toll and he eventually left the franchise.īereft of his superhero cash-cow, Raimi returned to his roots for Drag Me to Hell (2009), to the relief of the fans that feared they’d lost him forever to Hollywood tentpoles. Spider-Man 3 made a lot of money, but also cost a lot of money, and has a terrible critical reputation (time tends to be kind to Hollywood’s creatively ambitious failures). This third film was a ragged mix of the director’s personal and unusual interests (including an extended dance sequence) and studio mandates, among them the inclusion of a popular secondary villain named Venom, who the director wasn’t interested in using. Following an even more successful sequel, Spider-Man 2 (2004), the Hollywood machine finally caught up to Raimi for the much-maligned Spider-Man 3 (2007). Raimi’s golden goose proved to be a mixed blessing – he was finally a popular Hollywood director and he had achieved this status on a project he actually cared about, but he was also obligated to spend the next five years of his life making more Spider-Man movies.

It ushered in a new era of superhero-themed blockbusters alongside Bryan Singer’s X-Men (2000). Spider-Man was an astronomical hit and broke a number box-office records.

After a decade of floundering, Raimi lobbied hard for the job of directing Spider-Man (2002), the first major motion picture to feature the popular comic character. He made The Quick and the Dead (1995), a revisionist western vehicle for a then-hot Sharon Stone (it flopped) A Simple Plan (1998) a poignant, well-received crime thriller (that also failed to turn a profit) For Love of the Game (1999), a bland Kevin Costner baseball movie (it lost money) before finally scoring a minor hit with a grounded supernatural thriller called The Gift (2000). After failing to find blockbuster success with his homemade anti-superhero Darkman (1990) or his ambitious third Evil Dead movie, Army of Darkness (1992), Raimi paid his dues as a director for hire. Sam Raimi spent most of the ‘90s trying to break out of his role as the cult filmmaker that invented the energetic extremes of The Evil Dead (filmed in the late ‘70s, but not released until 1981) and its beloved slapstick splatter sequel, Evil Dead II (1987).

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