{"id":260608,"date":"2026-01-27T20:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T20:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/260608\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T20:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T20:13:08","slug":"sam-raimi-movies-ranked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/260608\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Raimi Movies, Ranked"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Rachel McAdams brutally murdered a CGI boar, everything became clear. Sam Raimi<\/a> is back. Not that the legendary director of The Evil Dead, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness<\/a> really went anywhere. He\u2019s been constantly making movies for the better part of 40 years. But a real Raimi movie has laughs, heart, action, and gore in such a perfect balance that only Sam Raimi can do it.<\/p>\n

The McAdams moment comes in his latest movie, Send Help, which is in theaters January 30<\/a>. And so, to commemorate the occasion, we decided to rank Raimi\u2019s movies. Almost all of them are on here, minus one we\u2019ve never seen, his directorial debut Crimewave, and his Kevin Costner baseball movie, For the Love of the Game, which isn\u2019t genre. Where did everything else fall? Let\u2019s find out.<\/p>\n

14. Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) <\/p>\n

Oz the Great and Powerful isn\u2019t a terrible movie, but it\u2019s not good either. It\u2019s kind of an origin story of the Wizard of Oz with James Franco as the wizard, and while the film made money, it was so generally dismissed that Raimi didn\u2019t direct another feature for almost 10 years after its release. Not a shining moment.<\/p>\n

13. Spider-Man 3 (2007) <\/p>\n

After the genius that was Spider-Man 2, expectations could not have been higher for what would be Sam Raimi\u2019s final Spider-Man movie. Unfortunately, the movie never quite comes together, with too many awkward moments, too many new villains, and not enough of the emotion that made the previous two films work so well.<\/p>\n

12. The Quick and the Dead (1995) <\/p>\n

Not quite a movie we\u2019d cover on io9, but because it\u2019s Raimi, we\u2019ll consider it. It\u2019s a Western about a woman, played by Sharon Stone, who enters a dueling competition hoping to get revenge on an evil sheriff, played by Gene Hackman. The cast is incredible (Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio are also along for the ride), but it mostly plays like a down-the-middle Western. Not quite Raimi enough for a Raimi list.<\/p>\n

11. The Gift (2000) <\/p>\n

When I first saw The Gift, I remember really, really enjoying it. Cool premise, great cast, Sam Raimi at the helm\u2014what\u2019s not to like? However, unlike so many other Raimi movies, it\u2019s never been one I\u2019ve had a desire to revisit. Maybe if I did, it would move up the list, but as it stands, here\u2019s where I put it. With full disclosure that I might be horribly wrong.<\/p>\n

10. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) <\/p>\n

For his first foray into the official Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sam Raimi took Doctor Strange in a whole new, trippy direction. Everything you love about Raimi movies is in this, but because he\u2019s beholden to the rules and ratings of the MCU, even when it\u2019s working, it\u2019s never quite innovating or shocking us like the best Raimi movies do. A solid effort that\u2019s really fun, but far from one of his best.<\/p>\n

9. Darkman (1990) <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t hate me. I\u2019d imagine many people reading this article consider Darkman to be one of Raimi\u2019s best films. And, in terms of sheer scope and innovation, it might be. Liam Neeson plays the Raimi-created superhero who, for some reason, just never connected with me. The movie works; it\u2019s gorgeous, but it just never quite all comes together like most of Raimi\u2019s other movies. I\u2019m sure plenty will disagree.<\/p>\n

8. Send Help (2026) <\/p>\n

Yes, the new Raimi ranks this high on the list. It\u2019s a true return to form for Raimi, who brings his signature brand of horror comedy to the story of a CEO (Dylan O\u2019Brien) and his employee (Rachel McAdams) who are stranded together on an island. It\u2019s a simple premise that goes to wild, disgusting places, and we loved every second of it. But Raimi has made so many classics over the years, it happens to fall in the middle of the pack.<\/p>\n

7. Drag Me to Hell (2009) <\/p>\n

Blame the marketing for this ranking. When Drag Me to Hell came out, the trailers showed a shot of the main character, played by Alison Lohman, being dragged to hell. Which made sense. That\u2019s the title of the movie. But over the course of the wonderful, creepy, surprising movie, we are led to believe that the character defeats this evil curse. Did the trailer lie? No. It, instead, showed the final, biggest reveal of the entire movie. And knowing that was coming just made Drag Me to Hell work a little less well than everything above it.<\/p>\n

6. A Simple Plan (1998) <\/p>\n

A Simple Plan works because it\u2019s just so simple. A group of friends finds a bunch of money and isn\u2019t sure if they can trust each other. It\u2019s got incredible performances across the board, including an Oscar-nominated one by Billy Bob Thornton, and tension and twists galore. I ranked it here just because, as excellent as it is, it\u2019s a mostly straightforward film compared to some other Raimi classics.<\/p>\n

5. Army of Darkness (1992) <\/p>\n

Out of every movie on this list, I probably like Army of Darkness the most. It\u2019s just so funny, so over the top, and so aware of every single thing it\u2019s doing. To me, it\u2019s the quintessential Raimi and Bruce Campbell movie, with each of the artists at the height of their powers. But, when ranked against Raimi\u2019s other works, the fact that it is so much more comedy-forward rather than having that distinct balance drops it ever so slightly down. But we love it so much anyway.<\/p>\n

4. Spider-Man (2002) <\/p>\n

Unless you were there in 2002, it\u2019s hard to put into words just what it was like to see Sam Raimi bring Spider-Man to life. Oh sure. People like Tim Burton and Bryan Singer had done excellent hit superhero movies before, but Spider-Man leveled up the entire genre with its adventurous tone and smart exploration of the dichotomy within Peter Parker. The film also helped shoot Raimi into a new directorial stratosphere.<\/p>\n

3. The Evil Dead (1981) <\/p>\n

The movie that put Raimi on the map remains one of his best. Everything in The Evil Dead pulses with passion. The passion of a bunch of young filmmakers doing something small and wonderful, blending humor and horror in new and exciting ways. Bruce Campbell is a revelation, as always, and the frights end up much more forward than the later iterations.<\/p>\n

2. Spider-Man 2 (2004) <\/p>\n

The Empire Strikes Back, Aliens, and Terminator 2\u2014there\u2019s a small, exclusive list of sequels that are better than their predecessors, and we think\u00a0Spider-Man 2 should be on that list. With Raimi\u2019s Peter Parker now fully invested in being Spider-Man, the whole movie coalesces into something incredibly special. Doc Ock as the villain helps, as do some major emotional beats throughout. All together, it\u2019s easily one of the best superhero movies ever.<\/p>\n

1. Evil Dead II (1987) <\/p>\n

There\u2019s just something about Raimi and part twos. It\u2019s almost like he has to make the first one to figure out all the ways the next one can be even better. It happened with Spider-Man,\u00a0and it happened here, with Evil Dead II. What\u2019s wild about Evil Dead II is that it is hilariously similar to the original, but it just dials up the goofyball and gore ever so slightly for an alchemy that\u2019s even better than the excellent first. A true modern masterpiece of mayhem.<\/p>\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel<\/a>, Star Wars<\/a>, and Star Trek<\/a> releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV<\/a>, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Rachel McAdams brutally murdered a CGI boar, everything became clear. Sam Raimi is back. Not that the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[146,85,46,397,52633],"class_list":{"0":"post-260608","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-movies","12":"tag-sam-raimi"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}