Sam Raimi is back in the director’s seat with the brand new movie Send Help, which arrived on Digital this week from 20th Century Studios ahead of its physical media release next month.
Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien star as two colleagues who find themselves stranded on a deserted island after they are the sole survivors of a plane crash. It’s the perfect premise and setting for Raimi to let loose with his distinct visual style and twisted sense of humor; he unleashes his stars in a splatstick battle of wills and wits.
Whether you’re revisiting Raimi’s latest or watching for the first time, keep the horror fun going with these Sam Raimi-directed genre films that are now available on streaming.
Darkman – Philo
Before the Spider-Man trilogy, Sam Raimi approached superhero fare by infusing it with Universal Monster-inspired flair. Liam Neeson stars as the eponymous character, a brilliant scientist on a mission for revenge against the criminals who left him horrifically disfigured. It’s Grand Guignol by way of a classic antihero tale, with the usual Raimi suspects – like Bruce Campbell, Ted Raimi, and Dan Hicks- popping up. Larry Drake turns in a memorable performance as the sadistic crime boss.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness – Disney+
This MCU entry employs two powerful assets for Doctor Strange’s latest outing: Sam Raimi and Elizabeth Olsen. Raimi easily slips back into his horror filmmaking roots and manages to infuse this sequel with as much horror as the MCU allows. Screenwriter Michael Waldron lets demons and zombies run amok, but Raimi takes it a step further with his physical horror and horror-comedy sensibilities. Eyeballs get gouged, deaths hurt, characters literally wrestle with their inner demons, and the trademark demonic POV tracking shot makes an appearance in a way that makes for an enjoyable gateway feature.
Drag Me to Hell – HBO Max (Leaves on March 31)
Loan officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) wants a promotion so severely that she ignores her instincts and the desperate pleas from elderly Sylvia Ganush (Lorna Raver) to extend her mortgage. It results in a curse that dooms Christine to three days of increasing supernatural torture by a Lamia and will end when she’s dragged to Hell. Drag Me to Hell showcases Raimi’s trademark blend of physical comedy and horror that builds to an unforgettable, polarizing ending that’ll leave you pondering the morality of it all. You only have this weekend to watch, though, as it leaves HBO Max at the end of the month.
Evil Dead II – Hoopla, Kanopy, Prime Video
This sequel, armed with a much larger budget, rewrites the events of the first film before continuing Ash’s battle with the evil force unleashed by recited passages from the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis. Whereas The Evil Dead went full throttle horror, co-writers Sam Raimi and Scott Spiegel injected Three Stooges-inspired madcap splatstick mayhem, catapulting Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) into horror icon status as he comically battles demonic attacks and a nonstop barrage of bodily fluids.
The Gift – Paramount+
Written by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson, The Gift is a Southern Gothic supernatural murder mystery with an all-star cast. Cate Blanchett leads as a fortune teller whose clairvoyance comes in handy with a missing socialite. Raimi’s style and strong grasp of atmospherics pair well with Blanchett’s vulnerable yet commanding presence. The Gift favors supernatural mystery over scares, though there are plenty of ghosts, but its class division themes and winning cast combined with Raimi’s direction yielded one of the more underrated releases of the early aughts.
Bonus: Intruder – AMC+, Full Moon, Philo, Shudder, Tubi
The overnight stock crew of a local grocery store finds themselves falling victim to an unseen killer in this highly infectious late ‘80s slasher. The deaths are delightfully gruesome and inventive; look for this killer to make excellent use of grocery store items as weapons. Frequent Raimi collaborator Scott Spiegel directed this bloody slasher, which means a lot of overlap with Evil Dead II. That means putting Sam Raimi in front of the camera for a change, along with Ted Raimi and Evil Dead II’s Dan Hicks. Look for a cameo by Bruce Campbell as well.