Sam Raimi is an American film director, producer, writer and actor born in 1959 in Michigan. He became fascinated with filmmaking after his father brought home a movie camera. Raimi is known for directing cult horror films like The Evil Dead which launched his career. His blockbuster Spider-Man films in the 2000s were hugely successful. Raimi's directorial style is characterized by rapid camera movements, close-ups, and cameos from his brother Ted Raimi and friend Bruce Campbell who he has collaborated with since college.

1. FILM DIRECTOR CASE
STUDY
Sam Raimi
I feel the horror audience is a great
audience, and I would ideally make a movie
that would give them as much energy as
they're willing to give to the picture.
- Sam Raimi

2. SAM RAIMI’S BACKGROUND
 Born Samuel M Raimi on October 23rd 1959 in
Royal Oak, Michigan.
 American film director, producer, writer and
actor.
 In 1993 he married Gillian Dania Greene and
has 5 children with her.
 He was raised in Conservative Judaism.
 Raimi graduated from Groves High School.
 He then went on to attend Michigan State
University where he majored in English but left
after three semesters to film The Evil Dead.

3. SAM RAIMI’S FILM CAREER
 Raimi became fascinated with making films
when his father brought a movie camera home.
 In college Raimi raised $375,000 from shooting
‘Within the Woods’, a 32 minute horror film.
 Raimi also produced films within the comedy,
fantasy fiction and action genres.
 Through family, friends and a network of
investors Raimi was able to finance production
of ‘The Evil Dead’; a highly successful horror
film which launched his career.
 In the 1990’s Raimi moved into other genres
such as crime thrillers and romantic dramas.

4. SAM RAIMI’S FILM CAREER
 Raimi achieved great critical and commercial success with
the blockbuster ‘Spider-Man’ in 2002, the movie grossed
over $800 million worldwide, spawning two sequels
grossing roughly 800 million each
 Raimi briefly went back to acting and appearing in ‘The
Stand’, ‘Body Bags’ and ‘Indian Summer’
 He then went on to produce ‘The Grudge’ trilogy and other
blockbuster movies
 Sam Raimi’s most recent horror film is ‘The Possession’
which premiered in 2012, he also directed ‘Oz the Great
and Powerful’ which premiered on the 8th March 2013, he
then re-produced his cult hit ‘Evil Dead’ and is currently in
the process of producing a remake of ‘Poltergeist’.

5. SAM RAIMI’S STYLE AND
PARTNERS
 In a significant number of Sam Raimi’s projects his brother
Ted Raimi (an actor) and his friend Bruce Campbell often
appear in on-screen roles. The trio have been working
together since their college days.
 Sam Raimi occasionally appears on-screen in his own movies,
usually in a similar fashion to the cameos made by his idol:
Alfred Hitchcock; the most influential filmmaker of all time.
Raimi often pays homage to Hitchcock in his films.
 In every project Raimi has ever made he includes a 1973
yellow Oldsmobile Delta 88 automobile nicknamed ‘The
Classic’ somewhere.
 A bottle of Maker’s Mark whiskey also appears regularly in
his movies.

6. SAM RAIMI’S TRADEMARKS
 A distinctive camera shot where the camera follows
a moving object (such as an arrow or a projectile
weapon) at high speeds creating a first-person point
of view from the object itself.
 A rapid dolly shot to bring a far-off object suddenly
into the centre of the shot or to pull back from the
main focal object to show what is happening around
the perimeter (sometimes called ‘push-pull’).
 Montage sequences with overlapping close-up shots
to establish a set of similar actions over elapsing
time.
 Extreme close-ups using a wide angle lens

8. DIRECTOR FILMOGRAPHY
Year
1977
1978
1981
1985
1987
1990
1992
1995
1998
1999
2000
2002
2004
2007
2009
2013
Film
It's Murder!
Clockwork
Within the Woods
The Evil Dead
Crimewave
Evil Dead II
Darkman
Army of Darkness
The Quick and the Dead
A Simple Plan
For Love of the Game
The Gift
Spider-Man
Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man 3
Drag Me to Hell
Oz the Great and Powerful
Notes
Short film
Also writer/co-writer
Also co-writer