8 Of Sam Raimi’s Ultimate Favorite Horror Movies
Josh Korngut
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There’s no denying it. Sam Raimi is the prince of fun Halloween season horror. From the ghastly camp of his original Evil Dead trilogy to the outrageous Drag Me To Hell, there’s nothing quite like renting some Raimi in autumn. But what are the powerhouse director’s personal favorite spooky selections? We’ve scoured the web to unearth nine of his ultimate horror favorites. And what we found is a fun mixed bag of Old Hollywood classics and modern macabre mayhem. Check out the full list below.
Psycho
I’ve always been a fan of Hitchcock, and I love his shorthand. He’s a masterful storyteller and one of the reasons, to me, is how well he understands the language of film and how little he has to do to communicate an idea. Also, I love his great respect for the audience. He knows he can give them so little and that they can put together so much. I’m very impressed with that. And his great, brilliant sense of humor. I love how funny he is. He must have been the funniest actor in Hollywood in the late 50’s and early 60’s. When I see his cameos and his most incredibly, hysterically droll performances in Alfred Hitchcock Presents, there’s nobody I can think of who would have been funnier.
Sam Raimi, Rotten Tomatoes
Stream it on Peacock.
Frailty
Sam Raimi has gone on record with how much he appreciates the underseen 2001 sleeper classic from director Bill Paxton. Concerning a blue-collar worker who believes he must murder anyone who God reveals to him as a demon, this spooky psychological title even won itself the Bram Stoker Award for Best Screenplay. Definitely a must-see for fans of slow-burn religious horror.
Stream it on HBO Max.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
I really had never been so terrified in my life. I was screaming and shrieking, begging my sister to take me home, and she was trying to shut me up. I’d never experienced horror like that before. It felt so real, like a docu-horror. I had never seen a black-and-white movie in a movie theatre before; it looked like a documentary. There was nothing Hollywood about it – it was just unrelenting and complete madness and very upsetting for me. It left a tremendous impression on me as a filmmaker and I think that’s why The Evil Dead was so influenced by Night Of The Living Dead, because that’s really what a horror film was for me.”
Sam Raimi, Den of Geek
Stream it on HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount+, Shudder, and Tubi
The Haunting (1963)
That just was terrifying and great. I love his use of camera, how he never shows this ghost that’s haunting Hill House, how he just suggests it through angle and sound effects and suggestive shadows and visuals. It really allows the audience to paint their own picture of the creature that lurks there. And it’s so much more terrifying because of it.
Sam Raimi, MTV.com
Rent it on Amazon
The Tenant
The Tenant was another freak-out for me. I love his acting in it. You never really know if it’s happening in his mind or something is really cursed about that room he’s living in.
Sam Raimi, MTV.com
High Tension
I think it was as simple as the way I felt in the theatre – terrified and on the edge of my seat. I didn’t know what was going to come next – my expectations kept being thwarted and I really felt that he as a filmmaker knew what I was going through. He was like a puppeteer, pulling one string and then another, and then knowing that I would react one way and then and waiting for me down that alley, where he’d planned yet another surprise. I really felt he had the mind of a maze-maker. He seemed to have a complex awareness of the audience and what their thought process must be, and understanding the timing of things. It’s really a kind of frightening ability if you think about it: how could he know what I would be thinking; how would he be prepared for my reaction? And yet he was. I felt like I was in the hands of a master.
Sam Raimi, Den of Geek
Stream it on AMC+ and Tubi
The Bride of Frankenstein
During a TotalFilm Twitter takeover, the Drag Me to Hell director disclosed that one of his favorite horror titles of all time is The Bride of Frankenstein. The horror icon did not give any context for this but also name-checked Curse of the Demon in the same answer.
Stream it on Peacock and Tubi
Get Out
That respectability – it’s something gained and something lost, honestly, I love that makers of the genre are finally being recognised as artists, and yet personally I like working as a filmmaker in disrespected genres – they are better places to hide out and practice my craft. Somehow it’s healthier making horror movies there in the darkness away from the sunlight, where things can fester and mould, decay…
Sam Raimi, Den of Geek
Stream it on FXNow
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