In 1981 Director and Writer Sam Raimi introduced The Evil Dead. Five friends travel to a deserted cabin in the woods and by nightfall the woods begin to attack. One by one the friends are attacked leaving the “hero” Ashley or Ash helpless. Once turned, his friends turn into what reminded me of a zombie meets Chucky feel. Ash (played by Bruce Campbell) manages to fend off the monsters but you’ll have to see the movie to figure out the ending. (more…)

Sam Raimi

Sam Raimi has definitely proved his versatility in the film world, working as a writer, director, producer, and actor during the span of his career which began with the low-budget, parodical horror movie The Evil Dead (1981). Raimi was born on October 23^rd, 1959 in Royal Oaks, Michigan and showed an intense interest in film even before the age of ten. He started dabbling in filmmaking at the young age of thirteen using the used 8mm camera he bought with his birthday money. Upon graduating from high school, he began attending Michigan State University but eventually dropped out in order to pursue filmmaking and start working on The Evil Dead. He had experimented first with several short films titled It’s Murder! (1977), Clockwork (1978), and Within the Woods (1978) the latter of which served as the original fundraiser for The Evil Dead. (more…)

While Sundance is supposed to be the indie movie capital, it seems that more and more established celebrities are making their way to the mountains. I’ve only been here five days now and I’ve already seen more actors and directors than when I spend time in New York City. (more…)

Sam Raimi

The name sounds familiar… Perhaps it’s only because I developed an interest in Spider-Man a few years back (and excitedly attended the opening of the feature film). But there’s no way I could’ve told you who was in charge of weaving that web… Until now.

Born in Michigan in 1959, typical nerd Sam Raimi grew up to become arguably one of the most creative directors in Hollywood, earning his fame through acclaimed cult classic film, The Evil Dead (1982).

His fathers’ hobby of piecing short home movies together (into a coherent whole) jump started Sam’s journey with film: “Sometimes, when he [dad] got the reels back and cut them together, they’d be out of order, so I’d see the birthday cake being blown out, then I’d see a shot of my house and the first kid arriving for the party. And I thought, ‘Oh my God, he’s manipulating time!’ Not only could he capture reality, but he could manipulate the sequence of events, the order in which the time flow ran. I realized I had to explore this; it was unbelievable to me.” (phillyBurbs)

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