THE RANKING
Four Empire writers. Ten movies. Ordered definitively.
Illustration: Jacey
The films of Sam Raimi
Chris: Sam Raimi is my favourite director of all time. He may or may not have made my favourite film of all time. Where do you stand on Raimi? When did you first get into his films?
Dan: For me it was Army Of Darkness. I quickly got to Evil Dead II from that. But I just loved Army Of Darkness because it was funny, and had fantasy stuff in it.
Helen: I have almost precisely the same story. I had heard of the Evil Deads but hadn’t watched them. I got into Army Of Darkness because I had a friend at uni who adored that as much as he hated the others.
Ben: For me, it was Spider-Man. Then later in life, I had a really good experience with the Raimi horror stuff — Isaw loads of it for the first time on the big screen. I have a small handful of ‘Greatest Ever’ cinema experiences, one of which is the Force Awakens press screening. Another one is Evil Dead II, three in the morning, Tyneside Cinema.
Chris: Like Ben, I had a life-changing experience watching Evil Dead II for the first time. It was like the scales fell from my eyes. The central appeal of Raimi for me is that he’s one of the most exciting and inventive and innovative visual stylists in the history of cinema. He’s forever coming up with crazy shots; you can just imagine him cackling away to himself as he does so.