The 411 Movies Top 5 05.29.09: Week 167 - Top 5 Sam Raimi Scenes

Posted by Trevor Snyder on 05.29.2009

In honor of Drag Me To Hell, the 411 crew chooses their five favorite scenes directed by Sam Raimi.

OK, I know the movie most people will be talking about this weekend is Pixar's Up, but forgive me if the unrepentant horror fan in me can't help but be more excited for Drag Me To Hell. After all, for fans like me, this is the long-awaited return of one of our kings, Sam Raimi. Granted, it's not Raimi has been absent from the film world (you might have heard a little something about those Spider-Man movies he did), and he has been producing horror movies for the last few years. But Drag Me To Hell finally puts him back where a lot of us feel he belongs – behind the camera of a good old fashioned, back-to-basics horror film. No, it's not Evil Dead 4, but if the early buzz is any indication, it's still going to be worth the wait.

And so in honor of the event, I decided that this week the Top 5 would pay tribute to the man whom many (including myself) consider to be one of the most creative directors working today, with our look at:

THE TOP 5 SAM RAIMI SCENES





Trevor Snyder

HONORABLE MENTION

The Katie Holmes scene, in The Gift – Ahem…you know the one I'm talking about. No matter what you might think of Mrs. Cruise now, there was definitely a time when many of us where dying to see her "little Katies." Raimi brought us that moment. Thanks, Sam.

THE TOP 5

5. The exterminator's "room pull," in Crimewave

Right now, some of you might be asking, "what the hell is Crimewave?" And believe, many involved would be perfectly happy with you never finding the answer. On paper, this film (which Raimi did in between the first two Evil Dead films) sounds like it should be a classic – not only was it directed by Raimi, but it was written by Raimi and the Coen brothers! And yet, by most accounts, the making of Crimewave was a disastrous experience due to frequent clashes with the people putting up the money (for instance, the studio didn't want Bruce Campbell to play the main part, despite it having been written for him), and in the end Raimi wasn't even given final cut. As a result, both Raimi and the Coens have more or less disowned this film…which is too bad. No, it's not great, but it is a lot of fun, and there are still a lot of moments where Raimi's distinctive style shines through. The one I always remember is during a scene where one of the "exterminators" (two hit-men that serve as the film's villains) is chasing after a nosey old woman who accidentally witnessed them in action. The chase scene is pure Raimi, made up of over-the-top cartoonish sight gags. At one point, the exterminator is knocked down, and the woman is across the room. Rather than stand up and go back after her, he simply digs his fingers into the carpet and begins pulling the entire room back towards himself. It's pretty ridiculous…but it's also totally Raimi.

4. John Herod's fate, in The Quick and the Dead

Yet another Raimi film that it seems like time has forgotten…and once again, that's kinda hard to believe given the talent involved. Besides Raimi at the helm, this tribute to spaghetti westerns stars Sharon Stone (back when she was still relevant), Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Gary Sinise. It tanked at the box office – perhaps because at the time nobody was ready to see a western directed with Raimi's signature visual tricks. That's too bad, because it's actually a hell of a lot of fun. The plot concerns Stone's character (known simply as "The Lady") entering a gun-fighting tournament thrown by Hackman's evil John Herod, in order to get revenge for the death of her father years before. The tournament aspect of the plot enables Raimi to introduce numerous memorable characters and, of course, show off his quirky style in the duels themselves. There are quite a few great bits, but then one I always remember (and pretty big spoiler alert ahead) comes in the final duel between Stone and Hackman. The both draw, and both fire. For a moment, Hackman thinks Stone has missed…until he glances down and sees a single point of light in the middle of his shadow, caused from the sun shining through the perfect hole Stone's bullet has left through him. It's a neat visual gag, and certainly not the kind of thing you see in most non-Raimi westerns.

3. Darkman crashes the meeting, in Darkman

Back before he became "the Spider-Man guy" (as I assume most of the world thinks of him), Raimi tried unsuccessfully to get the film rights to both The Shadow and Batman. Unable to secure any pre-existing superheroes, Raimi decided to just go ahead and create his own. The result was Darkman, one of the best "comic-book movies" ever made….despite not really being based on a comic-book. Raimi's film successfully merged the worlds of superheroes and the classic Universal monster movies that he also idolized. Even despite some rough goings with the studio (including once again being told he couldn't cast Campbell in the lead), the film was a modest hit…Raimi's first taste of mainstream success. Even today, after three much more elaborate and detailed Spider-Man films, Darkman still holds up as a fine example of Raimi's passion for comic-books. There are two scenes that have always stayed with me. One is the infamous carnival scene, which my fellow writers will elaborate on below. The other one is the one I chose for this list, simply because of the two it's the one that actually features Darkman in his Darkman outfit, and therefore is more of a comic-book moment. Darkman is hanging on for dear life from a cable hanging off of a helicopter. At one point, he is sent smashing through a high-rise window, right into the middle of a business meeting. Right before being yanked back out of the opening, Darkman takes a second to compose himself and offer a polite "excuse me" to startled businessmen. That sort of casual joke in the middle of a big action scene certainly isn't exclusive to Raimi, but he's one of the best at it.

2. The train fight scene, in Spider-Man 2

Even despite the minor success of Darkman, it was still sorta tough to originally wrap your head around the idea of a guy like Raimi being handed the keys to a franchise as big as Spider-Man. I mean, a talented director is a talented director, but it's not like you would watch Evil Dead II and instantly think this is the guy that Marvel would put in charge of their flagship character. And yet, that's what happened, and it turned out to be right choice (and that's actually quite the understatement). Despite a few minor problems, Raimi's first Spider-Man film was an excellent start to the series, and set a new standard for comic-book movies…or, at least it did for a few years, until Raimi topped himself with the unbelievably excellent Spider-Man 2. Until Dark Knight came along, this was the comic-book movie to judge all others by, and a large part of that can be attributed to the fantastic action scenes involving Spidey vs. the villainous Doc Ock. Their battle on the side of a skyscraper is amazing enough, but the real show-stopper occurs when the two duke it out on top of a high-speed elevated train. From the moment when Ock flings Spider-Man into the busy traffic below, to the climatic moment of Spider-Man having to use all his strength to stop the out-of-control train, this is just a pitch-perfect example of directing action, and is still the best action scene of any comic-book movie, ever.

1. Ash fights his hand, and then completely melts down, in Evil Dead II

I suppose you could argue that this isn't a single scene, but rather a lengthy sequence of scenes. You'd be right…but I still can't help but include it, because this sequence more than any other perfectly sums up what Sam Raimi brings to the table. Well, actually, the very existence of Evil Dead II probably does that. How many other directors would be able to pull off making a sequel to their breakthrough hit that is actually essentially a more comedic remake (probably the only comparable situations are Tobe Hopper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and Joe Dante's Gremlins 2). Raimi pulled it off, and in the process created one of the best independent horror films of the decade…for a second time! This sequence of events is the ultimate showcase of his signature blend of horror, comedy, and visual hijinks. From the Three Stooges-esque scene of Ash being beaten up by his own hand, to his infamous cry of "who's laughing now" as he chops said hand off with a chainsaw, and of course culminating in the hysterical moment where Ash joins in and laughs right along with all the possessed objects in the cabin that have begun mocking him – this is just so unlike anything else that had been seen in horror up until that point. If Drag Me To Hell is just half as much fun as this scene, it will have been worth the wait.



Shawn S. Lealos

I am going to focus my attention on "Evil Dead style" Raimi, although this should show no slight whatsoever on great movies such as A Simple Plan, For Love of the Game, Darkman and the Spider-Man movies, all of which have some great stuff in them as well.

5. Dr. Octopus Comes to Life in Spider-Man 2

I loved the first Spider-Man movie. However, I wanted to see Sam Raimi do something creative and cool, and regular Spiderman superhero action wasn't enough to whet my appetite for Sam Raimi levels of creativity. After the success of the first film, Raimi finally got a little creative license with the second and this is his homage to his Evil Dead trilogy. We start with Dr. Octopus on a table and doctors preparing to cut off his appendages. We get a glimpse at one of the doctors coming and then get a quick first person POV shot from the perspective of the appendages themselves. Then we get a few of the cheesy horror shots of women screaming in a tight close up directly into the camera. We get a lot of the early devestation shown in shadows, a classic Raimi tool that pays respect to B-level horror movies of the past. A doctor is pulled under a table as he digs his finger nails into the floor, ala Ash from Evil Dead II. For some reason there is a chainsaw (!!!!!) in the room and when a doctor starts to use it, Raimi takes another, more distorted tentacle POV shot from ALL FOUR APPENDAGES (in a 4-part split screen) as they zero in on the doctor with the chainsaw and takes him out. As an old school Sam Raimi fan, this scene made me completely fall in love with the movie.

4. Ash uses the chainsaw to cut his dead girlfriend up in Evil Dead II

In the first Evil Dead movie, Ash pulled out a chainsaw only to decide not to chop his girlfriend to pieces because he still feels love for her. Of course, this comes back to haunt him as a Deadite will always rise from the grave. In Evil Dead II, not only did they go ahead and pull the trigger on the stunt, but they did it in the first twenty minutes of the film. Ash has his former lover's decapitated head on a table. The rest of her body attacks Ash with a chainsaw but, thanks to the slapstick manner of the franchise, ends up sticking it into her own body. Ash finally wrestles the chainsaw away and goes to the head, which is now acting human again, crying for mercy. This time Ash shows no mercy and cuts the head in half, blood splattering all over the room, although it is only seen through shadows on the wall as a light gets busted and everything is lit in red. It is great fun and delivers on one of the rare moments that the first film failed to.

3. Ash's hand turns on him and starts beating the hell out of him in Evil Dead II

It is a great moment of slapstick humor that ends with the horrible moment of Ash cutting his own hand off with his trusty chainsaw. It is a perfect conclusion to the fight against himself as Campbell is proud to have basically defeated himself in a GIANT BLOOD SPURTING moment. Bruce places a bucket over it, before setting a batch of books on top of the trash bucket, A Farewell to Arms being the novel on the top of the stack. It seems to be a dryly funny end to a comic, yet horrific, scene. But it wasn't over, because the hand gets away and the music morphs into Warner Bros cartoon styled music. The scene then became almost Tom and Jerry like, with the hand racing for a mouse hole, getting caught in a mouse trap and squealing (???), before flipping Ash off. When Ash finally shoots it, there is a "blood flood" that sprays from the wall and the sequence finally ends with the "Laughing Scene" where Ash finally loses it. It is Sam Raimi at his best.

2. The Mini Ash's scene from Army of Darkness

Ash made his way into a windmill, narrowly escaping the Deadites and if you saw either Evil Dead movie, you knew something bad was about to happen. The scene is perfectly paced, setting up the eventual confrontation, where Ash sees his own image in the mirror watching him (an homage to the first movie) and he breaks the mirror. Everyone knows that leads to bad luck, which is the only luck Ash has ever known. Then the scene morphs into complete brilliance. The broken shards of glass create many little versions of Ash and they all attack him (another homage to the scene where his own hand attacks in the second movie). The sequence is the movie's homage to Raimi's great love of Three Stooges slapstick. The scene never once takes itself seriously, from Ash using a spatula to remove his face from the hot stove to the little Ash's continuously thwarting him with the comic Stooge-like music played during the battle. The scene is slowed down, sped up, and shot at awkward angles and comes across as one of the most memorable scenes from the great, fun flick.

1. All the trick shots from The Evil Dead

I understand that Evil Dead 2 is widely recognized as the best movie in the trilogy but, as a filmmaker, the first movie speaks to me on a more personal level. I went so far as to do my Senior Capstone paper over the techniques used in this, Raimi's introduction to the film world. His innovation is what I love so much about his style of filmmaking.

In the opening scene, where "The Force" is zeroing in on the kids, it travels through a swamp, which was accomplished by having Bruce Campbell push an inflatable raft while Raimi held the camera taped to his hand. The rest of "The Force" was shot with the camera bolted to a 2x4 as Raimi ran with it.

In the scene where Campbell went into the basement to find Scott you will notice a change in Campbell's hair style. This is due to a change in location and a several month lapse in time thanks to them running out of money and having to shoot more over a period of four years.

I'd be remiss not to mention the tree rape scene, mostly shot in reverse motion.

There are more trick shots in the final climactic battle. In one, Raimi hangs upside down from the rafters with the camera taped to his hands and does a reverse setup. There is another shot where Raimi is lying under a box and shooting up through the holes in the bottom of the box at a fake shoe, insinuating Campbell is standing there. There is a shot where a track was set up above the rafters that moved the camera along following Campbell as he walked through a room. Finally, there is a shot where an image in the mirror reaches out to grab Campbell that was achieved by shooting his reflection in a pool of water and blasting many kilowatts of light into his face to make the reflection clear.

Needless to say, this movie proved to me that anyone, including a kid from Oklahoma, could make a movie if he was creative and inventive enough. This is the movie, and those are the scenes, that made me decide to take a chance at making my own movies.



Bryan Kristopowitz

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Spider-Man stops the train in Spider-Man 2 (2004) – Spider-Man tries to stop a runaway train by shooting some webbing, getting in front of the train, and using his feet to try to slow the train down. On one hand, you have no doubt that Spider-Man will get the train stopped (he's a superhero and that's what superheroes do), but when it's done you're in shock that he actually did it. Watch how the scene builds and how the strain builds in Spider-Man's face. Awesome stuff.

Doc Ock hospital chainsaw scene in Spider-Man 2 (2004) – Raimi's big budget shout out to the Evil Dead fan base, with Doc Ock waking up in a hospital, on a surgery table. Ock's robotic arms beat the crap out of every doctor and nurse in the room. That one doctor tries valiantly to stop the arms with that chainsaw, though, doesn't he?

Original ending of Army of Darkness (1992) – This is the "dark" ending, where Ash wakes up in the future and finds out that he took too many drops of the magical time travel potion. London is in ruins, and Ash is mad and insane at the same time. Poor Ash doesn't get to go home after all. Not as cool as the theatrical ending, but still plenty cool.

THE TOP 5

5. Bruce Campbell "shemps" as Darkman in the final scene of Darkman (1990)

This, of course, is the final scene of the movie, where Liam Neeson's Peyton Westlake runs away from his girlfriend Julie (Frances McDormand) and she chases after him. She runs up on a guy in a black trench coat, thinking it's Peyton (she only sees him from behind). She turns the guy around. It's not Peyton. It's Bruce Campbell. Or is it? As we hear via the voice over from Neeson, Neeson is using Campbell's face to blend in to the crowd, making it easier for him to get away. Peyton Westlake, Darkman, still has work to do. What makes the scene special is the fact that the last face we see is Campbell's, the star of Raimi's Evil Dead movies. Raimi wanted him Campbell to play Darkman, the studio wanted a "name" actor, and this is the best Raimi could do for his old friend (I believe that Campbell was technically a sound technician on the movie or something. The details appear in Campbell's excellent If Chins Could Kill. book). When I first saw Darkman, I had no idea who Campbell was, who Raimi was, and I certainly didn't know what Evil Dead was or meant (I thought that Raimi was just ripping off Tim Burton's "Batman." It was the whole Danny Elfman score thing. Hey, I was young and stupid and didn't know better). Now, when I see that last scene, I laugh out loud, "Hey, that's Ash!"

"I'm everyone, and no one. I am everywhere, nowhere. Call me Darkman."

4. Helicopter chase in Darkman (1990)

Liam Neeson's Darkman is being chased by the evil scumbag Durant (the awesome Larry Drake) via helicopter. Durant's got a thump gun grenade launcher that he keeps shooting, blowing stuff up in front of, behind, and to the side of Darkman. The scene ends with Darkman hooking a cable to the helicopter that prevents it from rising above an obstruction. The helicopter explodes. I remember this scene being incredibly disorienting when I first saw it. It was a good kind of disorienting, though. It made me want to go back and watch it again and again. And even after watching it so many times I'm still disoriented by it. What's really amazing about the scene, though, is that's the entire sequence is done sans CGI. Granted, CGI effects barely existed in 1990, but it's still amazing to think that a movie pulled off a major action stunt sequence without using a computer. For whatever reason, no one wants to do it to the old fashioned way anymore.

3. The Pink Elephant Carnival scene in Darkman (1990)

This is the great scene where Darkman, with this unblemished Peyton Westlake mask on, goes out on a date with this girlfriend Julie. They go to a carnival and spend some time together. Peyton decides to win his girlfriend a pink elephant by playing a rigged game (I can't remember what it was exactly. Was it a baseball and bottles game or was it a test of strength thing?). Peyton wins the game, but the carnival guy won't give him his prize. So Peyton gets angrier and angrier as the carny refuses to give in. So Peyton goes into full on pissed off mode and snaps the guy's fingers, which causes the carny, Julie, and Peyton to scream. The scene is both hilarious and sad. Hilarious because the situation that causes the uncontrollable rage is so ridiculous (it's just a pink elephant, man), and sad because this is the last time Peyton and Julie really get to spend any time together as Peyton and Julie and not the horribly scarred Darkman monster and Julie. When was the last time you saw Neeson do a scene like that? It's been a while, hasn't it?

And, yeah, it's also sad that Peyton ends up running off with the elephant, never giving it to his girlfriend. I just wanted to point that out in case you didn't know.

2. Ash fights his own hand in Evil Dead II (1987)

Ah, yes, the great "Ash fights his own possessed hand" scene from Evil Dead II. Ash really doesn't fight his own hand as much as he just gets his ass kicked by his own hand. The possessed hand punches Ash in the face, smashes ceramic plates and bottles on his head until he knocks himself out. The hand then drags Ash over to a meat cleaver. But before the possessed hand can use the meat cleaver Ash, playing possum, rams a knife into the top of the hand and then cuts it off with a chainsaw. Ash then screams "Who's laughing now?" Why does he scream that? Because the possessed hand was making noise the whole time it was beating the crap out of Ash. So why is this scene so dang great, besides the obvious? It's funny. It's ridiculous. It's Sam Raimi at his best. It's a scene about a guy fighting his own hand. Who else would have come up with that? The scene is horrific and nasty, sure (that's what the Evil Dead series is all about, isn't it?), but it's also very, very funny. That's what you end up remembering most when watching this scene and Evil Dead II in general. You remember laughing. "Who's laughing now?" We are.

1. U.S. Theatrical Release Ending of Army of Darkness (1992)

This is the Army of Darkness ending the studio wanted, as the original dark and downbeat ending was, well, too dark and downbeat. So Raimi and company concocted the ending you see in the U.S. theatrical cut, where Ash, back in modern times and working at S-mart, ends up having to fight one final demon because he didn't say "the words" exactly right. Again. So we've got Ash on a table with wheels, blasting away at the demon with a Winchester pump (a Rifleman gun, if you will). Along the way Ash utters the immortal lines: "Lady, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave the store," "The name's Ash. Housewares," "Come get some," and "Hail to the king, baby." The scene is just a crowd pleaser. It's quick, it's fun, it seemingly comes out of nowhere, and it's got our hero kicking butt and shooting out great one liners. Sure, it's a scene Raimi probably really didn't want to do, but it's the one scene, even more than the "Ash fights his own hand" scene from Evil Dead II scene, he will be remembered for. It's got everything. Action, suspense, horror, comedy, and Bruce Campbell. Yeah for Sam Raimi.

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