Samuel M. Raimi ( RAY-mee; born October 23, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for writing and directing the Evil Dead trilogy (1981–1993) and directing the Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007). He also directed Darkman (1990), The Quick and the Dead (1995), A Simple Plan (1998), The Gift (2000), Drag Me to Hell (2009), Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) and Send Help (2026).
His films are known for their highly dynamic visual style, inspired by comic books and slapstick comedy. He founded the production companies Renaissance Pictures in 1979 and Ghost House Pictures in 2002. Raimi has also produced several successful television series, including Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995–1997), its spin-off Xena: Warrior Princess (1995–2001), and Ash vs Evil Dead (2015–2018) starring longtime friend and collaborator Bruce Campbell reprising his role in the Evil Dead franchise.
Raimi was born on October 23, 1959, in Royal Oak, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. His family was Conservative Jewish. He is a son of merchants Celia Barbara (née Abrams) (1929–2016) and Leonard Ronald Raimi (1926–2021). His ancestors were Jewish immigrants from Russia and Hungary. His younger brother Ted is an actor, and his older brother Ivan is a screenwriter and physician. His older sister, Andrea Raimi Rubin, is a court reporter. Another older brother, Sander, died at 15 in an accidental drowning in Israel; Raimi has said that the trauma knitted the remaining family closer together and "colored everything he's done for the rest of his life." Raimi also mentioned that Sander first introduced him to Spider-Man, igniting his love for comics.
Raimi graduated from Groves High School and later went on to attend Michigan State University and later Università Bocconi in Milan, Italy, where he studied English but left after three semesters to film The Evil Dead.
Raimi became fascinated with making films when his father brought a movie camera home one day. He began to make Super 8 movies with his friend Bruce Campbell, whom he met in 1975. In college, he collaborated with his brother's roommate Robert Tapert and Campbell to shoot Within the Woods (1979), a 32-minute horror film which raised $375,000, as well as his debut feature film It's Murder!. During that time, he also shot the seven-minute short film Clockwork (1979), starring Scott Spiegel (who had appeared in Within the Woods) and Cheryl Guttridge. Through family, friends, and a network of investors, Raimi was able to finance production of the highly successful horror film The Evil Dead (1981), which became a cult hit and effectively launched Raimi's career.
He began work on his third film Crimewave (1985), which he co-wrote with the then-unknown Coen brothers, shortly after. Intended as a live-action comic book, the film was unsuccessful, partly due to unwanted studio intervention. Raimi then returned to the horror genre with the seminal Evil Dead II (which added slapstick humor to the over-the-top horror, showcasing his love of the Three Stooges). With his brother Ivan Raimi (and crediting himself as Celia Abrams), Sam Raimi also wrote Easy Wheels (1989), which parodied the Outlaw biker film genre. A long-time comic book buff, he then attempted to adapt "The Shadow" into a movie but was unable to secure the rights, so he created his own superhero, Darkman (1990). The film was his first major studio picture, and was commercially successful, spawning two sequels. Through it he was still able to secure funding for Evil Dead III, which was retitled Army of Darkness and largely steered away from horror towards fantasy and comedy elements. Army of Darkness, the final movie in the Evil Dead trilogy, commercially underperformed, yet on video became a cult classic.
In the 1990s, Raimi moved into other genres, directing such films as the western The Quick and the Dead (starring Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman), the highly acclaimed crime thriller A Simple Plan (1998) (starring Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton), and the romantic drama For Love of the Game (1999) (starring Kevin Costner).
Raimi has frequently collaborated with Joel and Ethan Coen, beginning when Joel was one of the editors of Evil Dead. The Coens co-wrote Crimewave and The Hudsucker Proxy with Raimi in the mid-1980s (though Hudsucker was not produced for almost a decade). Raimi made cameo appearances in Miller's Crossing, The Hudsucker Proxy, and with Joel Coen in Spies Like Us. The Coen brothers gave Raimi advice on shooting in snow for A Simple Plan, based on their experiences with Fargo.
Raimi has worked in front of the camera in The Stand as a dimwitted hitman, John Carpenter's Body Bags as a murdered gas station attendant, and Indian Summer in what is perhaps his biggest role as a bumbling assistant to Alan Arkin. The film was written by his childhood friend, writer-director Mike Binder, and shot at the camp that they both attended when they were younger.
Raimi achieved great critical and commercial success with the blockbuster Spider-Man (2002), which was adapted from the comic book series of the same name. The movie grossed over US$800 million worldwide, spawning two sequels: Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3, both directed by Raimi and each grossing approximately $800 million. After the completion of the third Spider-Man film, he planned on producing two more sequels (although Sony Pictures planned three sequels) but could not find a satisfactory script. In 2022, reflecting on Spider-Man 3, Raimi told Rolling Stone: "It was a very painful experience for me. I wanted to make a Spider-Man movie to redeem myself for that. [The aborted] Spider-Man 4 — that was really what that was about. I wanted to go out on a high note. I didn't want to just make another one that pretty much worked. I had a really high standard in my mind. And I didn't think I could get that script to the level that I was hoping for by that start date." He, along with Marc Webb, were both brought on as creative consultants for Marvel Studios' Spider-Man: No Way Home, directed by Jon Watts.
Raimi produced the entire English-language The Grudge franchise, based on the original Japanese films. On December 11, 2006, the website SuperHeroHype reported that director Sam Raimi and Michael Uslan would co-produce a new film version of The Shadow for Columbia Pictures. On October 16, 2007, Raimi stated that: "I don't have any news on The Shadow at this time, except that the company that I have with Josh Donen, my producing partner, we've got the rights to The Shadow. I love the character very much and we're trying to work on a story that'll do justice to the character." According to Entertainment Weekly, Raimi had expressed an interest in directing a film version of The Hobbit, the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In 2008, it was reported Guillermo del Toro would direct with Peter Jackson as the executive producer, though Jackson ultimately directed The Hobbit film series. In 2008, it was reported Raimi might direct By Any Means Necessary, the next film based on the "Jack Ryan" CIA character created by Tom Clancy for Paramount Pictures. Disney also approached him to direct W.I.T.C.H.: The Movie, based on the popular comic.
Raimi directed the horror film Drag Me to Hell, released in 2009 to critical acclaim. Blizzard Entertainment announced on July 22, 2009, that Raimi would be directing a film adaptation of the Warcraft video game series, but at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con, it was revealed that he would not be the director.
In 2009, it was reported Raimi would produce the British supernatural thriller Refuge, which would be directed by Corin Hardy and published by Mandate Pictures, and the remake of the Danish thriller The Substitute, which would be directed by Scott Derrickson, under his new label Spooky Pictures. In 2010, it was reported he would produce the British thriller flick Burst 3D with his company Ghost House Pictures, directed by Neil Marshall.
Raimi directed Oz the Great and Powerful, which was released on March 8, 2013, by Walt Disney Pictures and grossed $493 million worldwide. He said he would not be directing the planned sequel.