Sam Raimi. Hearing his name brings glee to all horror fans. From his low-budget horror roots with stuff like Evil Dead to Sharon Stone westerns all the way to $300 million dollar Hollywood fair like Spider-Man, he’s put out quite the eclectic filmography. So what are his 5 best movies? Below is my list, feel free to post yours in the comment section.

1. A Simple Plan: This film is just fantastic. It’s a near perfect character piece that proved Raimi could be more than just flash and style. His most mature, creepy work.
2. Spider-Man 2: Arguably, the best comic book film of all-time. Filled with great performances, scenes, and battles. You could watch this a hundred times and never get tired of seeing it.
3. Evil Dead 2: The best film of the trilogy, it improved on everything in the original while not descending too far into slapstick like Army of Darkness.
4. Crimewave: Raimi disowns this film, but it’s absolutely kick ass. After a slow opening 20 minutes, the film goes absolutely nuts in terms of story, imagery, and style. This is Raimi at his most creative with a camera. It’s funny as hell to boot. It doesn’t hurt that Raimi co-wrote it with the Coen Brothers and features Bruce Campbell as a sleazy ladies man.
5. The Gift: A very underrated film filled with excellent performances and a subtle depth. Some people cry foul over its apparent lack of originality, but I enjoyed it more than Darkman, which just missed my list. It’s unfortunate that the film is known more for Katie Holmes being topless than for the film itself.

So, what’s your top 5 Sam Raimi films?

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