Sam Raimi shared some of his favourite movies in a Reddit thread yesterday (January 16), with last year’s Weapons among them.
The Evil Dead director took part in an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on the r/movies subreddit when he was asked if he had any favourite recent horror movies.
“I thought Weapons was great, original and frightening,” he said, before adding: “I also loved Get Out and Smile. The last Final Destination was also awesome.”
Mystery horror Weapons, directed by Zach Cregger, was a box office success following its release in August last year, and one Redditor replied to Raimi, “Of course Sam Raimi has great taste. Weapons is my #1 of 2025.”
As for his favourite horror movies more generally, he opted for The Haunting, Jaws, The Grudge and The Others.
Elsewhere in the session, he explained how he got into horror in the first place. A comedy filmmaker at school and college, it was when he teamed up with Robert Tapert and Bruce Campbell to make a feature movie that he moved genres.
“Rob said the only theaters showing homemade films are drive-ins, and they only show horror movies, so you’ve got to learn to make a horror film,” he said. “I told him I didn’t like horror films, they scared me, and he told me to try. That’s really what started me out in horror.”
Raimi was also asked about his friendship with Campbell, and why he enjoys “torturing” his “poor friend” so much – Raimi has often subjected Campbell to physical hardship in his movies, particularly in the Evil Dead trilogy. He wrote in response, “It’s not that I enjoy it. Someone has to do it.”
When asked how his 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 car, which originally appeared in the first Evil Dead movie, is holding up, he joked, “It’s held up well for the last 53 years. It played a part in all my movies. It’s amazing how many times it has run over Bruce Campbell or caused him harm,” before quipping that he has had to hide replicas of the car throughout the United States to stop Campbell from destroying it.
Raimi also discussed his Spider-Man trilogy with Tobey Maguire and the inspiration for the character of Mr. Ditkovich, Peter Parker’s landlord. “It was the great writer Alvin Sargent who came up with his character,” he said, “And Elya Baskin added so much to it. Ursula, played by Mageina Tovah, completed the comic duo, she was great to work with.”
Raimi’s next movie is the horror thriller Send Help, starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien, which is set to come out on January 30. He previously worked with McAdams on 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and described it as “really eye-opening”. He added, “I told myself this is the actress I should be working with next.”
When asked if he’d ever be interested in directing something a little different to his usual movies – like when he worked on the 1998 neo-noir crime thriller A Simple Plan, he said that he loves “good thrillers” and will “look forward to making another one”.
The post Sam Raimi praises “original and frightening” ‘Weapons’ and reveals favourite horror movies appeared first on NME.
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