Sam Raimi: Auteur For A Day

Posted by mediawahwah on July 14, 2010 · 2 Comments 

(Originally Posted on Fangoria.com in the Summer of 2009)

These days the one question that everybody seems to be asking me is, in their oh-so eloquent way, “what’s up with the new Raimi movie…any good?” Now that I’ve seen it, I am very happy to be able to report, yes…yes it is.

The reviews are already in for DRAG ME TO HELL and I think Michael Gingold (of Fangoria) and Allan Dart (of Starlog) sum it up very nicely. So if you’re interested in accurate analyses from writers that really seem to get the film and Raimi’s sensibilities, I wholeheartedly recommend you give those reviews a “gander”. Since I’m coming late to the party, I’m going to avoid giving my thoughts strictly about the film and instead take a brief look at Mr. Raimi, his style and his work.

Samuel Marshall Raimi was born October 23, 1959 and as most horror fans know, he grew up in Michigan along side genre leading man, Bruce Campbell. Along with Campbell and college chum, Robert Tapert, the three Michigan natives made a huge splash into the movie business and the horror genre with their 1981 low budget masterpiece, THE EVIL DEAD: THE ULTIMATE EXPERIENCE IN GRUELING HORROR. The success and longevity of this 85 minute schlock-fest, that reportedly cost a mere $375,000 to make, can be almost entirely attributed to the vision, style and creativity of its director. Raimi’s feature film debut has spawned two classic sequels, action figures, several video games and comic book series, as well as managed to work its way into the pop-cultural subconscious, being referenced in everything from Saturday morning cartoons like 1994’s REBOOT and British sitcoms like the cult hit SPACED to fan favorite horror films like A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and DONNIE DARKO.

Raimi himself has found enormous financial success and Hollywood credibility by directing the ever popular SPIDER-MAN film series (2 of which are on the list of top 20 highest-grossing movies of all-time). The road from EVIL DEAD to SPIDER-MAN was a long one and during that time he tried his hand at many different genres before making a return to his roots with DRAG ME TO HELL. Some of his many film projects were successful, some were not, some were more “Raimi-esque” than others, but at the end of the day, they all have his unmistakable fingerprint firmly planted on them.

Now for a bit of film history/theory:

The Auteur Policy (or Theory) is a concept created by the French film critics of the 1950’s. It was Francois Truffaut that coined the term “politique des auteurs” in a 1954 essay that he wrote for Cahiers du cinema, titled “Une certaine tendance du cinema francais.” The theory states that though film is a collaborative process, it ultimately reflects the personal creative style and thematic preoccupations of a single maker. It argues that like novels and paintings, films can be studied as if they are the product of an individual artist. The word “auteur” is French for author and in most cases this author is the director, though at times this term has also been used to describe many film producers as well.

In a more practical definition this theory states that when you watch multiple films by the same director, in each work you should be able to see distinguishing similarities in theme, as well other aspects ranging from visual style, production design, music and even in the actors cast. Though the theory argues for “the director” in general, the title “auteur” is typically given to only the directors that are at the very top of their craft; the directors that when you see one of their films you know immediately it belongs to them specifically. This concept is an important one for film analysis, especially when discussing horror movies, because it is my opinion that the horror genre provides the most and strongest examples of this theory in all of cinema (with Comedy and Sci-Fi trailing closely behind).

Like the obvious directors of the genre that personify this theory (Carpenter, Cronenberg, Romero and Argento to name just a few), Sam Raimi’s style, cinematic sensibilities, choices to work with recurring cast and crew, as well as a few quirky/unconventional motifs, definitely put him in this category. Yes on the surface one can point to the fact that he consistently works with actors like Bruce Campbell and Ted Raimi (his younger brother), or that he has strategically placed a yellow 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 in all of his films (with the exception of THE QUICK AND THE DEAD), but his loyalty extends even further then his siblings, childhood friends and automotive family heirlooms. He has worked with editor, Bob Murawski, cinematographer Bill Pope and music composers Joe De Luca, Danny Elfman and Christopher Young, among others, on several occasions.

Most importantly the things that make a Sam Raimi film so undeniably “Raimi” are his visual style and sense of humor. Right from the beginning, with the first EVIL DEAD film, Raimi established himself as a visionary with the camera, even inventing inexpensive camera rigs to allow him to get the shots he needed. His now famous “shaky-cam”, which was most notably used in the EVIL DEAD films as the “unseen force’s” P.O.V., was even adopted by the Coen Brothers for their feature debut, BLOOD SIMPLE. Though some of his films are less visually stylistic (in the “Raimi” sense) than others, the majority of them do share major similarities. Raimi’s use of extreme Dutch angles (sometimes even Dutching during the shot) and his use of snap-zooms in conjunction with fast dolly movements, in order to either move into or away from a character or object quickly, are both techniques that he has made completely his own. He has also become renowned for his use of montage sequences and the style in which he constructs them (a skill that Eisenstein would be very proud of). He has a firm command over the medium and has really influenced generations of filmmakers that have come after him. In fact when the fore mentioned techniques are now used by filmmakers, like in Wright’s SHAUN OF THE DEAD or Kitamura’s VERSUS for example, Raimi is either acknowledged as being a major influence on the director or the film is described by fans as being “Raimi-esque”; which is clearly a testament to his talent as an artist, as well as being very telling about his impact on today’s cinema.

Sam Raimi’s sense of humor also plays a major part in his films. Even the first EVIL DEAD film, which was meant to be a full out horror-fest, has it’s moments of comedic genius and its share of Three Stooges homages. As the series continued, consecutively the films certainly became even more grounded in slapstick, eventually completely straddling the line between NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL. Raimi then took his love for slapstick to an absolute extreme in his incredibly ambitious and horribly unsuccessful 1985 collaboration with the Coen Brothers, CRIMEWAVE. In his book, IF CHINS COULD KILL: CONFESSIONS OF A B-MOVIE ACTOR, Bruce Campbell explains that CRIMEWAVE might have had a chance at working if it weren’t for unfortunate creative control issues with the studio.

Aside from the above examples, Raimi has tried to steer clear of using as overtly broad styles of comedy in his work, but shades of his lovably childish sense humor do manage to creep into almost everything he does. Whether it comes from the heightened reality and extreme style of films like DARKMAN or THE QUICK AND THE DEAD, or a clueless Peter Parker struttin’ his stuff to James Brown or even Billy Bob Thorton saying that he thinks that a baby “looked like a little tomato”, Raimi’s sense of humor is always present in his work…in one form or another. His latest film is no different.

DRAG ME TO HELL is being advertised as a straight horror/thriller, which is unfortunate because I think that people that are not familiar with the EVIL DEAD films or Raimi’s style might not get what he’s going for and may dismiss it as being cheesy or bad. None the less, I think Raimi fans will revel in its “Raimi-ness”. Though this latest work is not overtly comedic, there are clear nods to the EVIL DEAD series and the film is so over the top and melodramatic that you can’t help but chuckle…or at least smile. The gross-out moments are plentiful and at times you can even hear Campbell’s Ash being channeled through the film’s petite young heroin, played by Alison Lohman.

Clearly not all of his films call for the extreme camerawork, editing and slapstick comedy that we have all come to associate with the Sam Raimi, but there are enough examples throughout his work to establish a definite pattern. His style is unmistakable and his work is undeniably and solely his. He embodies the notion of the “auteur” perfectly…but then again most of the great ones do. ELL is certainly a return to familiar territory for Raimi and it will ultimately fit into his body of work like a glove. I personally loved it and I don’t think his fans will be disappointed.

Copyright © 2010 – J. Blake. All Rights Reserved

 

 

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