Filmmakers love to talk about their best movies, but it’s comparatively rare that they reflect on the worst movies they’ve ever sent out into the world. Those can be painful memories that people don’t want to relitigate when they’d much rather talk about new movies instead.
Sam Raimi, however, has shown a willingness to look back. And, given his success, it’s understandable that he doesn’t mind talking about what didn’t work.
He’s made some of the best horror movies of all time, but has had some missteps in the superhero movie world. His Spider-Man movies run the gamut from the sublime to whatever on earth Spider-Man 3 was trying to be. The less said, the better. And then there was Doctor Strange 2, which proved a very divisive Marvel movie indeed.
Raimi took part in a Reddit AMA session connected to his producer role in the science fiction movie 65 – read our 65 review for more on Adam Driver and his dinosaur adversaries – and was asked to identify his most useful failure.
It might surprise some that Raimi doesn’t consider Spider-Man 3, complete with its far too many Spider-Man villains and that infamous disco dance, to be the worst thing he had made.
“Crimewave was my worst failure, but it did teach me a lot about rear screen projection, front screen projection, filmic technique and the importance of a director having control of a film,” said Raimi.
Released in 1985 off the back of Raimi’s success with The Evil Dead and co-written with the Coen Brothers, Crimewave portrays a cartoonish, tangled tale of murder and mistaken identity, told in flashback from the electric chair.
There was a lot going on in the movie – and Raimi was denied final cut – but it flopped at the box office in a big way and critics weren’t particularly inspired either. Raimi made Evil Dead 2 a few years later, though, so there was a happy ending.
For more movie fun, check out our lists of the best body horror movies and the best thriller movies. Or to see where Raimi’s best franchise is heading next, we’ve got you covered on the Evil Dead Rise release date.