Archive for Sam Raimi

Favorite Films: Radio Karma Dig ‘Evil Dead,’ ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll High School,’ Multiple Tim Burton Flicks, ‘Stopmotion’

Posted in Favorite Films, Features, Interviews, Videos with tags , , , , , , , , , on 10/11/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Welcome to the latest installment in our Favorite Films series, in which we chat up musicians about the movies they treasure the most. Today we host Radio Karma, a power-pop/rock project led by lyricist/songwriter Richard Rossi and multi-instrumentalist Joe Giddings, who was previously a member of Star Collector and has his own solo material to boot. Radio Karma recently released a three-song EP, We Were Gods, which we’ll tell you more about in the near future. But as it’s the weekend, when we bring you new installments of Favorite Films, we’re rolling out this part of our conversation with the gentlemen first.

Enjoy learning about Rossi’s and Giddings’ most treasured movies … we can virtually guarantee at least a couple of them will be new to you.

Joe Giddings’ Favorite Films

Evil Dead (1981): “I watched that in the theater 13 or 14 times. I started doing call-outs during the movie, like The Rocky Horror Picture Show. In one scene, the lady’s being dragged across the floor, drenched and covered in blood. And you see her from top to bottom, and there’s barely any blood on her. So there’s a continuity [issue] there, and as that’s happening, I’m yelling, “Got a tough stain?” which at the time was [a commonly used phrase in laundry detergent] commercials. Everybody in the theater cracked up. (2:45) Apart from that silliness, I appreciated the practical effects, the stop motion and the comedy that was involved.”

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‘Send Help’: An Analysis of the Eye-Gouging Scene(s) in Sam Raimi’s Breakaway Horror-Comedy Hit

Posted in Essays, Favorite Films, Features with tags , , , , , on 05/26/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Just two weeks ago, we raved about the best movie of the year so far, Sam Raimi’s Send Help. But just as we can’t stop rewatching the deliriously entertaining horror-thriller-with-a-smile, we keep finding more in-jokes (or Easter eggs, if you prefer) with each subsequent viewing.

The most obvious one is the golfing motif, which is not unlike the collectible coin/button storytelling device that Raimi used in his last great horror-comedy, Drag Me to Hell. (The Bad Penny still maintains the latter flick is the better of the two discussed here.) Just as the coin/button completed the narrative circle of Drag Me to Hell with a sinister smirk, Raimi similarly introduces the golf club and brief discussions about golf at the very beginning and very end of Send Help.

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If Sam Raimi’s ‘Send Help’ Has You Begging for More Horror-Comedy, Watch This John Carpenter Short Film in Full

Posted in Favorite Films, Features, Videos with tags , , , , on 05/12/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Definitely more horror than comedy, Sam Raimi nonetheless made an indelible mark in a short film that was part of master-of-the-macabre John Carpenter’s 1993’s anthology, Body Bags. (Raimi made a couple of cameos in it; keep yer eyes peeled. Horror king Wes Craven also makes a cameo, and one of the main roles.)

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