Sam Raimi Says He’s a Horror Coward Who Can’t Handle His Own Blood-Soaked Movies
Few filmmakers have built a reputation quite like Sam Raimi. His name is practically synonymous with wild camera moves, mean-spirited scares, and enough fake blood to flood a small town.
After decades of putting actors through the cinematic wringer, you’d assume Raimi thrives on the mess. But, it turns out, he can barely stomach it.
Raimi recently opened up to CinemaBlend while promoting Send Help, his upcoming survival horror thriller, which is awesome! It finds two coworkers stranded on a deserted island and slowly unraveling.
The film stars Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien, and early footage makes one thing very clear. Raimi hasn’t gone easy on the blood.
With all that carnage splashed across the screen, the filmmaker was asked if he ever grosses himself out. His answer was hilariously honest:
“Yeah. It's my aversion to those things that make me want to unleash them on others, because I'm like the coward bully. 'Yeah, I'm afraid. I'll scare you!' But I can’t take it myself. That really is what’s going on.”
There’s something oddly comforting about knowing the mastermind behind some of horror’s bloodiest and goriest moments is, at heart, a total wimp when it comes to bodily fluids. This is the same guy who gave us the Evil Dead films, movies that practically redefine excessive gore. Yet Raimi apparently prefers his blood safely contained on someone else.
What he does love, without hesitation, is the reaction. Raimi talked about the rush of putting an audience through the emotional grinder and watching it pay off in real time:
“I feel glee in the audience when they jump. It's really great. [I go,] 'Now, they're going to be scared. Now, they're going to fall for this moment. But we didn't give it to that. Now, we hit 'em!'
“So it's really fun to build those suspense sequences with your pals and cinematographers and team and then see if they work and fine tune them. And yeah, have a great editor like Bob Murawski. You can make almost anything work.”
That playful cruelty has always been Raimi’s secret sauce. He builds tension, toys with expectations, and then snaps the trap shut when you least want it to happen.
Send Help keeps that tradition alive and well. The film marks Raimi’s return to full-on horror after more than a decade away, and critics have already described it as darkly funny, nasty in all the right ways, and unmistakably Raimi.
It’s also a reminder that while gore may be his calling card, Raimi isn’t dependent on it. He knows how to scare without spilling a drop. Still, it’s hard to complain when he leans into his strengths, even if it means making himself a little queasy along the way.
So here’s to the squeamish horror legend who’s more than happy to dump buckets of fake blood on his cast while looking the other way. Fans wouldn’t have it any other way.
Send Help opens in theaters on January 30th.