The unseen force - John Kenneth Muir

The life and work of legendary cult-film director Sam Raimi Raimi has three film in production/post-production for 2004-5 release Film historian and popular writer JK Muir turns his attention to the life and work of legendary cult-film director Sam Raimi who exploded onto the movie scene in 1982, when he was 23, with the audacious, independently produced horror film The Evil Dead. There were two Evil Dead sequels, the critically acclaimed A Simple Plan starring Billy Bob Thornton (1999), The Gift starring Kate Blanchett (2000), and in 2002 Raimi's Spider-Man had the biggest opening weekend in film history - netting USD114 million at the box office. The Unseen Force also features a sneak peek at the much-anticipated Spider-Man 2. Raimi's influence on other filmmakers continues to be enormous - from the "shaky cam" shots of the Coen brothers to the early oeuvre of Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, both of whom have been termed the "direct progeny" of Raimi's works.