Filmmaker Sam Raimi is a producer on the new horror-thriller hybrid Don’t Breathe, directed by Fede Alvarez. Across his broad career, Raimi has brought touches of the horror movie not only to his own trilogy of Evil Dead movies but also to films such as Darkman or even his three Spider-Man movies.
When we recently caught up with Raimi to talk about Don’t Breathe, we couldn’t resist asking him more broadly about his thoughts on high-budget horror versus low-budget horror.
“I think there’s always been both,” Raimi said. “The majority of them have always been lower budget and I think it’s because the goal is simple: We’re just trying to scare people. So it doesn’t take a lot of money, to do that, it’s like the lowest thing you can do attacking the audience and making them afraid. It doesn’t take a lot of spectacle or costumes or production design or complex production needs. It really can be done in the simplest way.
“For the most part they are very effective as inexpensive productions. But then we’ve seen beautiful, well-acted, and terrifying pictures like Rosemary’s Baby where you’ve got these great A-list actors, brilliant director, a great book it’s based on. The Omen, Dick Donner’s great picture, which does have more spectacle, with great acting. It’s a wonderful cocktail when you’ve got a great filmmaker to pull off a high-budget, high-class, well-acted horror picture. I actually don’t see them much and long for another one soon.”
Raimi did have one movie recommendation for non-horror fans.
“[It] is not gory but it is scary,” explained Raimi. “It’s a great, artfully directed film, the great classic Curse of the Demon. Jacques Tourneur. The movie is great! It’s partially what we based, my brother [filmmaker Ivan] and I, our film Drag Me To Hell on. It’s a fine film, beautifully crafted, so much fun to watch. I dare you to watch it!”
