Sam Raimi

Five students, a cabin, a book and an audio tape, and a camera that races through the woods at ground level. Raimi made The Evil Dead with friends from Michigan on almost no money, and its rushing camera and slapstick gore carried into Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness. He took the same energy to comic-book heroes in Darkman and Spider-Man, and slowed right down for A Simple Plan, where three men find a crashed plane in the snow with millions in cash aboard.

Signature

• The fast, low demon's-eye camera of the Evil Dead films.
• Horror played as Three Stooges slapstick, with Bruce Campbell as Ash.
• Heroes out of pulp and comic strips (Darkman, Spider-Man).
• Ordinary men and a temptation too big for them (A Simple Plan).