Sam Raimi Quotations

I like something where I can really use my imagination and be an active participant in the construction of the monster and usually that's in the world of the supernatural or the world of the fantastic, so that's why those kinds of stories about demons and the supernatural appeal to me or maybe I'm really interested in that subject.

I'm not certain, but I have a little gypsy blood in me. And my mother always told me that her grandma could give someone the evil eye, and I'd better not cross her because she had some of that blood in her. Mother always believed that she could predict the future, and she had dreams that came true.

When we read stories of heroes, we identify with them. We take the journey with them. We see how the obstacles almost overcome them. We see how they grow as human beings or gain qualities or show great qualities of strength and courage and with them, we grow in some small way.

That's what heroic stories do for us. They show us the way. They remind us of the good we are capable of.

I don't really approach stories to make them different from other stuff I've seen, I just try to get into the character, into his or her head. Try to make it as funny, as scary or as wild as I can so that I really like it.

I realized what interested me as a student of film was one thing and the movies that I liked were another.

Some movies to me are like vampires - they suck all of the energy out of me and I don't like that. I like to give the audience energy if I can.

I don't like movies about serial killers, necessarily; it's too real and unpleasant for me.

I like a good mono track, it's right up front. I don't need all the surrounds telling me there are birds in the neighbourhood.

I've always been interested in the camera and the effects of it - that's what drew me to film in the first place.

If a remake is not good, no one wants to see it and, again, it doesn't hurt the original.

You know, I put my little brother in the movies and he's still in the pictures. My mother makes me put him in the pictures.

I've always heard people's criticisms twice as loudly as their praise.

I've always loved... actually I didn't always love horror films. I started out and I only liked comedies and dramas.

I love cats. I've had cats as pets.

I think she said I should seek help. Something like that, but it was in much cruder terms. And that I had a fascination with things coming out of people's mouths.

I feel the horror audience is a great audience, and I would ideally make a movie that would give them as much energy as they're willing to give to the picture.

I don't like shows, I don't like to put on a show, I just really want to work intimately with my actors.

I had a reporter ask me what it was like to have my best years over so soon. It stayed with me.

I think movies lost a lot when they went to stereo and five-track sound,

I'm too obsessed that the people who say critical things about me are right, even though I'm getting to do something I love.

I've always worked with a team of actors and filmmakers ever since I was a kid in Michigan making Super-8 movies.

R is for wussies if you're talking about blood and guts.

Any time anyone makes a comic book into a movie, in some way, I think they have to kill the comic book.

Every picture has been a learning opportunity for me.

I said to my agent, 'Is there any way I can get on the list to direct this thing?

When you make the audience the critic, though, when you start asking them to speak about the film, all these weird moments that are way out of the ordinary, that we do a lot of in our pictures, they don't hold up to critical analysis from an untrained professional critic very well.

It seemed like in the States, you could make a cheap movie if it was a horror movie, and it could look crumby without production value and still be effective for a sale, the audience would still be frightened by it and they wouldn't react badly to its cheap quality. So that's why we made a horror movie.

My father told me to dress to reflect the respect you have for the people around you. I've never forgotten that.

It's lovely being a producer. It's really a lot of fun and I can learn a lot.

I've always made sequels, even when I was making Super 8 movies if the audience liked it.

Money opens up wonderful worlds of possibilities.

Nowadays everyone's got the nose rings and the colored hair, so for me to wear the suit and tie is a different way to go.

Every filmmaker knows that when you make a book into a movie, the first thing you have to do is kill the book, unfortunately. You've got to recreate it.

As I began making my feature films, it was a great adventure. It was about constructing something I saw in my head or I had designed on storyboards and capturing that on film.

Rob [Tapert], myself and Bruce Campbell sat in hundreds of drive-insnot hundreds, but tens of drive-ins, watching these movies and learning how they were made, and we started to make our own in Super 8. And that’s really how we got into horror films. After a while we learned to really like them, and the craft that went into them.

The domination of one's spirit and mind is not a pretty thing, but I think it happens.

I think in every picture that I've ever made. Everything that I've done torments me. I really would like another chance except I'd be too embarrassed to ever really try to do them again and no one would want to see the same movie just done differently.

I used to get headaches in 3D movies, and I didn't want the movie to give people headaches.

Well it's always been an element of the horror film to show us the gross out. I mean that's one option for all filmmakers making a horror film and it's not something I've found myself above either.