Sam Raimi has has a fascinating filmography. He came onto the scene with “Evil Dead” and brought low-budget horror filmmaking to the forefront by showing that, even with a barebone budget, if you had enough passion, and enough ingenuity the budget didn’t matter.
Horror has always lived in the fringes, and in lower budgets because it was an easy cash cow for investors: low cost, throw in teens, sex, violence, and a killer, or monster, and people will flock to it at the drive-in, or then the grindhouse. “Evil Dead” was so weird, different, and over the top that it caught more eyes. Raimi moved on to make the absurdist comedy “Crimewave,” which I adore, and from there he made “Evil Dead 2” years later, a movie that changed horror completely.
“Evil Dead 2” paired outrageous horror and gore with black humor and became an instant classic with horror fans. Over the years more people embraced its insanity, and made it a genuine classic of horror comedy.
After “Evil Dead 2” it was on to make his dark superhero film “Darkman,” which has only been fully appreciated as time went by. People weren’t used to seeing a dark superhero film, and even after “Batman” made his big screen debut it took time for people to fully buy-in to the idea of one that danced dangerously close to horror.
It’s interesting though, because “Darkman” showed he could translate a comic book idea to film, and do it well. Something Hollywood took note of as he moved on to make “Army of Darkness.”
After “Army…” he got the chance to do big budget Hollywood films and left horror behind to make bigger budget films, and it’s hard to blame him. The guy said everything he had to say in the genre at that point, and is a person who had always had at least as much humor in his heart as horror. The interesting thing is that he didn’t get into making comedies, but more serious films. Sure, “Quick and the Dead” had its humor, and strangeness, but it was still a pretty straightforward Western.
“A Simple Plan” let Raimi direct a straight forward thriller, and start to show he had a serious side, and with “For the Love of the Game” he made a schmaltzy, baseball melodrama that, while not completely successful, let him work with a true Hollywood superstar, and stretch himself. And just as the shadow of another superhero was beginning to stretch itself over him, he was about to make a dark drama with enough elements of horror to make it something his old-school fans would want to see.
“The Gift” tells the story of a widowed mother of three who uses a psychic gift to read people’s futures and to give them guidance in their lives for tips. The mother becomes embroiled in the town’s drama when a battered wife comes to her for hope and gets discovered by her abusive husband. As the woman finds herself and her sons threatened by this man, she is asked to help a wealthy father find his missing daughter, something that will change her life in ways she could never imagine.
The film is wonderfully acted, with a great, grounded anchor of actress Cate Blanchett, and a wonderful surrounding cast. Blanchett keeps the film from becoming over-the-top and silly, and paired with a scary turn from Keanu Reeves it gives the film an air of danger. The movie dances around elements of horror, but stays firmly in the thriller category. The film is interesting too because Raimi’s usual directing flare is tempered as he lets the story and actors be the focus, and not the direction.
I recently picked up the 4K Scream Factory release of “The Gift” and was able to revisit it, and the film stands up, all these years later, and reminded me how good it was. The movie looks great on 4K, and the atmosphere is as thick as ever. It really shows how Raimi was able to pull back from his usual style and to make the film that needed to be made. That doesn’t mean that it’s boring, or doesn’t have an interesting look, it means he stretched himself to create tension and danger by using more traditional techniques.
It’s a shame that the film feels like it’s on the outer rim of the film’s Raimi gets attention for, because it’s a darn good movie, and one that’s worth revisiting. As much as I love his horror work, and his superhero stuff, and lots of his other films, “The Gift” is a Hollywood film that still has touches of his style and influence, but allowed him to stand in the shadows and not have to make the camera another one of the film’s leads.
TL;DR: A lesser known Raimi film from the middle of his career that is begging for rediscovery.
4 out of 5
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0219699
