10 More Movies You Didn't Know Recycled Footage From Other Films

10. Spider-Man's Dream Sequence Lifted Shots From Darkman & The Beyond

While Sam Raimi was editing 2002's Spider-Man, he learned that there wasn't enough money in the budget to create a more visually elaborate sequence for Peter Parker's (Tobey Maguire) post-spider bite nightmare, and so he had to resort to repurposing existing footage to his own ends.

Most notably, a shot of a synapse is taken from Raimi's prior 1990 superhero film Darkman, though has been rotated and digitally manipulated to show spiders crawling all over the synapses.

Secondly, there's a fleeting glimpse of a tarantula from above, which is taken from Lucio Fulci's cult classic 1981 horror film The Beyond.

The crucial link between all three of these films is Spider-Man editor Bob Murawski, who also worked as an assistant editor on Darkman and holds the U.S. distribution rights for The Beyond.

Raimi credits Murawski entirely with piecing the dream sequence together, even if it wasn't how he originally envisioned it. Given that 99.8% of people who've ever seen Spider-Man didn't notice the act of cinematic recycling, it's safe to call it a success.