10 Greatest Horror Movie Directors Of All Time

Notable films: Evil Dead trilogy, Drag Me To Hell

Straddling the fine line between horror and comedy is a tightrope walk of tone which few directors succeed in getting right. Horror and comedy are, after all, diametrically opposed to one another, and attempts to blend the two more often that not result in bad comedy and ineffective horror.

Sam Raimi's great contribution to the horror genre is achieving a perfect balance of disgusting and genuinely scary horror with moments of laugh out loud humour. Indeed, with the Evil Dead trilogy, Raimi managed to deliver countless moments where the horror and comedy struck the audience at exactly the same time, creating a weird reflex of simultaneous tears of laughter and fear.

Raimi's films are noted for their distinctly kinetic visual style, with rushing wide angle camerawork, snappy editing and slapstick action which nods to his appreciation for his youthful admiration of The Three Stooges. He also launched the career of the inimitable Bruce Campbell, and for that alone Sam Raimi deserves an award for his contribution to the film industry.