Few directors are as revered as Sam Raimi is, especially when it comes to scarier fare. Throughout the course of his career, Raimi has helmed some of the best horror movies, and he’s not above getting gory when necessary. As part of that, there have been plenty of instances in which Raimi’s has required actors to be covered in fake blood. One would think that, based on the filmmaker’s body of work, he only finds delight in crafting such scenes. However, as Raimi recently admitted to CinemaBlend even he gets quite squeamish.
The fake blood definitely seems to be flowing in Sam Raimi’s 2026 movie schedule release, Send Help. Headlined by Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien, the film centers on two colleagues who fight like mad to stay alive (and sane) after being stranded together on a deserted island. Plenty of footage and stills from the film already show the lead actors covered in imitation blood. When CB spoke to Raimi (along with producer Zainab Azizi), we asked if he ever grosses himself out, and his answer was priceless:
Yeah. It's my aversion to those things that make me want to unleash them on others, because I'm like the coward bully. 'Yeah, I'm afraid. I'll scare you!' But I can’t take it myself. That really is what’s going on.
I honestly didn’t have Raimi calling himself a “coward bully” on my bingo card. However, I do find it funny that the man considered to be one of the most iconic horror directors of our time is something of a scaredy cat. And, of course, it’s also ironic, given that some of Raimi’s best movies – especially the Evil Dead films – feature copious amounts of gore and fake blood. If anything, though, I find this to be an endearing piece of information about the horror maestro. On that note, he also talked about how it feels to scare others using his work:
I feel glee in the audience when they jump. It's really great. [I go,] 'Now, they're going to be scared. Now, they're going to fall for this moment. But we didn't give it to that. Now, we hit 'em!' So it's really fun to build those suspense sequences with your pals and cinematographers and team and then see if they work and fine tune them. And yeah, have a great editor like Bob Murawski. You can make almost anything work.
Why Sam Raimi's Send Help Sounds Like A True Throwback To His Evil Dead Era
Raimi has definitely become quite skilled at making viewers gasp and scream and, based on critics’ responses to Send Help, he and his collaborators have created another instant classic. It was in 2024 that Raimi was first publicly linked to the film, and that was significant due to the fact that it marked his first horror movie in over a decade. Based on CinemaBlend’s own Send Help review, the film is a humorously nasty piece of work and a solid new entry in Raimi’s filmography.
Don’t get it twisted, though, Sam Raimi is no one-tricky pony, and he doesn’t have to rely on gore to elicit emotions with movie lovers. However, blood-soaked scenes are indeed his bread and butter, and I’m pleased that, even though he gets queasy himself at times, he’s still delivering that for fans. Here’s to more excellent Raimi movies and more opportunities for actors to submerge themselves in synthetic blood.
Send Help opens in theaters on January 30th. At the same time, a number of Sam Raimi’s films are available to buy or rent on digital platforms.
