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Ranked: Sam Raimi Films

What are the best 12 films from the legendary director?

He’s back with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, having changed the face of horror and comic-book movies before now… but how does Sam Raimi’s back catalogue shape up?

12. Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)

Despite being the film that seemingly sent Sam Raimi into self-imposed exile for nearly a decade, I’ve never hated Oz the Great and Powerful. Every movie that’s attempted something adjacent to The Wizard of Oz (1939) has failed with audiences, but I have a soft spot for the attempts- even the more disreputable Return to Oz (1985). This is a “spiritual prequel” to the iconic MGM movie, explaining how Oz (James Franco) himself came to be, and there’s a lot of imagination and verve to the filmmaking.

I particularly love the opening black-and-white sequence in 1905 with Oscar escaping a travelling circus in a hot air balloon, with the academy ratio view transforming into widescreen and rainbow’s array of…