Sam Raimi says Stephen King "gave [him] his chance in the business" after supporting his horror movie The Evil Dead: "Nobody would touch Evil Dead with a 10-foot plague pole"

Sam Raimi is bringing a brand-new story to screens this weekend with Send Help, and it’s already received immense praise from critics, being his best-reviewed movie since Spider-Man 2. One critic he’ll probably be happy to hear from, most of all, is the legendary master of horror, Stephen King. In a recent interview with Cinema Blend, the Drag Me To Hell and The Evil Dead director revealed that he owed a lot to the author, who chimed in with his thoughts on Raimi’s directorial debut, when it began making the rounds at the Cannes Film Festival in 1982.

“Well, nobody would touch Evil Dead with a ten-foot plague pole,” Raimi recalled. “And then Stephen King happened to be in the theater in Cannes, the market. He saw it, and he gave us a great review in Twilight Zone magazine. And I was so honored because he was my giantest, largest hero, still is. He's a tremendous influence.”

That influence might well be present in Send Help, which, upon announcement, was described as a hybrid of Misery, adapted by the late Rob Reiner, and Robert Zemeckis’ Cast Away. Raimi addressed the comparisons and explained that, because of them, he kept his distance during the project’s development.

“I thought, ‘I’d rather not have those references.’ As much as I love both those movies, and they’re both great classics, I want it to be its own thing,” explained Raimi. “So I consciously didn’t watch them again, even though I’ve seen them probably many times, and I consciously worked with the writers to take it in opposite directions from those two projects, specifically so it wouldn’t have that moniker.”

You can see if Send Help is an island unto itself now that it’s in theaters. As for Stephen King stories, check out our ranking of every adaptation of the author’s work here.