Before They Were Stars: Sam Raimi Directs and Stars in “It’s Murder!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkD9GgpZ3-M

Awhile back, I posted Within the Woods, a 1978 short film directed by Sam Raimi and starring Bruce Campbell which would eventually be expanded to feature length and become what we known as The Evil Dead. Well, a full year before Within the Woods, when Raimi was fresh out of high school, he made another Super 8 short film called It’s Murder! The story involves a wealthy man getting murdered and Raimi plays the role of his son, who collects the inheritance. Frequent collaborator Scott Spiegel plays the role of the detective investigating the murder and you can even see Ted Raimi make his acting debut at the age of 14. The whole movie runs 68 minutes and has been posted on Youtube in one clip. It’s obviously very amateurish, but it’s probably worth a look for Sam Raimi completists and considering the miniscule budget, he does deliver a pretty impressive car chase. And, yes, Bruce Campbell is in this too! However, his part is very small and you’ll have to skip to the 59:44 mark to briefly see him as a cop on a bicycle.

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