Crimewave

Crimewave

Company type	Film
Industry	Film industry
Founded	1985
Founder	Sam Raimi, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Headquarters	United States
Products	Comedy film

Crimewave is a 1985 American comedy film directed by Sam Raimi and co-written alongside the Coen brothers. The cast includes Reed Birney, Sheree J. Wilson, Paul L. Smith, Brion James, Louise Lasser, and Bruce Campbell, who also served as a co-producer. This film merges elements of slapstick humor, film noir, black comedy, and B-movie genres, centering on an unassuming everyman (Birney) who becomes entangled in a deadly conspiracy while chasing after his romantic interest (Wilson).

Following the success of The Evil Dead (1981), Raimi reunited with Campbell for this project. Joel Coen, who had edited The Evil Dead, collaborated with Raimi on the screenplay. The production encountered difficulties, including interference from Embassy Pictures, which denied Raimi editorial authority, resulting in tensions during filming.

Commercially, Crimewave was unsuccessful, earning only $5,101 against its $2.5 million budget and garnering largely unfavorable critiques. Although it remained obscure, aspects of its narrative and style influenced Raimi’s subsequent films, and its failure motivated the creation of Evil Dead II (1987). Over time, it has achieved modest cult film recognition among enthusiasts of Campbell and Raimi.

Plot

Victor Ajax faces execution in the electric chair. Through a flashback, it is revealed that Victor, once a talented technician at Trend-Odegard Security, becomes involved in turmoil when Mr. Trend uncovers his partner’s intention to sell the firm to Renaldo "The Heel," who had previously tormented Victor. To prevent this sale, Trend hires two exterminators to eliminate Odegard and his plan. While installing security cameras in Trend’s apartment complex, Victor is distracted and sent on a mission to locate his ideal woman.

Victor tracks down Nancy, who shows indifference toward him but is attracted to Renaldo. Victor and several tenants—including Mrs. Trend—confront the assassins, triggering a series of slapstick killings for which Victor is held responsible. After a comedic confrontation, Victor kills the exterminators and rescues Nancy. The flashback closes with Victor awaiting execution as Nancy races to prove his innocence. She arrives just in time to exonerate him, culminating in their marriage.

Cast

• Louise Lasser as Helene Trend
• Paul L. Smith as Faron Crush
• Brion James as Arthur Coddish
• Sheree J. Wilson as Nancy
• Edward R. Pressman as Ernest Trend
• Bruce Campbell as Renaldo "The Heel"
• Reed Birney as Victor Ajax
• Antonio Fargas as Blind man
• Richard Bright as Officer Brennan
• Emil Sitka as Col. Rodgers
• Wiley Harker as Governor
• Robert Symonds as Guard #1
• Frances McDormand as Nun
• Ted Raimi as Waiter

Uncredited

• Ethan and Joel Coen as Execution reporters
• Rob Tapert as Bar patron in Rialto
• Julie Harris as Old woman

Background

By 1983, director Sam Raimi and actor Bruce Campbell had completed both Within the Woods and the critically acclaimed The Evil Dead, which also saw commercial success. Following The Evil Dead, Campbell faced challenges advancing his acting career, taking roles in soap operas like Generations and appearing in regional commercials. Concurrently, Raimi began collaborating with Ethan and Joel Coen on developing a screenplay.

Joel Coen’s editing work on The Evil Dead fostered a close relationship with Raimi and inspired him to finalize Blood Simple, which received critical praise upon release. The Coen brothers’ script originally titled Relentless centered on two deranged killers. Initially doubtful—given Ethan Coen’s background as an accountant at Macy’s—Raimi was impressed by their screenplay’s Hitchcockian qualities featuring average men caught up in terror and homicide.

Irvin Shapiro, the distributor instrumental to The Evil Dead's success, disliked the title Relentless and recommended adding "X" and "Murder" to boost audience interest. This led Raimi to tentatively rename the project The XYZ Murders.

Filming

After the financial triumph of The Evil Dead, studio support for this new venture was promptly secured. Although neither Raimi nor Campbell profited initially, the studio first granted Raimi complete creative control before later assuming production authority. Raimi and Campbell partnered with producer Norman Lear of Embassy Pictures, noted for his television successes. Lear proposed the title Crimewave, which was ultimately adopted.

Disputes emerged between Raimi and studio executives primarily regarding casting; the studio insisted on a conventional "Hollywood" star rather than Campbell. In his 2002 autobiography If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor, Campbell recounted the difficulties working under studio pressures and scrutiny. Unlike his effortless casting in The Evil Dead, Campbell had to audition for this film. He even filmed a test scene with photographer Mike Ditz to persuade producers but was rejected for the lead role. To retain Campbell’s involvement amid ongoing studio interference, Raimi expanded the supporting character Renaldo "The Heel," which proved advantageous.

Raimi planned a $2.5 million budget approved by the studio but neglected to factor in union fees and regulations, making both budget and schedule unrealistic. Additionally, location expenses exceeded estimates by threefold. As costs rose and delays occurred, the studio enforced script cuts, budget constraints, layoffs, and assumed direct control. They closely monitored daily footage and criticized Raimi's practice of using cast and crew members as extras—a technique known as "Shemping."

Despite Embassy's involvement, production underwent numerous difficulties. Lead actress Lasser reportedly struggled with cocaine use; she dismissed her make-up artist and applied her own substandard makeup, frequently remaining secluded in her trailer, disrupting cast and crew. Unusual incidents occurred such as actor Brion James damaging his hotel room while attempting to "exorcise a ghost".

Scenes shot at a bridge over the frozen Detroit River required blasting ice to simulate flowing water. Another sequence involved extended night shoots beneath a nursing home using powerful wind machines; residents protested due to noise-induced illnesses. Campbell described the shoot as a "disaster" that would normally end a director’s career.

Post-production

During post-production, Embassy increased its control over Crimewave. Although Raimi, Tapert, and Campbell claimed joint creative input, the studio refused to cover Campbell's stay in Los Angeles during this phase due to mounting costs but later partially compromised. The studio replaced Raimi’s preferred composer, Joseph LoDuca, along with his editor, removing his influence over the final edit.

Tensions peaked near post-production’s end between Campbell and producers. Campbell criticized their approach as “nickel-and-dime-bullshit,” emphasizing how he and Raimi usually remain deeply involved in editing. A producer retorted by calling Campbell an “asshole” while highlighting severe budget overruns. This experience left Campbell hesitant about working with large-scale producers again; he described their behavior as “soulless” and strictly business-focused. Raimi also reflected negatively on this period, calling it “a horrible, depressing scene.”

Release and reception

Despite studio modifications, Crimewave failed commercially. Campbell attributed this outcome to its genre-blending nature that complicated marketing by mixing horror, comedy, and drama elements. The film was released internationally under alternative titles—Death on the Grill in France and The Two Craziest Killers in the World in Italy. In the United States, it had limited screenings only in Santa Cruz, Kansas, and Alaska to qualify for HBO broadcast rights. Campbell lamented that it “escaped” rather than being properly released. Its only notable screening took place at the Seattle International Film Festival, where it was treated more like an oddity.

Critical reviews were predominantly negative despite screenplay credits going to the Coen brothers. Time Out labeled it a disappointment following Raimi's acclaimed debut with The Evil Dead, though some sequences were commended for creativity. Film Junk’s Sean Harley observed that while today such collaboration would be significant given their later fame, Crimewave remains among their weakest efforts offering limited appeal beyond devoted Raimi fans.

Leonard Maltin rated it two-and-a-half stars out of four describing it as a “weird, nearly incoherent crime story.” Simon Hill from Celluloid Dream found fault with the writing but noted early indications of Raimi’s directorial style; he praised Bruce Campbell's standout performance along with supporting roles. Over time it has acquired minor cult status; MTV writer Adam Rosenberg called it “criminally underrated” and “a hard-to-find classic,” while Kim Newman appreciated its slapstick tone inspired by horror comics and The Three Stooges.

Colin Greenland reviewed it for White Dwarf, describing it as an uneven parody of Forties crime comics featuring wild camera angles and grotesque characters—eliciting polarized reactions akin to early MAD magazine parodies.

Aftermath

Raimi described working on this film as one of his most unpleasant experiences:

“I can’t watch it—it’s too painful. The whole process was awful. Bruce Campbell was supposed to star but just months before filming they said ‘No.’ My composer Joe LoDuca was removed along with my editor two weeks after shooting ended; post-production was moved from Detroit to Los Angeles under studio control with different personnel—it was chaos.”

Campbell referred to it as “a lesson about total failure,” calling it a “dog” with shared responsibility among all involved parties. The Coen brothers also expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome and chose to direct all their scripts themselves until 2012's Gambit. John Cameron, second assistant director on the project, remarked that surviving this ordeal made other industry challenges easier by comparison.

Despite these setbacks, Raimi gained studio approval to produce an Evil Dead sequel out of necessity; his career recovered swiftly following the 1987 success of Evil Dead II. The friendship between Raimi and the Coens endured—with Campbell appearing in several Coen films including The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), Fargo (1996), and Intolerable Cruelty (2003); Raimi co-wrote their first collaboration. Elements from Crimewave were later repurposed by frequent collaborator Josh Becker in Lunatics: A Love Story, along with influences seen in Raimi’s Spider-Man series.

In 2010, a comedic video produced by Funny or Die featuring James Franco and Bill Hader paid homage to Raimi by parodying a scene from Spider-Man 2 while referencing Crimewave. Collider’s Matt Goldberg noted this sketch likely represented one of the first public mentions of the film.

Home media

On May 14, 2013, Shout! Factory issued Crimewave in a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack format.