Sam Raimi Chevy Ad Shows Why A 2016 Malibu Might Just Save Your Life

It's been almost seven years since Drag Me to Hell, so you must be yearning to see another horror picture from Sam Raimi. The latest work from the director isn't quite that, but it does play on some familiar genre tropes. To promote the 2016 Malibu and Cruze models, Chevrolet wisely recruited Raimi to direct one of their ads.

Check out the Sam Raimi advertisement below.

This is almost exactly what you expect from a Chevy commercial directed by Sam Raimi: a very funny and cleverly shot short with its tongue firmly planted in its cheek. It looks like Chevrolet gave the Evil Dead and Spider-Man director plenty of freedom with this one, because the commercial certainly has Raimi's voice all over it.

Here's the Chevy ad:

In a statement published by ADWEEK, Raimi had this say:

We approached the development of the Chevrolet trailer in the same way we would an actual movie—by thinking through the plot, characters and eventual outcome. I've been in plenty of theaters where the audience is so concerned for the safety of the main characters that they call out warnings to save them. That's what this is based on.

Anyone who's been in a theater for a horror movie will recognize the shouting voices towards the end. We've all been there and have heard that kind of reaction from an audience.

It's nice to hear how seriously Raimi took this commercial, treating it exactly like a feature film. You feel like you get a whole story in this 60-second ad. It was a smart move on Raimi's part to approach the ad like a film, too, because it'll soon play in 2,300 theaters and on 14,000 screens nationwide over the next six months.

Here are the full credits for the commercial:

Client: Chevrolet

Agency: Commonwealth/McCann

Creative Chairman: Linus Karlsson

Chief Creative Officer, North America: Gary Pascoe

Executive Creative Director, Copywriter: Duffy Patten

Executive Creative Director, Art Director: Bob Guisgand

Creative Director, Art Director: Tim Mattimore

Creative Director, Copywriter: John Fiebke

Executive Producer: Kelly Balagna

Account Director: Jacqueline Redmond

Account Supervisor: Molly Fox

Production Company: Pacific Rim Films

Director: Sam Raimi

Director of Photography: Daniel Mindel

Production Designer: Shane Valentino

Executive Producer: Annie Johnson

Line Producer: Julia Roberson

Executive Producer/ Arcade: Nicole Visram

Producer/ Arcade: Kirsten Thon-Webb

Editor/ Arcade: Bob Murawski

Asst Editor/ Arcade: Dean Miyahira

Composer: Christopher Young

Sound Designer: Jussi Tegelman

Audio Mixer: Marti D. Humphrey

Some serious talent worked on this. The cinematographer, Daniel Mindel, shot Star Trek, John Carter, Savages, and Enemy of the State. The ad is just as polished as the horror movies is its riffing on. As for Sam Raimi, we don't know when we'll see another film from him, but he is currently working on a remake of A Prophet.