It's the eternal dorm-room debate, the stuff of boozy smack-talking sessions and stony, less-than-coherent arguments: what's the scariest movie of all-time? It's a (sober) discussion we've been having at MTV News as Halloween sneaks up on us and a question we've been throwing out to folks in the film biz who truly know their fright-fest stuff.

When I had a chance to talk with Sam Raimi – he of the many righteous "Evil Dead" pictures – I had to get his thoughts on the matter. The first thing he told me was that the horror genre scares the crap out of him. "It's hard to sit through them," he confessed. "I really enjoy it when I'm in the middle of it, it's just hard to approach the theater." The second thing he said is that he loves them dearly. The third and fourth and fifth and sixth? Those scary movies he cherishes the most – and one he can't wait to see. Read more...

FROM SPLASH PAGE: We might know who the villains are in "Spider-Man 4" or whether Sam Raimi will be back for "Spider-Man 5" and "Spider-Man 6," but when it comes to the connection between the "Spider-Man" franchise and a potential "Venom" movie, well...

Okay, Raimi couldn't give us much on that question, either.

But we did ask the celebrated director about how the two universes will connect, if at all, when Spider-Man's black-clad nemesis swings off into his own solo movie.

Continue reading EXCLUSIVE: Sam Raimi Addresses 'Spider-Man 4' And 'Venom' Movie Connections

FROM SPLASH PAGE: As we reported last week, much about "Spider-Man 4" is still in flux: Gary Ross is currently hard at work on a draft of the script after getting notes from director Sam Raimi and they claim they're still figuring out which villain makes the most sense to compliment Peter Parker's character growth in the picture. What's more, beyond the return of franchise stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, few decisions about the cast have been made.

All of which makes comments that Raimi's buddy Bruce Campbell made last month extremely interesting, when he told Access Hollywood he'd have a major role in the new film.

When MTV News had a chance to talk to Raimi, of course we needed to know if Campbell was speaking the truth. After sneaking into cameos in the first three "Spider-Man" flicks, has the "Evil Dead" star really nabbed a major part in the fourth installment?

Continue reading EXCLUSIVE: Sam Raimi Confirms Bruce Campbell Will Have 'Meaty Role' In 'Spider-Man 4'

I’ve been saying it for years, but perhaps it should be repeated one more time: The funniest person in Hollywood might just be Justin Long.

For exhibit A, check out the attached clip of a chat I had with Long about “Drag Me to Hell,” the awesome Sam Raimi thriller that hits DVD this week. During our conversation, he brought up a rude, crude, new game that might soon sweep the nation.

“I’ve been playing this movie game, it’s called Poovie,” the Mac pitchman and movie star said with a grin. “I’ll introduce it to you.” Read more...

FROM SPLASH PAGE: It's a comic fan's fever dream: call up director Sam Raimi and tell him which villain he should select to do battle against the web-spinning wonderboy in "Spider-Man 4." Alas, that just ain't gonna happen. But we came pretty close.

In a chat with Raimi last week, we presented the results of our recent Who Should Be The 'Spider-Man 4' Villain poll to the man himself. And he loved who readers picked. (FYI: The Lizard nabbed 29 percent of the vote, while Carnage came in a close second with 26 percent.)

Continue reading EXCLUSIVE: Sam Raimi Talks 'Spider-Man 4' Villains!

Sam Raimi likes to be in control. And if he wants to make a film he can truly stand behind, he simply needs to be in control. "The best way for me to move forward on films," the director once said, "is that I've got to be the singular voice that makes the creative choices on the film."

That wasn't the case in "Spider-Man 3," and the result was a movie that made almost $900 million worldwide but that almost everyone whose opinion you'd respect, including Raimi, realized did not present Spidey at his crime-fighting finest. That's one of the reasons the director had such a good time making "Drag Me To Hell," his return to the horror genre after years spent with Marvel's web-spinning wall-climber. Read more...

In a phone interview with "Drag Me To Hell" director Sam Raimi last week, MTV's Eric Ditzian managed to sneak in a few questions about "Warcraft." Among the revelations Raimi had to share was the news that "Saving Private Ryan" writer Robert Rodat will be tackling the "Warcraft" script as well (a subsequent call to Rodat's agent confirmed this as true).

Raimi confirmed that the story, which had previously been believed to be an adaptation of the book "Arthas: Rise of the Lich King" after the IMDB listing changed (it has since changed back), will actually be an original effort based in the universe of the popular online role-playing game. "We would choose... something that encompasses lands and characters and storylines, and we would be true to it. But our story may or may not be about one of those central characters." Read more...

--The folks from ComingSoon got a chance to chat with "2012" director Roland Emmerich, who had some things to say about what's next. He's got two projects on his plate: one having something to do with William Shakespeare (details in the article) and the other, an adaptation of Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" trilogy. (ComingSoon)

--Writers, producers and all-around cool guys Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who pretty much have an equity stake in Hollywood at this point, have some things to say about their upcoming View-Master movie. Apparently the idea for the story was born before the classic 3-D viewing toy came into the picture as a peg for a movie, from the mind of "Fringe" writer Brad Kane. Orci then references back to story relayed to the duo by "Transformers" producer Steven Spielberg, whose original idea for "E.T." had nothing to do with aliens. (Sci Fi Wire) Read more...

After the Peter Jackson-produced adaptation of "Halo" fell through, things started looking bleak for the near-future of video game-to-movie adaptations. We're talking about a sub-genre -- the video game adaptation -- that's had a stunning run of mediocrity in its short history, from early efforts like "Super Mario Bros." and "Street Fighter" to the more recent string of abominations from filmmaker Uwe Boll. There are a few high points, like "Silent Hill," but nothing that's been an unquestioned win.

Enter Sam Raimi, the next great hope for movie-loving gamers. It was revealed in July that the "Spider-Man" will next (or at least soon) be turning to the massively multiplayer world of Azeroth for an adaptation of Blizzard's obscenely popular online role-playing game, "World of Warcraft." Until now, the movie's been going by the title "Warcraft" and no story details have been released. Well things have changed, and I think you fans are going to like it. Read more...

I maintain that the greatest news of the week is Danny Trejo starring in "Predators," but I think I've just found a close personal second -- Sam Raimi, director of this year's phenomenal "Drag Me to Hell," is sticking with horror.

Variety reports that Raimi, the puppetmaster behind the "Evil Dead" films and their "Army of Darkness" sequel, will spin a new horror banner out of his pre-existing Ghost House label: none other than Spooky Pictures, which aims to create new thriller franchises for family-friendly audiences. Their first feature will be "The Substitute," a remake of a Danish thriller with Scott Derrickson ("The Exorcism of Emily Rose") set to direct. Read more...