Ted Raimi is a reliable supporting actor whose broad physical comedy suits horror. We value his willingness to do difficult, effects-heavy work, particularly in Evil Dead II, even when the script offers little character to play.
Fi1m perspective
Possessed Henrietta in Evil Dead II (1987) gives Ted Raimi a full-body prosthetic costume to act through. It is an unglamorous way to be memorable, and a useful place to start with him. His broad physical comedy suits a film in which an attack can be horrible and ridiculous at once. Under Sam Raimi's direction, he does demanding work that helps the joke without making the gore harmless.
We laughed, then tensed up as Peter Deming's camera sent the unseen force racing through the woods and into the cabin. That shot is a useful measure of the film's demands: the attack keeps coming after a more restrained film would have cut away. Ted's effects-heavy performance fits this appetite for physical excess. The weakness is the screenplay by Sam Raimi and Scott Spiegel, which reserves most of its attention for Bruce Campbell's Ash. Ted supplies a memorable monster, but cannot supply the missing interest in the supporting characters on his own.
Candyman (1992) puts him in Bernard Rose's treatment of urban folklore as Billy, a supporting appearance outside Sam Raimi's films. It is a horror film we recommend, but Tony Todd's monster and Philip Glass's music do much of the work; Ted is not the reason to start there. Television gave him longer-running roles, as Lt. Tim O'Neill in seaQuest DSV (1993–1996) and Joxer in Xena: Warrior Princess (1996–2000). Joxer made room for the broad comedy that sits alongside the horror in his work.
His role as Ted Hoffman in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007) continued the move into mainstream supporting parts. There is no need to describe every small part as an overlooked triumph; being useful across horror, television comedy and a mainstream franchise is a respectable achievement. We would not choose a film merely because Raimi appears in it, but his effects-heavy comedy earns a closer look. Start with Evil Dead II, provided that the gore is part of the attraction.
Biography
Ted Raimi is an American character actor. Born on 14 December 1965 in Detroit, Michigan, he is the brother of director Sam Raimi and has appeared in several of his films.
His early roles include a Fake Shemp in The Evil Dead (1981), possessed Henrietta in Evil Dead II (1987) and multiple parts in Army of Darkness (1992). He played Ted Hoffman in the Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007) and Billy in Candyman (1992).
On television he is known for Lieutenant JG Tim O'Neill in seaQuest DSV (1993–1996), Joxer the Mighty in Xena: Warrior Princess (1995–2001) and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and recurring appearances in series such as Supernatural.
