Sam Raimi's Forgotten, Oscar-Nominated Drama Is Streaming For Free

1981's "The Evil Dead" was a baptism by fire for filmmaker Sam Raimi. Everything that could go wrong on the low-budget horror flick did, but Raimi was such a problem-solving force behind the camera that the gory extravaganza was not only completed, it went on to become one of the most influential horror films ever. Two sequels followed — 1987's "Evil Dead II" and 1992's "Army of Darkness" — before Raimi decided to step away from horror. He made a stylized revenge Western ("The Quick and the Dead") and a baseball drama ("For Love of the Game"), but the film that truly proved his genre malleability was the 1998 crime thriller "A Simple Plan," which is now available to stream for free on Kanopy and Pluto TV.

Based on the 1993 novel of the same name by Scott B. Smith (who also penned the screenplay), "A Simple Plan" weaves a tragic tapestry of three Minnesotan men whose lives are forever altered by a downed private plane buried in the snow. Tempted by a very different evil in the woods, modest accountant Hank (Bill Paxton), his ne'er-do-well brother Jacob (Billy Bob Thornton), and local friend Lou (Brent Briscoe) come across a dead body and a duffel bag with over $4 million inside it. "A Simple Plan" isn't discussed very much these days, but it's quietly one of Sam Raimi's best movies, and not just because it got two Oscar nominations (best supporting actor for Billy Bob Thornton and best adapted screenplay) at the 71st Academy Awards.

"A Simple Plan" went through a number of hands before it came to Sam Raimi: John Boorman, John Dahl, Mike Nichols, and even Ben Stiller were all attached to various drafts of Scott B. Smith's screenplay, but things just kept falling through. This tragic story of small town paranoia doesn't immediately conjure up the stylization of Raimi's previous work, which only makes the finished film that much more impressive. In eschewing most of his kinetic visual trademarks, "A Simple Plan" allowed Raimi to mine the emotional depths of these characters when they're backed into a corner.

Instead of leaning into his wicked sense of humor, Raimi opts to view his deeply flawed characters through an empathetic lens. There's a constant sense of melancholy that hangs over the frigid winds, crackling trees and uncomfortable silences they're enveloped by. In fact, cinematographer Alar Kivilo is as much of a contributor to the uneasy mood of "A Simple Plan" as Raimi and Smith are.

At its core, "A Simple Plan" is a fantastically tense neo-noir film about temptation, loyalty, and how covering up one bad decision with another one can only lead to more trouble. It evokes John Huston, John Steinbeck, and William Shakespeare at times. It isn't surprising that some folks have also made comparison points with Joel and Ethan Coen's beloved crime thriller movie "Fargo" considering Raimi is good friends with filmmaker siblings.

Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton had already worked together in the 1992 crime thriller "One False Move," playing two men on opposite sides of the law. "A Simple Plan" pits them against one another as brothers whose motivations for the money lie on different spectrums. Paxton's Hank has a good job, a home, and a baby on the way with his wife Sarah (Bridget Fonda). She's a clever player in this game, stoking the flames of temptation in her husband's ear à la Lady Macbeth every time he hesitates to keep the money. Paxton's everyman demeanor plays into Hank's duality. He posits himself as the most rational of the trio, yet consistently contradicts himself.

On the other end is Thornton's Jacob, who mostly wants to use his share to renovate the abandoned family farm. He doesn't quite have his life in order and probably suffers the most emotional turmoil as a result of finding the money. For an actor who has played many morally gray and cold-hearted characters with ease, Thornton displays a burrowing vulnerability that really makes him disappear into a role that truly warranted a best supporting actor nomination. It's no wonder this is regarded as one of Thornton's best movies of all time.

It's fascinating seeing Raimi find different ways to get under people's skin, especially in such a subdued fashion. The "Evil Dead" filmmaker understands that, sometimes, the most prominent terror derives from internal provocation and the things that are left unsaid. If something feels too good to be true, that's because it is.