Lock the doors and hide the cigar clippers—it’s time to shine some light on my favorite forgotten superhero, Sam Raimi‘s Darkman!

Darkman just celebrated its 36th anniversary and remains a groundbreaking cult classic that revolutionized the superhero genre, earning an underground fan base (myself included) that still rivals any blockbuster today. So when the rumblings of Liam Neeson’s interest in reprising his role, plus Raimi hunting down financing for a Darkman remake…I have to ask: why not just give us fans what we really want with a Darkman sequel?

Released in 1990, Darkman follows brilliant scientist Peyton Westlake (Liam Neeson) on the cusp of developing synthetic skin when gangsters attack him and torch his lab, leaving him horrifically disfigured and presumed dead. He survives, but an experimental treatment leaves him unable to feel pain, with superhuman strength and resilience, but prone to explosive fits of rage, rendering him mentally unstable and borderline psychotic. Emerging from the shadows with heightened strength, unstable emotions, and synthetic faces that let him impersonate his enemies—albeit for only 99 minutes—Westlake becomes Darkman: a tragic, shape-shifting vigilante out for revenge.

Fresh off his Evil Dead 2 success, Raimi met with Universal Pictures to pitch his own concept for a live-action film version of the popular comic book pulp hero, The Shadow. Unfortunately, Universal turned him down as director Robert Zemeckis was already on board. Deeply inspired by dark, gritty superhero comic books, Raimi decided to develop his own original character, Darkman.

Twelve drafts later, from various contributing writers, including Sam’s brother Ivan Raimi (Army of Darkness, Drag Me to Hell), a doctor (who inserted medical realism and scientific grounding), and script help from long-time collaborators and roommates, Joel and Ethan Coen (Barton Fink, Raising Arizona), Darkman was scooped up by Universal and given a $14m budget (around $35m today) and marked Raimi’s first major Hollywood studio film.

Sam Raimi’s work has a unique, old-school quality that makes his films so tangible and timeless. Most distinct to me is his choice to incorporate craftsman filmmaking techniques like stop-motion, miniatures, the now-defunct, brilliant front projection of IntroVision, and extensive practical makeup effects and animatronics. Dread spoke to some of the artists who helped bring Raimi’s extraordinary vision to life. Director and VFX master Jerry Macaluso tells us: 

“I worked on the miniatures. It was my second job in LA (Tremors my first). As my background was sculpting/creature effects, they gave me the quarter-scale puppets to build—including a 12″ Liam Neeson as Darkman, which is a sentence I still can’t say without grinning. I’m a massive Sam Raimi fan. Evil Dead is my favorite horror franchise and working for Sam felt like sneaking into the clubhouse. He invited me over to his house to knock out concept sketches for his upcoming Evil Dead 3 (later titled Army of Darkness). None of them made the movie. Didn’t matter. I got to draw monsters with Sam Raimi!”

Raimi brought on special makeup effects legend Tony Gardner, who worked on Evil Dead 2. Beyond the massive task of bringing the Darkman character to life, Tony and his team did the face masks, bubbling-skin prosthetics, rubber flesh gloves and noses, the twisted-hand rig, and the Lizard Man (Gardner’s cameo) during the iconic Pink Elephant carnival scene. 

Gardner tells Dread: “Sam’s original thinking was to have Darkman’s face and head reminiscent of the poster for Evil Dead 2–essentially a bare skull with eyeballs. I sculpted that out for him, then added more skin on the forehead and cheeks so the character could be more expressive, which Sam liked. His main note was that it should look like a dried burn rather than a wet, goopy one. So we leaned further into the muscle textures. The dried-out, dead version of Griffin Dunne’s ‘Jack’ character from An American Werewolf in London was definitely an inspiration.”

Along with makeup effects, Raimi incorporated stop-motion and claymation to bring some of Darkman’s vibrant scenes to life, with help from acclaimed animators, the three Chiodo Brothers (Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Killer Klowns from Outer Space). Edward Chiodo tells Dread: “Where Liam’s hand burns away– like Pee-wee’s Large Marge– we used a live cast, then a build-up of the different layers of the tendons and muscles. We did the burn reveal in reverse and sculpted the flesh burning, actually using a torch between frames to burn and melt the clay for a really authentic look.” 

Stephen Chiodo adds: “We knew Sam was a big stop-motion fan. The shot of the damaged hand typing was so subtle; I wonder if anyone even notices it’s stop-motion, but again, the stop-motion quality adds this unearthly, creepy sensibility that enhances the overall scare.”

Raimi also infused the film with delightfully over-the-top bad guys that feel ripped straight from the comic book underbelly. Every film needs a particular villain the audience really loves to hate, and Smiley was that henchman for me—played by veteran actor Dan Bell (Wayne’s World, Con Air). Bell also played Darkman while disguised in the Smiley mask.

Bell tells Dread: “In prep for my encounter with Darkman, I spent a few days shadowing Liam Neeson and talking to him– I wanted to make sure I moved my body like he did, the same sharp head movements and breathing. Though it was only a few seconds on screen, it really helped with the performance in that moment.”

More than three decades later, superhero movies still dominate pop culture, yet none cut quite like Darkman. It’s a superhero movie. It’s a revenge picture. It’s a Gothic romance. It’s a gangster thriller. It’s a Universal Monster tragedy wearing a trench coat and bandages—but most importantly, it’s unmistakably Sam Raimi. Darkman didn’t just bring extreme horror into the superhero genre—it proved that superheroes could be weird, twisted, grotesque, and completely tragic.

As a lifelong Monster Kid, I’ve always had strong opinions about my favorite films, especially ones that don’t get the full respect they deserve. It’s no accident that Darkman has such staying power. Darkman doesn’t need a remake for a new audience. Instead, give us a glorious sequel with Liam Neeson screaming into the night and Sam Raimi in the director’s chair! As they say, “Don’t fix it if it ain’t broken!”

Make sure to follow Dread Central and Anastasia Elfman across social media, and check out my companion video for a look at my Top 5 Darkman Moments!

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