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Benedict Cumberbatch Calls Doctor Strange 2: "Most Frightening Marvel Film of All Time"


After some reports surfaced online that Sam Raimi's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will be Marvel's first-ever horror film, fans were very skeptical. Sounds ambitious right?

However, now that the highly-anticipated Doctor Strange sequel is finally screening in theaters, both critics and fans praised Raimi's distinct take, applying horror elements in the film that are not typically present in a Marvel flick.

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Almost helmed by director Scott Derrickson, yet, the director reportedly departed from the film due to creative differences. A few months later after Derrickson's departure, Evil Dead director Sam Raimi was tapped to replace him, causing much more anticipation for the project as fans suspected Raimi's horror sensibilities will be present in the upcoming Doctor Strange sequel.

Now that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is screening in most theaters around the world, Benedict Cumberbatch has recently spoken to Esquire to discuss the film's horror elements and clarified the level of 'scary' the film actually is.

Cumberbatch first labeled the Doctor Strange sequel as 'the most frightening Marvel of all time,' but won't be too much scary like The Shining and Exorcism of Emily Rose. The actor explained, "I’m trying to dumb down expectations a little bit on that. I think almost definitely it is the most frightening Marvel film of all time, but I know that doesn’t necessarily put it in the same league as The Shining, or The Exorcism of Emily Rose.”

Cumberbatch went on to explain his dislike of horror films, especially when it's too scary to watch. "You know, I’m not a fan of horror. I’m a fan of some of those films, but I’m not a fan in the sense I find it very difficult to watch them. I’m very suggestible and gullible and I buy into what I’m watching and it just haunts me for too long afterwards. It just scares me for longer than the moment in the film. I don’t really like living a life in horror or terrors, other than that in the real world without my imagination creating more. Horror is not my genre go-to. It’s not my genre go to."

"I would say in compound sense of what little I know is it’s definitely darker in tone, and in terms of advice for taking kids of a certain age, it’s going to be prohibitive for certain people of a certain age because it is scary," Cumberbatch added.

Cumberbatch concluded by revealing what horror elements viewers need to expect and also confirmed that there will be jump scares.

"There are jump scares, there’s a lot of shock horror as this is a Sam Raimi film, in tone and execution," Cumberbatch said. "There are a lot of his trademark zoom cuts, close ups and and the schlockiness of it as well. It does feel like watching a Sam Raimi film of old at times. There’s a nostalgia kick to that, which I think feels playful at times, as well as dark and quite scary. I wouldn’t say it’s an out-and-out spine-chilling horror film, but there are definitely moments that make you jump, definitely moments that do fit into the horror genre."

This decision to lean into the darker side without making the film an “an out-and-out spine-chilling horror" isn't really something new as Marvel Studios is known to present different distinct genres in either Disney+ series or movies and step off the generic comic book superhero element.

Given the uncertainty about whether Sam Raimi's unique visual style and incorporation of horror elements into his film will fit the Doctor Strange sequel, it's obvious that Marvel Studios did a leap of faith with Sam Raimi, and it clearly paid off.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will premiere in theaters on May 4.

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