A Simple Plan (1998)

Between making the wonderfully sick “Evil Dead” films and three mixed-bag “Spider-Man” flicks, Sam Raimi made “A Simple Plan,” a supremely dark morality tale that could be the dead serious cousin to dark comedy “Fargo.” Both are set in a frozen white America where bodies stack higher than snow. Here, two estranged brothers (Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton) and the one’s slovenly friend (Brent Briscoe) stumble upon a downed plane in the snowy woods of Minnesota. Inside the plane are a dead body and a duffel bag with $4 million in cash. The bag is opened, and lines are drawn. Guns, too. The trick of Raimi’s direction and Scott B. Smith’s screenplay (based on his own great book) is painting the loveless Jacob (Thornton, amazing) as the only person of conscious, and high-lighting just how far brothers can stray from one another. The dark thrill of “Plan” lies in watching just what pains people –- family -- will inflict on one another for wealth, while justifying every action. Money trumps blood, every time. A