Send Help, 2026.
Directed by Sam Raimi.
Starring Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Edyll Ismail, Xavier Samuel, Chris Pang, Thaneth Warakulnukroh, Emma Raimi, Bruce Campbell, and Dennis Haysbert.
SYNOPSIS:
Two colleagues become stranded on a deserted island, the only survivors of a plane crash. On the island, they must overcome past grievances and work together to survive, but ultimately, it’s a battle of wills and wits to make it out alive.
Any time director Sam Raimi returns to filmmaking marks a special occasion, especially if it’s in the horror genre. Send Help is somewhat in that vein, but more of a psychological slow burn about role-reversed power dynamics on an island in the Gulf of Thailand. One of these characters is an all-around cruel human being; the other has been chasing workforce promotions for so long that, when the tables turn, rescuing is the last thing they want.
As they inevitably find themselves forced into company sharing information about their pasts, two things become clear: monsters aren’t born, they are made, and these people, who clearly despise being stuck together, also might be falling for one another, as if fighting for control and being the “boss” on this island is becoming part of a sick game. Rather than follow modern storytelling norms with one character more infallible than the other and unquestionably the one viewers should be rooting for, Sam Raimi cackles at that notion, as if to say fuck that, they are both monsters. Who needs a Deadite when you have a smarmy, dismissive, sexist, rude tech-bro boss and a hard-working office woman doubling as an awkwardly extroverted yet lonely Survivor fanatic who, essentially, is living out her dream when a business trip flight crashes.
They are the appropriately quirkily named Linda Liddie (a likeably odd Rachel McAdams), working in strategy and planning, and newly appointed CEO Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien, continuing a welcome streak of roles against type), engaged to a trophy partner played by Edyll Ismail. For whatever reason, Linda was only set to receive a promotion by Bradley’s father when he passed the company on to his son. Instead, that upgrade went to Bradley’s incompetent college friend and golfing buddy (Xavier Samuel) while keeping her around to crack numbers and dig through documents for corporate merger loopholes, stringing her further along for that promotion, which would be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for most people, but not for a pushover like Linda. That breaking point doesn’t come until Bradley and his snide friends discover her Survivor audition tape, ruthlessly laughing at it.
The comeuppance that sets the ultimate promise in motion is gleefully violent and entertaining, so it’s a shame that, for almost an hour, the filmmakers don’t really know what to do with it beyond playing mind games with mostly predictable outcomes. On this island, Linda is the boss of the wounded Bradley, who wouldn’t last a day without her. That’s also not going to stop him from trying to regain the upper hand, both detesting and admiring her. As for Linda, when she does have power over him, his company is not only tolerable but also gradually becomes wanted and possibly even desirable.
Working from a script by screenwriters Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, Send Help is not without Sam Raimi filmmaking trademarks (whether it be cameras gliding through a jungle, eyeballs popping out, various bodily fluids spewing and spraying all over characters, and an unexpected bit leading to a phenomenally placed and executed jump scare) but too often feels as if a square peg is trying to be jammed into a round hole. Bluntly put, the middle stretch should be nowhere near as boring as it is here, with all of its psychological elements coming across as either surface-level or moments predictably setting up the next story beat.
Matters are not helped by shoddy CGI (boar hunting should look considerably better than this) and a repetition of sorts that begins to settle into the plotting. However, the most glaring issue with Send Help is that, if this were a tight 90 minutes that wasn’t clunkily wasting time or buying time until a series of events allowed Sam Raimi to lean into his nastier, always welcome, mean-spirited sensibilities, it would have worked fine. Where this film eventually goes is diabolically fun with a legitimately terrific twist. Unfortunately, it needs help (either a rewrite or some cutting) to get there.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
