‘Send Help’ Movie Review: McAdams And O’Brien Outbossing Each Other On Sam Raimi’s Watch Is A Total Blast
Photo from 20th Century Studios
From Jeremy Kibler
So many horror movies have earned their right to be about serious social issues underneath. Then there are purely fun horror movies directed by Sam Raimi, like Send Help. There are still serious stakes here (literally and figuratively), but Raimi is mostly just having a blast with a two-hander on a deserted island. It’s a little Office Killer, a little Cast Away, and a lot of the horror-comedy filmmaker staying true to his original, gonzo roots with this playfully wicked return to form.
See Rachel McAdams as you’ve never seen her before. She plays Linda Liddle, a dowdy, socially awkward bird lady who has been the number-crunching head of Strategy and Planning at an accounting firm for seven years. When her late boss’ son, Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien), steps in as the next-generation CEO, he’s ready to make some promotions and demotions. Upon meeting Linda, Bradley immediately wants to cut her from his boys’ club but then decides to give her one last chance by letting her tag along on a flight to a company merger in Bangkok. A little turbulence leads to the plane crashing, leaving Linda and an injured Bradley as the only survivors on an island in the Gulf of Thailand. Luckily for Linda, she’s very resourceful with untapped survival tactics, being a fan of Survivor and would-be contestant. Now that they’re out of the workplace without HR, the rules have changed: the underestimated Linda Liddle is the boss.
Screenwriters Mark Swift & Damian Shannon (Freddy vs. Jason, Baywatch) spike their simple one-upmanship scenario with twisted glee. It would seem like the only way this all plays out would be all-too-predictable and diagrammatic, but our expectations are constantly toyed with, like the doings of a Deadite or a curse-tormenting gypsy. Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien are both game for everything the script throws them their way, as it’s not only survival against the elements but long-suffering employee and douchebag boss. In its quieter moments, the script still allows for the viewer (and for each character) to get to know why Linda and Bradley are the way they are. Besides these more subtle layers, the bigger story reveals are surprising, darkly funny, and satisfying.
McAdams is always great, but she has never had a role that has asked this much from her, both physically and emotionally. As the unforgettable Linda Liddle, McAdams is vulnerable and mostly sympathetic, but also feral, funny, stealthily dangerous, and altogether complex. Her little victories at starting a fire and making her own little condo in no time are kind of adorable, and when help might arrive, we understand why she doesn’t want anyone to come. You would want to go with her if you want to live, unless you’re a vile CEO, of course, and watching Linda reclaim her power is cathartic. Beginning his era of playing assholes (and being a pro at it in spite of seeming like a sweetheart in real life), O’Brien is almost cartoonishly arrogant at first (especially when egged on by financial-bro colleagues, played by Xavier Samuel and Chris Pang), but there’s more to him as well. Once the tables turn and the power shifts, he’s terrific at skating between playing Bradley as a submissive cry baby and a selfish, condescending monster.
With the exception of maybe two too many fades to black, Send Help is paced with the perfect amount of peaks and valleys. Raimi skillfully hopscotches between comedy, horror, survival adventure, and even a potential romance, and the man is up to his old tricks with a new setting. You’ll either be here for the bodily fluids and eyeball injuries or not. The gross-o-meter begins at the office, where Bradley focuses on a little tuna fish around Linda’s mouth from her half-eaten sandwich that gets tucked away in her desk drawer, and then goes to some wild places on the island. The hunt for a wild boar gets very bloody and gnarly, and Linda going I Spit on Your Grave on Bradley is hilariously sadistic and unexpected.
Technically, Raimi’s latest is a reminder that studio filmmaking can still have personality and not resort to a house style. Bill Pope’s cinematography has a confident flair, playing with close-ups, tilted angles, and a running POV camera. Danny Elfman’s score has the characteristics of a classic Danny Elfman score, while still sounding fresh and complementing every bend in tone. True Raimi fans will also be delighted to find his little trademarks organically planted in certain frames (the director’s 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 from The Evil Dead is never forgotten).
It’s all about tone, and this could have easily soured into cruelty or came across as too clever by half. A squirmy, ticklishly dark, tongue-in-cheek entertainment for those with a sick sense of humor, Send Help puts its characters through hell but makes it so much damn fun. Linda Liddle is the anti-hero we need right now.
Send Help hits theaters on January 30, 2026.
Rating: 4/5
Send Help hits theaters on January 30, 2026.
