Directed by Sam Raimi, Send Help follows Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams), who is mistreated by her boss, Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien), whose father wanted him to promote her upon handing the company to him. He advises her to prove herself on the trip to Bangkok for a company merger, but the situation changes when their plane crashes during a storm and strands them on a deserted island. They find themselves in a desperate fight for survival, forcing them to overcome past grievances and work together to survive. Ultimately, it’s a battle of wills and wits to make it out alive.
It’s been a while since we have seen Sam Raimi back on the big screen after his 2022 return with the ambitious Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which I enjoyed but I was still missing old school Raimi with his wildly unhinged horror and thriller stories that made him one of the most well-known directors in the industry. So I was actually happy to see Raimi step back from doing major blockbusters and focus on making a survival thriller film that promised to be one hell of an experience that only someone like Raimi could provide. I walked in to see a special early screening of the film feeling excited, and I walked out of the film feeling mostly satisfied.
Send Help is a darkly fun and wildly crazy survival thriller that has Sam Raimi returning to his roots and guaranteeing a bloody great time. The premise is simple and straightforward, but everything gets dialed up to eleven thanks to Raimi’s direction as he brings forth everything he is best known for into this film, making one truly entertaining experience. This film leans into more thriller territory than horror but it certainly has its fair share of fun horror moments, unhinged gore, and surprising twists that make this an instant Raimi classic worthy of seeing on the big screen.
The film primarily focuses on our two leading cast members who both deliver fantastic performances as their respective characters, sharing truly volatile chemistry together while also giving brilliant dark humor and drama that gives the film its highly entertaining energy. Rachel McAdams has always been such an underrated gem of an actress who doesn’t get appreciated enough or fully utilized, so it’s honestly great that Sam Raimi chose to reunite with her and give her probably the most insane role I’ve ever seen her perform in her entire career.
Rachel McAdams shines brightly as Linda Liddle, beginning as a quiet and seemingly helpless individual to becoming a full-on survivor of the wilderness who feels more alive than she’s ever been in her life and wishes to maintain this feeling at any cost. And by any cost I do mean any cost, because the actions Linda ends up committing in this film are truly bonkers. While her sanity and morals are highly questionable throughout the film there is meaning to her madness as it comes from someone who’s clearly suffered horrible abuse in the past and present that gets slowly unveiled as the story progresses. You end up really rooting for her in a twisted fashion and a lot of it has to do with McAdams and her wild range of emotions that she puts on full display as this character.
Opposite of her is Dylan O’Brien who plays the biggest slime bucket of a person you can imagine. We all have had that one piece of shit corporate boss in our lives that just loves to get under everyone’s skin and Dylan O’Brien nails it perfectly as the character Bradley Preston. Karma bites Bradley hard in the ass through this film as he becomes subjected to Linda’s mercy as she takes charge of their survival while also punishing him in variously crazy ways for his terrible treatment of her. Dylan O’Brien has proven to be very talented in the past but the range of emotions he was able to deliver in this film alongside Rachel McAdams was truly outstanding, marking a career-best performance from him in my book. These two come together like oil and fire with slow tension built between them that suddenly explodes in a fire of wild fury that leads to the ultimate and inevitable collision of the two.
This film’s narrative was marketed as an intense survival horror thriller story with a simple premise enhanced by Raimi’s direction but it turns out the film itself was more thriller than horror. There are certainly horror elements present that are executed in classic Raimi fashion scattered throughout the film, but for the most part this was mostly a standard survival thriller that felt more darkly hilarious than scary. It didn’t feel much like the unhinged Raimi film in the first half that was promised by the marketing, so I almost felt a bit cheated. But when the second half starts with one cataclysmic moment that changes everything it is then that the film truly kicks into high gear, delivering the truly batshit crazy thrills that we had been waiting for. Things go from zero to 100 really fast, making the long build-up to the insanity really pay off, especially with some surprising twists that were all cleverly set up throughout.
And while this is a film that aims mostly to entertain, which it succeeds in doing, there is actually a really compelling message the film delivers stealthily through our two characters before being directly told to the audience in a twisted yet satisfying ending that I think a lot of people are going to love especially certain people that the message could have a direct impact on depending on their current situations. While I was kind of expecting this film to be much more unhinged in tone for the entirety of the film as the marketing was leading me to believe I was still mostly satisfied by the final product as a whole.
From a technical standpoint, Raimi doesn’t hesitate to go all in with chaotic cinematography, fun editing, beautiful on-set locations, and practical gore that are guaranteed to satisfy long-time fans of his films who love his unique style. This film has all the signature Raimi elements, from distinctive transitions to ghoulish POV shots to explosions of blood to the face. I have zero complaints about any of his style choices but I will admit there were some moments of rough CGI throughout the film that I found very distracting at times. While they aren’t the worst effects I’ve ever seen they are still very noticeable effects that I feel could have been done a lot better.
To add even more fun and thrills to the film, Sam Raimi brings back his old friend Danny Elfman to do the score and he does a solid job, giving a unique score that fits the various tones this film goes through.
Send Help is unhinged levels of fun from start to end that is guaranteed to satisfy both fans of Raimi that have been wanting to see him return to his roots after his blockbuster work and general audiences who are looking for a bloody good time in the theaters. Don’t skip out on this one just because it’s a January release, because you will definitely regret it later. I’m going to give Send Help an A- = 93.
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