“Send Help” is Gory Fun We’ve Seen Before

Director Sam Raimi began his career in the 1980s with the blood-drenched horror trilogy of “Evil Dead” movies. He bounced between genres in the ‘90s before fully entering the mainstream with another trilogy in the early 2000s - the Tobey Maguire “Spider-Man” films.

“Send Help,” his new film starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien, has much more in common with his early horror work than his big studio films, even though this had a healthy $40M budget.

The movie follows eccentric office worker Linda Liddle (McAdams) and her despicable boss Bradley Preston (O’Brien) as they find themselves stranded on a tropical island after a plane crash on a work trip. Power dynamics quickly shift as Linda, it turns out, is obsessed with the show “Survivor.” This is basically her dream come true.

As the story plays out, the twists and turns all start to feel similar to the final third of 2022’s “Triangle of Sadness,” which would end up nominated for Best Picture, Director, and Original Screenplay. These similarities have been pointed out in recent interviews with Raimi. He claims that while “Triangle” is a great movie, he hasn’t seen all of it. He also says they purposely put things in this script to make it different. Interesting how both things can be true.

Iterative as it may be, not just of “Triangle of Sadness” but also of the TV show “Yellowjackets,” the movie is a ton of fun. I laughed hard, out loud, and often. The crowd in my theater was gasping, cringing, and cracking up, mostly at the explicit gore. You won’t forget Raimi made “Evil Dead.”

In the end it’s Rachel McAdams that makes the movie work and forces me to set aside my reservations on the script. She hasn’t made many movies lately, and she gets to have a ball with this role. It’s a testament to her acting skills that one of the most beautiful women in the world can be asked to play the mousey weirdo in your office no one likes. “Send Help” is bloody, gross, and hysterical, even if we’ve seen it before.

Rating: 7/10

“Send Help” is now playing in theaters.