The Darkman Director’s New R-rated, Island Thriller Lives Up to His Best
by Chris Sawin | Updated
Send Help is director Sam Raimi’s first horror film since 2009 Drag me to Hell and is the first of Raimi’s films to be rated R since 2000 A gift. Written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift (Baywatch, Friday the 13th 2009, Freddy vs. Jason), Send Help follows a socially dysfunctional horse named Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams). The company Linda has worked hard for over the past seven years sees Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien), the new CEO, take over from his late father.
Linda was promised the VP role by Bradley’s father, but Bradley decides to give it to Donovan (Xavier Samuel), his brother and golf partner. Bradley continues to humiliate Linda in the office because of her looks, food, and behavior. Linda marks a big reunion especially because she’s told it’s her last chance to impress Bradley with the VP role, but Donovan and Bradley use it to further humiliate her.
After their plane crashes, Linda and Bradley are the only survivors. Linda, prepared for such situations, quickly adapts, while Bradley, wounded and often a selfish boss, must change. In order to survive on the desert island, they must use Linda’s skills and learn to cooperate or tolerate each other.
Send Help Feels Like Dragging Me To A Hell’s Ghost Follower
The story of Send Help it goes as expected. There is one side of the island that Linda points out to Bradley later in the film, which is very treacherous and dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. What lies on that side of the island, and what happens during the finale, you can probably guess. But what does Send Help so entertainment is not your writing; starring Rachael McAdams and Dylan O’Brien.
Send Help feels like he’s returning to Sam Raimi form. Although the terrifying features of Doctor Strange in Various Madnesses were the best parts of the movie, Send Help you feel like a spiritual follower Drag me to Hell and is very similar to Raimi’s The Bad Dead franchise and even He is black.
The best parts of Send Help they appear as the film moves from suspenseful horror to sharp, irreverent comedy, especially when Linda and Bradley struggle to survive on the island. There’s the setup of how they get there and the last half hour or so where they engage in a brutal battle against each other, but the moments in between put the film at its funniest, worst, and funniest, often combining its comedic and horror elements.
Sam Raimi Returns to Form
There is an old one Looney Tunes a gag where the castaways get lost at sea or stranded on an island going crazy with hunger and start thinking of each other as a hot dog, hamburger, or turkey leg. The Chuck Jones-directed short from 1943, “Wacky Rabbit,” is a good example. Send Help it falls into the same kind of chaotic behavior, especially given the fixed nature of games.
Sam Raimi’s horror films always mix horror with comedy, too Send Help continue that practice. It’s interesting to see how Linda looks in the office compared to how she takes care of herself after spending more than two weeks on the island. Linda begins the film looking plain, pigeon-toed, and fairly unsociable. Her hair is braided, and she wears no makeup. To say that you are from home is wrong because it is more than that. She prioritizes her work during the opening of the film, and her physical appearance is the last thing she worries about.
On the island, she suddenly has volume in her hair, and is forced to wear revealing clothes to show her body shape. Her skin now has a bit of a tan to it, and being on the beach makes it look like she just filmed some kind of flashy commercial. Instead of working hard at the office she has switched to building a shelter, finding food, and doing whatever it takes to keep her and Bradley alive. So it’s not like you spend a lot of time on useless things; it’s like his body reacts well to the changes.
Meanwhile, Bradley’s physical appearance is the opposite of Linda’s. Before the crash, he might have had this Patrick Bateman from American Psycho type of skin procedure. After waking up on the island and still treating Linda like she’s beneath him, his skin begins to dry out and look like a peeling sunburn, especially on his face.
Dylan O’Brien Is Smarmy Smart And Rachel McAdams Is Sophisticated
Dylan O’Brien is brilliant here. He never shakes the fact that he’s a very full-on mega dick, but he softens up a bit over the course of the film. O’Brien’s performance is a very impressive comic technique as his character grows increasingly desperate. The character is repulsive, but O’Brien’s twisted facial expression, brooding demeanor, and maniacal laugh make him more memorable than the typical asshole boss.
Rachel McAdams has a very complex performance as Linda. The audience sympathizes with Linda right from the start. Linda is a weirdo who probably smells like an endless mixture of bird droppings (she has a pet bird that she constantly talks to and watches. A survivor with) and crusty tuna, but you’re right, he has the best work ethic of anyone in the movie, he’s mistreated for no reason, and he’s secretly secretive. McAdams is the shining light of cool and the purpose of most of the film, but there’s a dark twist to Linda that disrupts his original ideas. As Linda, as a character, slips and makes mistakes, McAdams never misses a step with her amazing performance.
It wouldn’t be a Sam Raimi movie without some bad jokes. Send Help showering the screen with blood and snot during Linda’s fight with the warthog that is somehow completely ruined in the trailers. Later in the film, anything that wasn’t already covered in blood and snot is pulverized with projectile cleaner, and there are at least two bullet holes that will leave you barking and crying for more.
Bursting with comedy, two scintillating performances, and well-placed poignant moments, Send Help he blows snot, spits blood, and scales eyes in a way only Sam Raimi knows how.
Send Help is released theatrically nationwide on January 30, 2026.
