A return to form for Sam Raimi with great performances by McAdams and O’Brien

Plot: 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.

Review: Who among us hasn’t had a toxic boss? That grinning, smarmy, power-hungry guy who somehow makes his personality your problem. I certainly have. And clearly Sam Raimi has too, because in his latest film, Send Help, he turns the tables on the horrible boss archetype in a way that borders on cathartic wish fulfillment.

Our surrogate character is Linda Liddle, played to perfection by Rachel McAdams, who finds herself pitted against her new CEO, Bradley Preston, in an extremely punchable turn by Dylan O’Brien. Linda works a thankless job in her company’s Planning & Strategy department, quietly competent and chronically overlooked. So, in the spirit of her profession, let’s talk numbers.

It’s been four years since Raimi last sat in the director’s chair with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). Go back even further and this marks his first horror film as director since Drag Me to Hell (2009). Push the clock back even more and it’s been 26 years since his last R-rated horror outing, The Gift. All of which is to say: for Raimi fans like myself, there was a lot riding on this one. I’m happy to report that Send Help delivers all the classic Raimi you’re looking for, with a few fun new twists. New look, same great taste.

In Send Help, we meet Linda Liddle (McAdams), a mid-level employee at a thoroughly unremarkable corporation. When the company’s CEO passes away, his son steps in to take the reins. Enter Bradley Preston (O’Brien), a typical nepo baby picking up where his father left off. Before his death, the elder Preston promised Linda a promotion, one that Bradley immediately denies her, opting instead to reward his frat buddies. Despite being excellent with numbers, Linda is punished for lacking the ability to charm a room, close a deal, or golf. Bradley offers her a chance to prove herself by joining him and his cronies on a work trip to Bangkok, where she will, unsurprisingly, be expected to do all the heavy lifting. But while en route, Bradley’s private jet goes down in spectacular fashion, leaving only Linda and Bradley stranded on a deserted island. If they want to survive, they’ll have to work together, even as tensions rise and the power dynamic begins to shift in unexpected ways.

Since the film was first announced, comparisons to Cast Away and Misery have been inevitable, something Raimi himself has acknowledged. But rather than leaning on those parallels as a crutch, Raimi treats them as a challenge. At nearly every turn where you expect a familiar beat, he recognizes the expectation and flips it. While echoes of Cast Away are certainly present, Send Help plays more like a feral, bloodier version of Survivor, a favorite show of Linda’s. This isn’t about simply enduring the island; it’s about outwitting, outplaying, and outlasting your opponent. What follows is exactly the level of backstabbing, manipulation, and drama you’d expect from that premise.

There’s an oddball chemistry to this two-hander that gives both actors room to shine. The film constantly shifts your allegiances and sympathies, no small feat considering how thoroughly Bradley is established as detestable early on. It’s a delicate dance between director, screenwriter, and performers, keeping the audience guessing about who truly holds the upper hand at any given moment.

Raimi’s decision to re-team with McAdams after being impressed by her versatility in Doctor Strange pays off immensely. She absolutely crushes it as Linda, a lonely office worker stuck in a thankless position who finally finds her moment to shine. Stranded with the man who made her professional life miserable, she doesn’t just endure, she thrives. In her at-home solitude (save for her pet bird), Linda has been studying survival manuals and foraging books, desperately trying to get cast on Survivor. So when disaster strikes, she’s oddly prepared. The island gives her the confidence she never had in the corporate world, and she relishes the chance to flip the script and strip Bradley of his power.

In today’s cultural reckoning with toxic work environments, Linda becomes a clear audience surrogate. Watching her knock Bradley down several pegs and show him that his authority means nothing out here is deeply satisfying. Every time she throws his own corporate jargon back in his face is pure catharsis. McAdams is clearly having a blast, and it speaks volumes about her performance that even as Linda crosses line after line, you can’t help but root for her. As Raimi himself put it: “She was like a sickly little seed that came to this island and found fertility. Not only did that plant grow into something powerful and beautiful, but it also developed some poisonous barbs.”

On the other side of the demented coin, Dylan O’Brien more than holds his own. Every great showdown needs a worthy antagonist, and he delivers. Bradley is manipulative, smug, and infuriating, yet never a cartoon villain. Worse, he’s painfully recognizable. We all know someone like him: flashing a charming grin while preparing to stab you in the back. O’Brien even develops a gut-churning bully laugh that feels like a weapon in itself, every time it erupts, you’ll wish you could punch a sound. And yet, he brings enough subtlety to the role that the film occasionally earns your trust and sympathy for him, navigating a tricky shift in audience identification with impressive control. At times, the dynamic even flirts with something resembling romance, as if the film might be preparing to pull its punches.

And then this movie reminds you who the hell directed it.

Because this is a Sam Raimi movie to its core, baby, I’m happy to report that die-hard fans of his work are walking out of the theater with big grins on their faces. This is Raimi firing on all cylinders. The film is packed with fantastic visual gags, well-placed cameos, inventive camera work, and the kind of gleefully campy splatter you’d expect from the man behind The Evil Dead. There’s even a moment that feels ripped straight out of that franchise, along with others that harken back to the delightfully mean-spirited mayhem of Drag Me to Hell. You can practically feel Raimi cackling in the director’s chair as blood, and worse, hits the fan. Or rather, faces.

This is a film that showcases both the technical competence and the wonderfully unhinged energy of its creator, carrying the swagger of a seasoned master of horror who knows exactly what his audience wants. Yet it’s all handled with such control that when the escalation into full-blown insanity arrives, you never question it. Raimi guides the film there in a way that feels natural and logical, even as it becomes increasingly unrestrained. Once again, he proves why he remains one of our finest and most distinctive genre filmmakers.

I saw this movie with a packed crowd at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, and Raimi himself came out afterward for a Q&A and absolutely held court. For a solid half hour, he reminded everyone in the room why he’s one of the least pretentious directors working in Hollywood. He just loves making movies his way, and he makes them for us. He lives for the laughs and the screams, of which there were plenty. Seriously: see this one with an audience.

The script by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift is razor-sharp, especially when Linda starts using Bradley’s own corporate jargon against him. Every repurposed slogan and smug phrase turned back on its creator is deeply, cathartically satisfying. And when she says “Do not mistake my kindness for weakness”, it becomes less of a warning and more a mission statement. The script is also impressively well-researched, offering the audience genuinely useful survival tips just in case we ever find ourselves stranded in a similar scenario.

Complementing the film’s wild ride is an engaging score by the ever-reliable Danny Elfman, whose strings and stings punctuate moments of pure insanity with manic precision. And to top it all off, there’s the expert cinematography of Bill Pope, once again dripping with style and unique perspective. He takes full advantage of the beautiful on-location shoot in Thailand, crafting an island that is simultaneously gorgeous and visibly formidable, a setting that feels both alluring and threatening at every turn.

All in all, this film is a return to form in every way you’d expect. From top to bottom, Raimi and his cast guide us through a wild ride that keeps you fully engaged from start to finish. While there are a few logical threads one could pull at, they’re barely worth mentioning, as you’re far more likely to walk out deeply satisfied with the experience you’ve just had. The film thrives in its insanity, as well as in its devotion to reversal, watching an underdog relish the reclamation of her power. It’s no surprise that Send Help fits neatly into the horror subgenre the internet has lovingly dubbed “good for her.” In today’s work culture, Linda is a clear audience surrogate, and her journey speaks directly to that shared, simmering frustration. On top of all that, the film is funny, nasty, inventive, and unapologetically Raimi, and it serves as a reminder to be careful who you laugh at. They might just be your saving grace…or your worst nightmare.

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