REVIEW — “Send Help”

A darkly funny survival thriller starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien, Send Help is a wildly outrageous corporate revenge fantasy and welcome return to form for horror helmer Sam Raimi.

In Send Help, McAdams stars as Linda Liddle, an undervalued and unappreciated hard worker who is shunned by her peers at the office. A mess of a person dressed in frumpy beige clothes with lipstick on her teeth and tuna on her face, Linda is awkward, insecure and lonely with a lack of self-awareness that makes her the joke of the workplace—think pre-Catwoman Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns. Sad and alone, Linda longs for adventure and companionship beyond best friend Sweetie, her pet parakeet.

After the death of her company’s CEO (obligatory Bruce Campbell Easter egg), Linda is skipped over for a promised promotion when the late boss’ arrogant son, Bradley Preston (O’Brien), takes over the company. Flirtatious, pompous and problematic, O’Brien is punchably perfect as Linda’s new smarmy executive boss.

To prove her worth, Linda accepts an assignment overseas and boards a charter jet with Bradley and his exec bros, who pull up Linda’s Survivor audition video on board to mock her while she’s hard at work in the back. Suddenly, disaster strikes as the plane tears apart and plummets toward the ocean in a thrilling scene that is both gruesome and hilarious.

Waking on a deserted island, Linda quickly puts her Survivor-inspired training to use by gathering supplies, establishing a shelter and collecting food. While scouting, she discovers a wounded Bradley on the shore, the only other survivor from the crash. This is when the movie really gets going.

While on the island, the dynamic shifts dramatically between the two stranded colleagues. In charge, in her element, and living her best life, Survivor fanatic Linda is thriving. She’s finally getting to experience the adventure she’s desperately been seeking, so much that she may never want to leave.

Meanwhile, the incapacitated Bradley is now at Linda’s mercy, but he’s still in boss mode: unappreciative and demanding even while Linda nurses him back to health. This forces her past grievances to come bubbling to the surface. Soon the film becomes a humorous, two-handed battle of wits and wills, with each castaway sabotaging the other for control.

At this point, the film hints that it can go one of two ways, becoming either a love-hate The Blue Lagoon meets The Lost City adventure comedy or a darkly entertaining mix of Misery meets The Lord of the Flies. It’s the latter.

In fact, things get so dark so fast that you may start to feel sorry for poor, entitled Bradley. Indeed, McAdams is legitimately unnerving as the capable but undervalued employee who channels her “per my last email” rage into a knife-twisting masterclass on karma for her helplessly toxic “boss.” This is best exemplified in a shocking scene in which Linda gets her revenge on a temporarily paralyzed Bradley.

At the top of their game in this unsettlingly thrilling and darkly funny tension-builder, McAdams and O’Brien manage to keep audiences gripped and engaged with each twist and turn. The film’s taut, well-paced script keeps upping the stakes into more and more outrageous territory, forcing you to switch allegiances between the two characters as the film flies towards its bonkers finale.

With original music by Danny Elfman, Send Help is a welcome return to horror for visionary director Sam Raimi. Featuring Raimi’s trademark gore and camerawork, the comedic psychological thriller from 20th Century Studios also stars Edyll Ismail, Xavier Samuel, Chris Pang, Thaneth Warakulnukroh, Emma Raimi, and Dennis Haysbert. 4/5

Rated R with a running time of 1 hour and 54 minutes, Send Help opens only in theaters on January 30, 2026.