‘Send Help’ Review: Sam Raimi’s Gory, Unhinged Horror Comedy

‘Send Help’ Review: Sam Raimi’s Bloody Return to Savage Horror Comedy

No one mixes horror and comedy like Sam Raimi. It’s been eons since Army of Darkness — a movie predating most Gen Zers, by the way — which slotted in as his last proper R-rated horror-comedy offering, but with Send Help, he finally steers it back into that gloriously unhinged lane. This time around, the equation is plain and brutal: Stranded Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien on a deserted island, then insert them into a situation that combines the cruelty of “Misery” with the workplace satire of “Horrible Bosses” with the social venom of “Triangle of Sadness.”

The movie centers on a workaholic, emotionally repressed burnout — and an obsessive Survivor fan — who is forced to share air with her privileged nepo-boss once disaster strikes. In Send Help, Raimi indulges his depraved impulses to the fullest extent once more, and the resulting pitch-black survival nightmare hits like a breath of fresh air, announcing itself as something akin to a comically deranged homecoming of sorts. Long live the king.

MPA Rating: R (for strong/bloody violence and language.)

Runtime: 1 Hour and 54 Minutes

Language: English

Production Companies: Raimi Productions, TSG Entertainment

Distributor: 20th Century Studios

Director: Sam Raimi

Writers: Damian Shannon, Mark Swift

Cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Edyll Ismail, Dennis Haysbert, Xavier Samuel, Chris Pang

U.S Release Date: January 30, 2026

Meet Linda Liddle: A Corporate Survivor in the Making

A Workaholic on the Brink of Breaking Through

Enter Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams), the beleaguered head of strategy and planning at a Fortune 500 company who has held her job for seven soul-sucking years. Her devotion is apparent at every level: frazzled, unkempt hair; tightly wound and nervous body language; under-eye bags and a tendency to skip fresh-air lunch breaks in favor of eating tuna fish sandwiches all alone at her desk. Despite the daily grind, her one unlikely dream is to get on Survivor.

A Promotion Stolen by Nepotism

When it looks like Linda is on the cusp of a well-deserved promotion, tragedy disrupts the “corridor-crushing” virgin. Her one-time boss, Preston, dies suddenly and the company falls into the hands of his insufferably spoiled, arrogant and woefully immature son, Bradley (Dylan O’Brien). Following an uncomfortable encounter with Linda, Bradley is on a mission to end her career. He snatches away from her the promotion she’s earned and gives it to him instead, entrusting it with his unqualified frat buddy Donovan (Xavier Samuel).

From Corporate Warfare to Survival Horror

A Business Trip Gone Wrong

Bradley later brings Linda on a business trip to Bangkok for the company. While flying there on his private jet, he comes across Linda’s Survivor audition tape and proceeds to make a spectacle of her in front of his coworkers. But karma intervenes brutally. Suffering downed plane, only Linda and Bradley to remain alive on a remote island in the Gulf of Thailand.

Power Shifts on a Deserted Island

Deprived of corporate titles or even just day-in, day-out privilege, the power dynamic flips at breakneck speed. All of a sudden Linda’s hands-on survival skills are necessary, while Bradley’s sheltered upbringing — and an injured leg — render him powerless. Linda, a woman who takes charge and runs the island with power and assurance while everyone is waiting for rescue. Terrified and desperate, Bradley has no choice but to do exactly what she says if he wants to survive.

A Darwinian Role Reversal

What ensues is a brisk, subversive work of survival humor in which skill trumps entitlement. This island is not just about surviving, for Linda; it’s finally her world, and she’s in charge.

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To anyone who’s had a shitty boss, Send Help plays like a cathartic release.

A Twisted Survival Fantasy Disguised as Horror

Linda Did Nothing Wrong

Even in her most unhinged state, the movie leaves no doubt: Linda is never the bad guy. You’re not watching a typical horror story as much as you are watching a cathartic power fantasy. Send Help dares its audience to cheer on her decisions, even when they go to the most morally extreme lengths and renders her journey as both necessary and deliciously dark.

From Screwball Comedy to Survival Nightmare

A Slow-Burn Genre Shift

The film milks its micro premises for all their worth, gracefully allowing its tone to develop slowly. What starts as a dark, manic comedy slowly morphs into grotesque survival horror. The first hour (downed plane included) is a kind of screwball farce, relentlessly antic and sharply timed.

Comedy Built on Desperation

Several of the best laughs are simply from watching Bradley become more and more frantic at the lack of food, accommodation, and straighforward survival. His reliance on Linda sets off a cartoonish but effective chain of events. The dynamic is reminiscent of pop-culture touchstones like the “Club SpongeBob” episode with the magic conch, or Madagascar, in which one character starts to go mad while another gets shockingly adjusted. These moments highlight the ever-changing power dynamic and increasing tensely crank it up.

Sharp Writing Anchors the Chaos

Mark Swift and Damian Shannon Lean Into Their Strengths

Screenwriters Mark Swift and Damian Shannon (Freddy vs. Jason, Baywatch) have the smarts to keep things lean and mean here. Send Help doesn’t pretend to be anything more complicated than what it is — and that clarity plays in its favor. What you see is what you get — but it’s served up with conviction and concentration.

A Character-Driven Payoff

The movie is strongest when it interrogates Linda’s values, and her long-repressed potential for leadership. After years of living under the thumb of awful men — Bradley not among them, really — her heartiness to seize command feels earned. In such moments Send Help goes beyond its premise, mixing dread and chuckles into something sharp and pointed — surprised to also discover itself being kind of profound.

McAdams and O’Brien are equally matched in terms of comic fortitude and sinister foils

Performances That Elevate Send Help

Rachel McAdams in Peak Survival-Mode Charisma

And, as Send Help and Game Night demonstrate, here’s the formula for a truly great Rachel McAdams performance: Stick her beaming, animated presence into a dark life-or-death situation. While here, its queen of Canadian charisma turns in a slow-burn transformation that’s never less than fascinating to watch. As Linda loses her inhibitions and gets in on the mayhem, McAdams anchors the cartoonishness with emotional urgency, making us feel every beat of her belatedly blossoming survival instinct.

Triumph Through Transformation

Linda’s victories actually matter, is what I am saying here. Whether she’s learning to make fire for the first time, collapsing into hysterical laughter in the wake of a successful boar kill, or finally chewing out her overbearing boss with razor-sharp line readings, McAdams plays every beat with infectious brio. Her turn makes survival feel earned, joyous and deeply cathartic.

Dylan O’Brien Steals Every Scene

Comedy Rooted in Character

After his overlooked performance in Twinless, Dylan O’Brien shows yet again that he belongs among comedic timing’s one percent. With Bradley, silliness is his weapon — and to great effect. Each line of it — dripping with envy, disbelief and pure entitlement —is punctuated by an absurd vocal tic that, in a rare thing on television, never fails to elicit laughs.

A Villain You Love to Hate

Is there a redeeming feature to Bradley, O’Brien at his very worst moment? But his innate likability and perfect comedic timing make the character an undeniable force of scene-stealing nature, and it’s a given every confrontation with Linda will pop with electricity.

Sam Raimi Unleashed

Auteur Excess at Full Volume

Through his inimitable, maximalist style, the director Sam Raimi takes Send Help to it’s near brink. He tosses all his signature flourishes into the blender, says yes to everything, in order to ensure that the film comes stamped all over with that unmistakable S.R. brand. Nothing is held back — and that’s exactly the point.

Classic Raimi Horror Craft

From aggressive Dutch angles to timed-to-aftermath jump scares, the film leans hard into Evil Dead–coded body horror and gloriously gross violence. The effect is a queasy inducing on-air drug trip that’s unmistakably Raimi. If you enjoy his bizarre, dark style, Send Help is pure fun.

Send Help’s poor CGI quality distracts from the fun

**Where Send Help Stumbles**

CGI vs. Practical Effects: A Losing Battle

Alongside the boss-versus-employee power struggle, Sam Raimi also appears to be fighting a war of his own: CGI versus practical effects. Unfortunately, it’s a brutal mismatch. Cg heavily utilized for the film very often detracts from it. Substandard compositing, weak-looking blood effects and weightless instances of digital objects drag the energy away from action rather than add to it.

Visual Distraction Instead of Immersion

Amid the whole boss-versus-employee battle, Sam Raimi appears to be fighting a battle all his own: that of CGI versus practical effects. Unfortunately, it’s a brutal mismatch. Even with so much digital at its core, the CGI often sabotages the ride. Shelved are shoddy compositing and lackluster blood effects and endlessly weightless digital objects that continually drag focus away from action rather than buoy it.

A Runtime That Pushes Its Luck

When the Concept Starts to Stretch Thin

At 114 minutes, Send Help does overstay its welcome, just a touch. It’s never quite boring, but the pace starts to lag as the film leans further into dynamics reminiscent of Misery or Triangle of Sadness. The inevitable power games — over food, shelter, affection — begin to feel repetitious.

Character Chemistry Under Strain

And as these beats cycle through, the hard-edged banter between Linda and Bradley wears off a bit. What comes across instead as charged and funny becomes, over time, a bit wearying — diluting the tension that once propelled the narrative forward.

Suspension of Disbelief Issues

Image vs. Intention

To be as professional about this as we can: try as the film may to “cat lady” Rachel McAdams, she’s still Rachel McAdams. The illusion threatens to collapse, especially considering that multiple scenes show Linda finding time for a full beauty-care regimen on a desert island.

When Realism Breaks the Spell

These are the kinds of moments that detract from the movies’ survivalist credibility. Rather than being wapped on the head with Linda’s toil, they inadvertently serve only to remind audiences of the fakery — breaking the fantasy spell Raimi’s trying so earnestly to cast.

CONCLUSION

Send Help is a warped, riotously funny survival romp that fully delivers on its concept, powered by razor-sharp comedic turns from Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien and a gloriously unleashed Sam Raimi embracing his long-missed, R-rated madness.