Horror is clearly the genre where Sam Raimi can truly thrive. Even when you go back to his Spider-Man trilogy, some of the best moments in those films are the moments filled with as much horror as they can get away with (like the Doc Oc surgery scene in Spider-Man 2 or all Green Goblin scenes in Spider-Man), something they tried to recreate when he directed Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness to middling success (I get some people love it, just didn’t do it for me). He returns to his horror roots with his latest film for the first time since Drag Me to Hell in 2009.
Send Help stars Rachel McAdams as Linda Liddle, an employee at a company who is long overdue to some recognition for her hard work and time at the company. When she gets a new boss, he quickly doesn’t like her, but gives her a chance by taking her on a business trip, knowing she will do all the work. When the plane suddenly crashes ,Linda and her boss are the only survivors, stranded on an island, and must now learn to live with each other.
I don’t we’ve ever seen Rachel McAdams in anything quite like this before. She’s obviously a consistently fantastic actress that generally seems to thrive in that comedy, romance, drama circle, with films like About Time, The Notebook, Game Night, so whenever she diverts from that path it’s very welcome. She always goes on to prove how strong of a performer she is, and that she can do anything, seeing in this role where she gets to be a little unhinged, go full on alpha as her character tries to do everything she can to survive, and finding a new lease of life on a desert island. There’s also a lot of real good little details about how she changes as a character once she reaches the island and locks in to becoming a survivor, gradually going from timid loner in the office, to a warrior and survivor.
Dylan O’Brien is extremely underrated and making some really interesting decisions in his career. At 34, you’d think this would be age he would be desperate to get a big superhero role and tied to a franchise, but he had that as his breakout role when he starred in The Maze Runner trilogy, and continues to choose more challenging roles like this or Not Okay or Twinless, and has multiple funny moments among some of the dark moments (a staple of a Raimi film). His character is fairly one note, but as the film progresses you start to question who’s side should you actually be on.
The film has plenty of surprises along way, keeping you on the edge of your seat as you start to wonder who is actually in the right, and what else is on the island. These twists particularly keep the film engaging and interesting, when it starts to feel like it’s just a cross between Misery and Cast Away. There’s also moments of lots of blood, and gore, which will have you almost looking away from the screen, wondering how far are they actually going to go.
Overall, Send Help is a really enjoyable easy horror to watch, that keeps you guessing and on the edge of your seats with twists and fun, solid performances from McAdams and O’Brien who bounce off each other perfectly. A film deserving to be seen on the big screen despite what Sony thought.
What did you think of Send Help?
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