A jerk corporate executive and a frumpy analyst with survival skills are marooned on an island in Sam Raimi’s deliriously entertaining horror-comedy story of power dynamics: Send Help.
So good to have you back, Sam Raimi! I make no secret that the Evil Dead films are favorites of mine. Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn is a top-of-the-top movie for me, as it likely is for so many reading this. I don’t need to introduce the guy who brought us not only Evil Dead but the live-action Tobey Maguire Spider-Man flicks (preaching to the choir here, but if you haven’t seen his previous superhero flick Darkman, do so now). It’s been 17 years since Drag Me To Hell, the last of his full-feature film foray into his horror-comedy sensibilities. In between, Raimi has had Oz the Great and Powerful, TV work, and a bunch of producing. I argue Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness touches a great deal upon genre, but that’s a debate for later. Either way, genre Sam Raimi is back, directing Send Help, from Freddy Vs Jason writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, a wonderfully spirited survival horror with more than enough comedy and strong characters to make a hell of a trip.
Raimi brings Rachel McAdams, one of his actors from Dr. Strange, to Send Help with a slammer of a performance against Dylan O’Brien, fresh from one of last year’s best performances in Twinless, as a trodden-upon analyst and her asshole boss, respectively, marooned on an island off of Thailand after McAdams’ worst plane ride since Wes Craven’s Red Eye. Luckily for them, she has amassed impressive survival skills, and she’s not going to let the officer’s power dynamic determine her worth on the island. Send Help is an incredibly entertaining tale of survival, built on power structures and personalities; a great time to watch these two play off one another as everything continually shifts and each tries to get the upper hand in overt and covert ways (so plenty of psychological power plays).
Oh my, Rachel McAdams is a wonder. She’s always been a great performer across Mean Girls, About Time, and countless other films. I’m sure you can mention. She gives the sort of performance akin to a slightly-known, knowing this is going to be the breakout. Love it. As an A-list actor, it’s a blast as she relishes every aspect of Linda Little in a fantastic physical performance. I’m reminded of the shift in Michelle Pfeiffer’s Selina Kyle in Batman Returns. From a mousy over-worked, under-appreciated frump to a peppy survivor (can’t help but be just as enthused as she is as she gets to use the skills she learned to try out for Survivor) to perhaps something else and nastier. Lord of the Flies is an apt reference after all (noted in the text of the film. She bridges the gap between the two sides of Linda expertly; it’s not a “she’s suddenly a new person” but a measured flow. Her other half in this mostly two-hander: Dylan O’Brien as Bradley Preston. The Maze Runner star wowed me in Twinless and continues a great run. He’s her new boss, newly promoted to CEO, stepping on everyone around him in a frat-boy energy, infantilizing Dennis Haysbert and setting up his boys club of jerk golfers. Crash-landing on the island, it’s hard for him not to remain a condescending jerk, even when he’s at her mercy with injuries. What might work in the corporate office will not continue in this situation.
It’s a film about power structures, manipulation, and misogyny. It’s delicious. McAdams and O’Brien play on several layers at once, especially McAdams: leaving a question at all timeswho they are, what’s bubbling. In a nice turn, by the end, we’re rooting for each of them for different reasons simultaneously. We know only one will. But how? That’s the fun. Raimi, Shannon, and Swift knowingly play with us. Heck, for a moment it looks like it’s going be a different movie in the back half. It almost got me. But we’ve seen the setups for the environment, weapons, and personalities, along with this being a Raimi flick, so we know it’s going to get violent soon. While it does stumble a bit in the second act, there are points where it almost ramps and takes some steps up before calming down again; it’s all made up for in the third, a big and grand finish that brings everything home in a crowd-pleasing bloody finale. 
Yes, Send Help is a survival horror. So there is plenty of gore, guts, and goo; no one comes out without being covered in blood at least once. I’m sad so many of the effects are iffy CG (I can forgive a boar- it actually looks pretty damned good, and a guy in a suit for that animal won’t play as well as Primate). I get it, it’s easier on the day to do it in post, but it doens’t look right to me and takes out. Raimi brings his knack for set-ups and camera work to the picture, with the help of his long-time cinematographer, Bill Pope. Raimi brings all his zip and flair to the picture, leaving an off-kilter audience as we work through the ordeal. He does give one of the best jump scares in years. Yes, it got me. Bolstered by Danny Elman’s score, the film allows free rein for subversion and turns.
Send Help, Sam Raimi’s return to horror, laced with dark comedy, is very welcome and a great way back. With McAdams and O’Brien playing off one another incredibly, the power struggle is delicious as they go at one another to survive the bloody trip to the island.
P.S. Bruce is merely a visual cameo; I’ve been told the Delta 88 shows up, but I missed it. Oh well, guess I gotta see it again.