Film review: ‘SEND HELP’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’
Like a strange mash-up of Misery, Survivor, Horrible Bosses and The Admirable Crichton, horror maestro Sam Raimi’s latest film Send Help,, mixes the gleefully perverse and the predictable in a comic thriller with feminist overtones.
Rachel McAdams plays smart, dedicated but socially awkward corporate slave Linda. Promised a major promotion by the former but now deceased CEO, she’s shocked to learn the new boss, the late CEO’s obnoxious yuppie son Bradley (Dylan O’Brien), has no intention of giving her the gig. On top of that, he constantly ridicules her with offensive sexist comments. When the private jet taking Bradley, Linda and a few other office bros to a meeting in Thailand crashes in the Pacific Ocean, Bradley and Linda find themselves the sole survivors on a remote island. With Bradley badly injured and Linda well versed in survival skills, the power dynamic is drastically reversed, something Linda is desperate to hold on to.
Send Help is primarily a thriller and as the conflict ratchets up between Linda and Bradley, Raimi effectively mixes tension, threat and pop out scares. Given the obvious influence of the aforementioned movies and TV shows, however, it should be no surprise, that some of Linda and Brad’s adventures and battles are a little predictable with twists not having too much shock value.
Impressively, though, Raimi paints Linda and Brad’s survival story and fractious relationship with a keen eye for the situation’s inherent dark comedy. While clinging to his dwindling power and trying to prove he can survive independently of Linda, the pampered city boy Bradley suffers numerous indignities including having to eat disgusting gizzards. Importantly, the comedy moments are sufficiently biting and don’t undermine the thriller aspects.
While this film often feels familiar, because of the leads’ committed performances it’s never dull. As Linda, a de-glammed McAdams convincingly shifts between sympathetic and menacing while O’Brien, who impressed in the recent Twinless, is suitably obnoxious before exhibiting some painful humanity as Bradley.
The feminist message about women in the workplace and in society being overlooked and undervalued by a patriarchal system is stated pretty clearly up front but as the film progresses, gives way to thriller plot points as Linda becomes more unhinged.
There is probably about as much plot in Send Help as we might see in a one-hour episode of a TV show but it’s a fun ride almost the entire way.
Nick’s rating: ***1/2
Genre: Drama/ Action/ Adventure/ Thriller/ Comedy.
Classification: MA15+.
Director(s): Sam Raimi.
Release date: 29th Jan 2026.
Running time: 113 mins.
Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.
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