“Send Help” (2026) is the mainstream horror take on “Triangle of Sadness” (2022). Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) from Strategy and Planning is the workhorse at Preston Strategic Solutions and expects Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien) to make good on his father’s promise to appoint her as VP, but he changes the goal post to coming on a business trip to finish a merger deal. When the private plane goes down and kills everyone on board except them, the power dynamic shifts, and she becomes the boss, which he bristles against even when it jeopardizes his ability to survive. Will he accept her superiority and work with her or will they keep fighting to stay on top until someone winds up dead? Are monsters born or created? Sam Raimi has still got it with a “good for her” movie that will be sure to delight women and other put upon employees of any demographic with fantasies of merit winning over entitlement.
There really is not enough McAdams in movies. Clearly Raimi wisely pulled some strings after working with her in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” (2022) and was thinking, “Give this woman the lead.” Old school fans of McAdams from “Red Eye” (2005) will have no doubt that she can helm a horror movie even if it has been a minute, and she exceeds expectations. Raimi and McAdams feel as if they were crafting an anti-hero in the vein of Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman from “Batman Returns” (1992) except making fewer mistakes than her soul big sister.
McAdams plays Linda with an enthusiastic openness and awkwardness that gradually crumbles as she witnesses coworkers be disdainful to downright cruel because she invests more into work than appearance. While it may be understandable to not choose to spend free time with her, as “Send Help” unfolds, it is not enough for them to exploit her work with no reward except more work. She realizes that she will be a butt of their jokes, and they will rip the wings off her for fun. Before even hitting the island, she gradually shifts from being workhorse to sticking up for herself then not going above and beyond. Her boss and his office faves bit the hand that fed them, but they do not see the writing on the wall. The plane crash is another step in radicalizing her as she witnesses the ensuing chaos and continues to choose herself.
Y’all O’Brien is really great at playing magnificent bastards. 2025 was a good year for him with “Twinless” (2025) and “Anniversary” (2025). The man has serious range, and he is always giving it his all. In this case, Bradley is an entitled man baby incapable of gratitude or accepting the possibility that someone whom he finds repulsive could be better than him at something even though he and his buddies laughed at her “Survivor “audition tape. To be fair, his office assessment of Linda not being a “people person” is accurate. Throughout “Send Help,” you may find yourself wondering what he is thinking since he knows that he could not survive without Linda, but his natural instinct to dominate overpowers what little common sense that he possesses. Linda was willing to give him everything for nothing in return, and he finds it galling. It results in him trying to replicate and import their dynamic from civilization to the island, but he constantly overestimates himself.
If “Send Help” works, it is because writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift understand a central truth about women. They are human beings, not two dimensional goodie two shoes. Shannon and Swift do not have a lot of features under their belt, but two of their three features are horrors: “Freddy vs. Jason” (2003), which I saw, and “Friday the 13th” (2009), which I did not. Now they have discovered that they do have the goods to deliver on a (relatively) original story without standing on the shoulders of a preexisting franchise. Linda gets her hands dirty figuratively and literally, and on the island, she is joyful about the freedom of not being in a hierarchical world. Because Bradley is an innately miserable person, he extinguishes that natural joy and gets her hooked on his drug: the power that she can have over another person. It is a revenge movie, and for once, being a woman does not mean being the victim. Movie goers will not know what Linda is capable of, but Raimi quickly establishes that he wants blood, guts and gore so anything is on the table.
While “Send Help” is not recognizably a Raimi movie for the entire runtime, whenever there is an opportunity for a gross out moment, he takes it then just when it seems over, he ups the ante. In the much-referenced boar hunting scene, there is blood, but Raimi is not happy until the world seems covered in it. It is a gonzo scene and another step in grooming herself to become an executive. Raimi is determined not to be wrapped up in mothballs and called an elder statesman in film just to be treated like a relic. He is determined to make you disgusted whether it is food on someone’s face or lots of vomiting. He could not resist indulging in one traditional scare that is downright tame for him, but he earned it.
“Send Help” would make a great double feature with “No Other Choice” (2025) as she learns to strip away the parts of her that would not help her in the business world. The island becomes a survival training ground to fortify her weaknesses, namely expecting better from Bradley without any evidence that he is capable of being better. If the world existed according to Linda’s default nature, a win-win solution is possible, but she realizes that even on the island, she would be putting her head in the sand to ignore Bradley’s default setting.
If “Send Help” has any flaws, the final scenes may be a bit too pat and quick. Throughout the film, I found myself negotiating for what ending would not ruin the film at the eleventh hour. I would accept if they both died, but not if they both survived, fell in love, hooked up, or only she died after all of that. I was surprised that despite Linda being the protagonist, people were rooting for her to die and not Bradley. We’re cooked, folks. The Hayes Code is alive and well in our hearts.
If you are looking for a ruthless, disgusting film from a master of horror, “Send Help” is the movie for you. While January is normally not the best month to go to the theater, “Send Help” is another horror hit that is the exception to the rule. With subtle visual nods to “Office Space” (1999), Bruce Campbell and “Lisa Frankenstein” (2024), the only thing that you should be afraid of is not seeing this must-see movie on the big screen.
