Movie Review – ‘Send Help’ delivers fantastic fun in Sam Raimi’s genre-bending new film

“Outwit. Outplay. Outlast.” Fans of the TV series Survivor will recognize these three words as the keys to winning the long-running CBS game show. But they also apply—almost suspiciously well—to Sam Raimi’s new genre-bending film Send Help.

Described by the iconic director as a movie “written as an adventure comedy with a thriller-esque aspect,” Raimi even sneaks in touches of horror, resulting in a January release that’s funny, entertaining, and full of sharp surprises.

After the passing of her company’s CEO, Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) is excited that her long-promised promotion to Vice President has finally arrived. Socially awkward, unfashionable, and generally disliked by her colleagues, Linda has nevertheless put in the time and produced top-notch work. All of that comes crashing down though when nepo baby Bradley (Dylan O’Brien) takes over the company and quickly decides she isn’t VP material. Who is? His frat brother and golf buddy Donovan (Xavier Samuel), naturally.

Bradley is a guy who values appearances over competence — the hot assistant, the sharpest clothes, the right optics. He’s also, bluntly, a pompous prick. Still, after some reluctant convincing, he allows Linda to join the boys’ club on a business trip to Thailand for a pending merger.

If you’ve seen the trailer, you already know the flight doesn’t go well. Linda and Bradley end up stranded on a remote, deserted island. From there, the power dynamic flips as the injured Bradley must rely on Linda — a massive Survivor fan and self-taught survivalist — to stay alive. What follows is a stranded alone, scorched-earth version of War of the Roses, as the two battle their way through the island and each other.

Raimi delivers one of his most entertaining films in decades. Mixing broad humor with jump scares and just the right dose of horror, Send Help offers two hours of gleefully unhinged fun. The The Evil Dead director stages one of the most terrifying plane crashes ever put on screen and then never lets off the gas. Raimi deploys every camera trick in his bag — claustrophobic close-ups, disorienting POV shots, frantic chase sequences — each designed to keep the audience squirming. Several moments are very much not for the faint of heart. Add Danny Elfman’s ominous score and the whole thing hums with tension.

McAdams and O’Brien carry the film completely, sharing or soloing every scene. Send Help lives or dies on their chemistry and they absolutely deliver. McAdams, best known for The Notebook and Mean Girls, dials up both the fun and the madness as a woman exhausted by being overlooked. O’Brien, while still not a full-blown household name, builds on strong recent turns in Anniversary and Twinless. Together, they’re electric, keeping the audience guessing about who, if anyone, to root for. Co-writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift also deserve credit for a script that slowly peels back the layers of both characters.

The final act gets a little lost at sea, but Send Help is still very much a movie meant to be seen in a theater surrounded by people laughing, gasping, and wincing in unison. 2026 is starting hot with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple and Send Help. Here’s hoping the momentum holds.