“Send Help”: Movie Review

“Send Help” is directed by Sam Raimi, known for the Spider-Man trilogy and the original Evil Dead trilogy, and has a very specific filmmaking style that feels slightly surreal and immersive.

With Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien as the lead characters, Linda and Bradley give the film a stable foundation, carrying it from beginning to end. 

Linda is an awkward employee who works in strategy and planning for a company that Bradley has inherited from his deceased father. Before he passed away, he supposedly was going to give Linda a promotion to Vice President, but when Bradley took over, his arrogance and privilege overlooked Linda, and he gave the promotion to his undeserving best friend whose been working there for 6 months.

That causes Linda and Bradley to butt heads, but he invites her on a trip to Bangkok to prove herself until they’re on the plane, and the plane crashes with them being the only two survivors.

While Linda didn’t really fit in at the office, she feels more in control now due to her love of the show “Survivor”. Meanwhile, Bradley wants to keep his control over her, but he’s out of his element, so their roles have completely swapped now that Linda is the one with the most authority.

Their relationship throughout the movie is what Raimi focused on the most. While the setting of a seemingly deserted island is a character all in itself, the ebb and flow of Linda and Bradley’s survival of this island and how they both cope with it is what gives the audience that feeling of anticipation on how the characters will react to one another as the film progresses.

The movie is a thriller with comedic notes. Not forced humor but natural situational humor that fits the characters in the situations. There are a few scenes with excessive blood, one a bit over the top, but if you’re squeamish, be cautious of that going into it.

Again, for film fans or fans of Sam Raimi, you can tell his fingerprints are all over this movie, some transitions, familiar camera angles, and easter eggs to previous movies he’s directed. So if you’re a fan of his, it’s enjoyable, and if you’re unfamiliar, you will enjoy the movie all the same.

The most enjoyable part for me was Rachel McAdams’ performance, going from an unliked, awkward corporate office worker, seamlessly to an awesome survivalist.

“Send Help” is one of the better movies of 2026 so far, in my opinion, primarily because not a lot of movies have been released yet.

And while there have been over movies that have been released on streaming, “Send Help” gives you that feeling of the days when you went to the theater to watch everything, not a big-budget Marvel movie and not an indie $5 million movie. It is a solid, entertaining, and thrilling movie that is done right.