When discussing the most singular auteurs in the world of genre filmmaking, Sam Raimi is one of the most unique we have. The director has cemented his stamp within so many landscapes, from building the foundation of Superhero films with Spider-Man to creating one of the most visually distinct horror franchises with The Evil Dead, so in a way, Send Help represents an interesting inflection point within his filmography. Raimi’s previous feature, Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness, had much of his signature flair, but it was weighed down by the multitude of franchise ground it had to cover. Send Help, marking his first original film since 2009, is refreshing in that respect but also in so many more ways.
Send Help in many ways is a mashup of all of Raimi’s best traits of filmmaking within his movies. The delightfully batshit camera work, manic editing, wickedly dark humor, and body fluids galore are all present, but they’re melding in a way that is distinctly Rami in its silliness and meanness, resulting in one of his best films in years. With the addition of a wickedly sharp screenplay from Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, an excellent leading role from Rachel McAdams, Send Help is a bloody blast at the movies in the ways that only a Raimi movie can be.
The film starts following Linda Liddle (McAdams), who is constantly belittled in her place of work and is often never given credit for what she accomplishes within the strategy and planning department. She often tends to be awkward around her peers, but she believes everything will change once she gets the promotion to vice president of the company, which was promised to her by the company’s previous boss, who is now handing ownership to his son, Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien).
Upon first impression of her, Bradley sees little to no value in Linda and denies her the vice president position, embarrassing her in front of all her coworkers. He decides, however, to give her a chance to prove him wrong, inviting Linda on a flight with his buddies but secretly planning to fire her from the company. Things take a turn when the plane they’re on crash-lands on a deserted island, with Linda and Badley being the only survivors. The two must attempt to put aside their differences to survive, but they inevitably clash, and it ends up a full-out war between the two to see who will outlast the other.
From the jump, you can immediately tell Raimi’s style gives the central concept the elevation it needs to become as wickedly cruel and delightfully unforgiving as promised. The majority of the film’s cinematography slowly becomes more unhinged as it progresses forward, starting with ultra-uncomfortable close-ups and shifting to classic sweeping tracking shots and crash zooms that reside all over much of Raimi’s work.
What’s most admirable here, though, is the blend of a humorous undertone of full-out pitch-black comedy to nearly every scene. The film is extremely similar to Drag Me to Hell in that there’s a cartoonish hilarity to so many sequences, the initial scene of the plane crashing itself, a boar hunting scene, and even a dream sequence where Raimi has his own film and goes full Evil Dead, it’s a riot to witness the film’s continued chaotic and pulpy nature that only deepens as the gender dynamics between our two lead characters deepen.
These positives are only further bolstered by how committed both McAdams and O’Brien are in virtually every scene. McAdams is particularly excellent at playing the evolution of Linda throughout the film, starting as timid and awkward when we first meet her, before fully coming into her own when on the island, inverting her dynamics with Bradley. O’Brien is equally fun as a complete douchebag of a character in a mostly comical sense throughout, having the most incredibly obnoxious laugh throughout the film.
Damian Shannon and Mark Swift truly bend the pressures and limits of morality between these two characters, and it’s cruel in the best of ways, showing both the island and the workplace as places where toxicity thrives. With buckets of blood, vomit and the sadistic games played between both Linda and Bradley, the film remains invigorating throughout its many twists, even within a fairly sizable runtime.
Send Help is the culmination of everything that makes a great Raimi film tick in all kinds of genre filmmaking; meaning spirited chaos, non-stop thrillers, a kinetic camera, and bodily fluids of all kinds flying across the screen. It’ll make any huge fan of the filmmaker’s work extremely happy, and with more than committed performance from Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien to boot, Send Help is for the Sickos, and Sam Raimi fully delivers with his best in over 15 years.
Send Help is the culmination of everything that makes a great Raimi film tick in all kinds of genre filmmaking; meaning spirited chaos, non-stop thrillers, a kinetic camera, and bodily fluids of all kinds flying across the screen.
Lover of film writing about film. Member of the Dallas Fort-Worth Critics Association. The more time passes, the more the medium of movies has become deeply intertwined with who I am.
