Send Help (2026)
Send Help: Does She Have What It Takes, Jeff? | 4/5
Written by Noah Dietz: 2/14/2026
The hype is real, Sam Raimi has returned to horror. While some attempted to laud Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as his return to the genre, it’s undeniable that Sam’s back in control and ready to roll with Send Help.
In what might be Sam's best film since Spider-Man 2, Send Help is a movie that encapsulates the phrase “I support women’s rights, as well as women’s wrongs.” Our lead is Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams), she works in Strategy and Planning for a finance company, and her long years of loyal service are about to be rewarded with a promotion to VP. That is, until her late boss’s son Bradley (Dylan O’Brien) enters the scene. A picture of classic office politics unfolds, with frat brother deals and hot new secretaries, with the intention of leaving Linda in the dust. But fear not! Bradley is willing to extend a hand of help to her, offering to take her to help wrap a huge deal in Bangkok. While on the plane to Bangkok, the group of new execs laugh it up over Linda’s audition tape to be considered for Survivor while she finds loopholes in a contract that will save the company untold amounts of time and money in this merger. Realizing she’s been relegated to nothing more than an amusement to the boys club, Linda deletes the contract writeup she’s put together just as the plane hits turbulence. The plane ends up going down in the ocean off the coast of an island near Thailand, and Linda and Bradley are the only survivors.
The film plays out like a survivalist’s dream, with Linda’s life as a sort of “doomsday prepper-lite” leading up to this single moment. From the second she wakes up on the shore, she’s fully in business mode. Whether it’s a makeshift shelter, a method of collecting water, or even taking down a local boar (it’s very snotty), she’s more than capable of stepping up to the plate. The same can’t be said of Bradley. He’s a man who, self admittedly, never even cooked his own food before this. Spending a majority of their time on the island with an injured leg, he’s even more of a leech here than he was at the office. It’s the role reversal of the century, with Linda making it abundantly clear to him that she’s not interested in taking direction from him anymore. This is her world, and she’s thriving.
One of the joys I found in this movie is that, ironically, I didn’t always remember it was Sam Raimi directing. The characters all feel quintessentially his—Bradley has the stylings of somebody Ted Raimi would have played in a different film—and the way we move through the world is distinctly his, but there are certainly moments where this could slip your mind. That is, until you see your first (yeah, that’s right, first) eyeball pop out. The absolute hoot that I hollered when I saw that writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift were responsible for not only this, but the absolute delight that is the 2003 Freddy vs Jason in addition to the 2009 Friday the 13th cannot be measured. It’s clear to me that whatever these guys are doing works with Raimi, and I would love for them to do more.
Generally, I think this is solid. Visually I have no real complaints. There’s some really questionable digital effects work being done (looking at you, snot-filled wild boar), but these are made up for with some incredible practical work that will blow you away. The film looks good, it sounds good, and our actors deliver fantastic performances. There’s some incredible chemistry between McAdams and O’Brien during their island getaway, and I think without that element there’s a strong chance this film would have fallen flat. If you’re ready to see a fun sort of Gilligan’s Island adventure, or see somebody come out on top time and time again no matter what holds her down, maybe it’s a good time to swing by your local theater for Send Help.