The premise for Send Help is devilishly simple. Two “colleagues”, if you can call them that, a lower-level employee at a huge multinational company, and the nepo-baby CEO, crash land on a deserted island and have to brave the elements. So those dynamics that exist in the office are thrown out the window (or a hole in a crashing plane). It stars Rachel McAdams as Linda Liddle and Dylan O’Brien as Bradley Preston. Liddle is timid, meek, and kind of socially awkward. Bradley is, however, the classic CEO yuppie-type. Whatever stereotypes you can think of about a CEO and how they operate, Bradley embodies them.
He brings Linda on a plane trip to Thailand to fix a financial issue with the company, and is going to transfer her, because he finds her repulsive and unimportant. That plane never makes its destination, because while Bradley and his cronies are laughing at a tape of Linda auditioning for her favorite show, Survivor, one of the engines explodes and they crash land in the water. Believe it or not, this isn’t even the 8th most frightening or thrilling scene in Send Help.
No, the movie gets more and more thrilling as it goes on, and the dynamic between Linda and Bradley flips. Linda is a survival expert, and Bradley is a baby back bitch. He hurts himself getting out of the crash, and meanwhile, Linda has built a shelter, gotten food and water, and is keeping him alive. The film comes from director Sam Raimi, and you know what to expect. I’m sure Sam was giddy with glee dumping buckets of blood and other fluids on his two stars. But to simply say the film is a Raimi-led effort would be a disservice to the screenwriters.
Damian Shannon and Mark Swift co-wrote the movie and their brand of writing is superb. This time around, it takes that classic shipwrecked movie, but it throws this power dynamic into the proceedings AND on top of it, the added wrinkle of some dastardly behavior from both of the people on the island. Without spoiling anything, these two are on this island for longer than they need to be and the reasons why are insane to see.
There are some neat tricks that the filmmakers pull as the movie goes on. Linda is portrayed as nerdy, awkward, and unaware of her surroundings at the beginning of the film, and as it goes on, they really turn on the beautification machine (not like Rachel McAdams needs it) and she’s shown in brighter light, and almost angelic. While Bradley is shown dirty, hobbling, and bumbling around, he relies on Linda for survival.
Unlike most movies, this one doesn’t have its best scenes given away in the trailer. The boar attack is only a short while into the film, and it does feature a bucket of blood, it’s not the last time there’s going to be blood on screen. Some of the things that go on are wild. The ending third of the film is just a drag-out, screaming “ohhhhhh” at the screen, thrill of a sequence.
All of it fills together, Shannon and Swift’s excellent script, Sam Raimi returning to some classic horror vibes, plus the two performances from McAdams and O’Brien.
Send Help is VINTAGE Sam Raimi. Dylan O’Brien and Rachel McAdams are exceptional, butting heads, and this just drips style, terror, and has one of the best scripts of the year. Just an all-around fantastically thrilling/horrifying time at the movies.
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