Sam Raimi has always been one of my favorite directors, ever since I first laid eyes on EVIL DEAD at a probably too-young age. But he doesn’t get as directing jobs as he once did, so I was eager to see what he could do with SEND HELP.
SEND HELP is the story of an underappreciated and overworked woman named Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) and her misogynist nepo-baby boss Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien). In the office, Bradley rules the roost and uses his power in the way frat bros can, trying to hire women just because he wants to sleep with them and denying Linda her well deserved promotion that was promised to her by Bradley’s father, giving it instead to his douchey friend Donovan. Linda’s work is valuable, but she isn’t pretty enough for him and he finds her disgusting, so he plans on shuffling her out to a satellite office somewhere far away.
When she confronts him about it, he invites her on a trip to Bangkok to help with a merger to get one more use out of her before sidelining her. On the plane, Donovan shows everyone Linda’s audition for the tv show Survivor, embarrassing her and giving Bradley and the others a laugh. The last laugh is on him, though, as the plane suffers a mechanical failure during a storm and the plane goes down into the ocean. The next day, Linda wakes up on the beach and finds Bradley has survived as well.
Linda’s survival skills come in handy now as she creates shelter for the wounded Bradley and gets them food and water so that they can survive. Despite that, he still treats her terribly, which results in her going off on her own for two days where he almost dies from exposure. After that, he begrudgingly accepts that she is the one in charge now and if he wants to survive, he is going to have to appease her. The power dynamic has shifted, and Bradley can’t stand it. Linda is relishing it and living her best life, becoming more and more the person she wants to be. And that person can be downright scary at times.
Now, stuck on the island together, the two must work together to survive, though Bradley wants to get home as soon as possible, but Linda wouldn’t mind if rescue never comes and might do anything to prevent disrupting her new life.
Raimi is back in form with SEND HELP after his last two movies didn’t quite move the needle for me, though MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS was fun. Here he leans into the brand of horror comedy that he does so well, with plenty of gore and goop along for the ride. I wasn’t sure how that would work with it just being two people on a tropical island, but it turned out well thanks to the tight script by Shannon and Swift. The first half hour or so shows us the office dynamic between Linda and Bradley, and after that, it’s all fun on the island, where we laugh at how helpless Bradley is while Linda rules the roost and puts her survival skills to the test as she builds their camp and a slew of tools to boot.
I was surprised they got as much gore and goop in the film as they did, as once you are down to two people on an island, there aren’t a lot of options for it. After the plane crash in the beginning, I thought we were done. Raimi proved me wrong and I was cackling with delight as some of the stuff he put there on screen.
McAdams is a gem as Linda, able to play the pathetic office worker and the jungle queen she becomes with aplomb. She has a ton of range and gets to show it off, and I can’t recall a role that allowed her to get quite so dark as she does at times here. Linda has a lot of baggage, and McAdams lets us see that with just a look to convey it. Also, she’s down for the gore and the goop which is always a plus. On the other side of the coin is O’Brien as Bradley, who is sort of one-note. He’s an ass and pretty much stays as ass through the movie, though he does get some time to open up and show a vulnerable side he doesn’t want anyone to know that he has. Bradley just wants to be in control, and O’Brien shows that with the fearful looks that let us see he is helpless and hates that he has to rely on someone beneath him. More than that, he needs her to survive as it is shown that even with Linda’s tutelage, his skills are lacking. The fact that she’s a woman doesn’t help matters.
Not only do we get a return from Raimi, but Danny Elfman comes long for the ride with a wonderful score that just helps set the wild and wacky tone even more. He hasn’t lost a step and it really helps the movie come together. I didn’t realize that he was attached to it and when I saw his name on it, I knew there was another score I was going to have to pick up.
SEND HELP was a fun, gory, and thrilling ride and if you’re in a mood for a beachy movie this summer, you should check it out.
