Sam Raimi returns with his first proper Sam Raimi Picture since 2009’s Drag Me to Hell. The Evil Dead director kept his hand in with an episode of Ash vs Evil Dead, and even brought a touch of horror to the MCU with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but that’s not nearly enough. The Raimi faithful among us have had to wait over ten years to wash the taste of Oz the Great and Powerful out of our collective mouths. Needless to say, that mouthwash tastes of corn syrup and red food dye.
In an unexpected riff on Triangle of Sadness and other trend-adjacent works, Raimi’s latest work is a solid entry in the ‘Good for Her’ / ‘Peon vs Corporate Overlord’ subgenre. When her boss suddenly passes away and nepo baby Bradley (Dylan O’Brien) takes over, Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) is left out in the cold. He plans to shuffle the socially awkward strategist out of sight once their company trip to Thailand is done, and Linda’s hard work has saved the day.
Fate has other ideas though, and the pair find themselves stranded on a remote desert island when their plane takes a sudden nosedive. The tables turned, Bradley soon comes to realise that there’s far more to Linda Liddle than meets the eye.
Raimi may have been sidetracked by his quite prolific producing duties and bigger blockbuster films, but it’s clear he hasn’t lost his touch. Directing from a screenplay by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, it’s every bit as funny, cruel and bloody as his previous works. It’s essentially Misery on a desert island, and Raimi doles out the abuse equally, giving McAdams and O’Brien their fair share of trauma (and bodily fluid) as the tug-of-war continues.
Some slightly squiffy VFX aside, Send Help looks great, and the action is typically frenetic (Raimi’s version of a plane crash is every bit as horrific as you’d expect). McAdams is a powerhouse as Liddle, giving one of the best performances of her career in a role she’s clearly having a ball with. As for O’Brien, he’s left to soak up the humiliation, in classic Raimi leading man style. Bruce Campbell would be proud.
It’s not without its flaws (including one massively telegraphed ‘twist’ and a too-convenient party pooper later on), but Send Help is a terrific version of the survival thriller.
To call it a return to form would suggest that Raimi ever lost it, but Send Help is the director at his most fierce.
SEND HELP is out in UK cinemas now.
