‘Send Help’ Review: Rachel McAdams Goes Into ‘Survivor’ Mode Against Bad Boss Dylan O’Brien [B+]

While Sam Raimi has helmed two films since 2009’s Drag Me to Hell, it’s hard to say the horror auteur’s signature filmmaking personality has been present since. One would be hard-pressed to deem Oz the Great and Powerful and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness tremendous uses of Raimi’s time and talent. Fortunately, 2026 sees Raimi escaping the purgatory of Disney IP and returning to the realm of horror-comedy with Send Help (the director’s first R-rated endeavor since 2000’s The Gift). In the film, a socially awkward but talented corporate underling (Rachel McAdams) becomes stranded on a deserted island with her nepo baby boss (Dylan O’Brien), the only survivors of a plane crash. Once on the island, the in-office hierarchy goes out the window as the two of them fight for survival.

Send Help is Rachel McAdams’ first foray into the horror/thriller arena since starring in Wes Craven’s underrated Red Eye in 2005. In that film, she played the part of the “final girl”, a more passive participant more or less at the mercy of a mysterious killer. Now, McAdams is a bona fide movie star, and she proves to be a perfect match for the signature Raimi tone. The performance is a balancing act that mirrors the tightrope walk of Raimi’s style. Early in the film, McAdams is in a completely different movie than the one that reveals itself once the setting changes to the island. In what is ostensibly a horror film, the most consistent sensibility is a comedic one. That comedic style morphs and transforms throughout the film, though. 

When we meet McAdams’ Linda Little in her office, the movie feels more like Anchorman than Evil Dead II. She is a social outcast in her office, awkwardly approaching co-workers and rocking a look that can only be described as “homely” (one of the film’s best jokes is about how absurd it is to try to convince an audience that Rachel McAdams isn’t a naturally beautiful movie star later in the film). McAdams is always completely game for whatever is required of her. In a just world, McAdams would be in awards contention for a performance this dialed in and precise, but genre movies don’t get the respect they often deserve. From a script perspective, Linda’s transformation is at times clunky and not particularly organic, but McAdams absolutely transcends the material.

Linda was up for a promotion until her company’s CEO died and was replaced by his haughty son Bradley. Instead of honoring his father’s request to promote Linda, Bradley promotes one of his Gordan Gekko-wannabe buddies who passes Linda’s work off as his own. When Linda, Bradley, and a handful of other employees leave for a business trip in the company jet, the movie takes its first swift turn and treats us to some of that sweet, sweet Sam Raimi gore in a hilariously gruesome plane crash sequence.That gore is all the more effective because, to that point, the film had operated as a broad office comedy beforehand. 

In a wonderful bit of dramatic irony, Linda and Bradley are the only survivors (of course). Bradley is badly injured, so it is up to Linda to keep their proverbial heads above water. Luckily, Linda is an avid fan of Survivor (she even sent in an audition tape to participate on the show), which proves to be very helpful. Like the film itself, Linda snaps into a new mindset when she reaches the island. She becomes “the boss” in an environment where competence supersedes relationships. She isn’t just surviving, she’s thriving and having a great time holding it over Bradley’s head.

The relationship dynamics between Bradley and Rachel take many compelling twists and turns throughout the course of the film. Some of them are hilarious, some of them are horrifying, but screenwriters Mark Swift and Damian Shannon always keep things engaging, even when the genre tropes are at their silliest or most cliché. It helps that Sam Raimi is busting out many of his greatest hits, returning to some of his hyper-kinetic cinematic instincts. The ghostly first-person POV from Raimi’s most famous work is recreated to give an Evil Dead Goes Hawaiian energy on the island at several points and the voluminous excretion of worm vomit onto poor Alison Lohman’s face in Drag Me to Hell is flipped on its head when our female protagonist gives Bradley a similar treatment.

It is a little disappointing, though, that many of the effects and landscapes have that slightly flubber-y, CGI feel, especially when we know Raimi is so good at utilizing practical effects. A sequence involving a boar, in particular, really feels like it would have benefited from the use of a puppet rather than a computer-generated creature. In fact, the movie, at large, lacks a sense of visual identity when it isn’t indulging in the Raimi tricks mentioned above. Send Help seems to find Raimi at a sort of crossroads between cookie-cutter Hollywood style and the vivacious filmmaking that made him a legend.

Send Help is not in the upper-tier of Raimi’s work, but it’s hard not to love seeing him back where he belongs: making graphic, hilarious movies with morally ambiguous characters. The film is always on the verge of making characters unforgivably evil, before redeeming them in some way. With both this film and Drag Me to Hell, Raimi has tackled the inherent evils of corporate America, but the films come to very different resolutions on what it all means and whether anything can be done about it. Even the ending is a riff on one of Raimi’s most memorable, audacious finales, making for a fun bit of self-reference. Like much of the film, it’s the reverence for what has come before that makes it so exciting. Send Help isn’t necessarily revolutionary, but there is something cozy about Sam Raimi’s familiar blanket of blood and guts.

Grade: B+

20th Century Studios will release Send Help only in theaters on January 30.

• Author
• Recent Posts

Jay Ledbetter

Jay Ledbetter is a finance manager by day, film critic by night living in Atlanta, Georgia. He began writing about film in 2013 and is not afraid to confront people of all ages if they are too loud in the theater.

In addition to his work at Awards Watch, Jay has written and hosted podcasts for Film Inquiry and InSession Film. He is an auteur obsessive, regularly diving deep into the filmographies of celebrated filmmakers.

Jay is a proud member of the Atlanta Film Critics Circle and the Georgia Film Critics Association. You can follow him on Twitter @MrJayLedbetter.

Latest posts by Jay Ledbetter (see all)

• ‘Send Help’ Review: Rachel McAdams Goes Into ‘Survivor’ Mode Against Bad Boss Dylan O’Brien [B+] - January 26, 2026
• ‘The Running Man’ Review: Edgar Wright Calls Out America’s Wrongs in the Latest and Largely Pointless Stephen King Adaptation [C+] - November 11, 2025
• ‘Lilo & Stitch’ (2025) Review: Nostalgia Can Only Carry So Far But Stitch Remains a Lovable Rascal [C+] - May 20, 2025