Power Plays and Piranhas: Sam Raimi Returns with Send Help
Sam Raimi’s return to the horror genre arrives with teeth, literally. Send Help, is a dark comedy survival thriller that’s already racked up a . For a director who built his reputation on gleeful genre chaos, this island-bound power struggle feels like a homecoming, even if the execution occasionally stumbles over its own ambitions.
The film stars Rachel McAdams as Linda Liddle, a corporate strategist whose meek professional demeanour masks a ruthless survival instinct. When a plane crash strands her on a deserted island alongside newly appointed CEO Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien), the corporate hierarchy disintegrates faster than their designer luggage. Bradley’s injuries leave him dependent on Linda’s resourcefulness, and the power dynamic flips with darkly comedic precision. What begins as a straightforward survival narrative morphs into an unsettling psychological battle: a chess match played with coconuts and increasingly questionable moral choices.
McAdams delivers a career-best performance, balancing vulnerability with a creeping menace that keeps audiences guessing. Her Linda is neither hero nor villain; she’s a woman recalibrating her survival calculus in real time. O’Brien matches her beat for beat, transforming Bradley from entitled executive to desperate dependent with a physicality that sells every scraped knee and bruised ego. The chemistry between them crackles: not romantic, but adversarial in a way that heightens the film’s tension. Supporting turns from Edyll Ismail, Xavier Samuel, Chris Pang, and Dennis Haysbert add texture to flashback sequences that flesh out the corporate backstabbing before the literal backstabbing begins.
Raimi’s direction leans into his signature body horror instincts, though he restrains himself more than expected. The piranha attack sequence: teased in the film’s marketing: delivers gleeful gore, but much of Send Help operates in a quieter register, allowing dialogue and character work to drive the dread.
Danny Elfman’s score oscillates between whimsical and ominous, underscoring the film’s tonal tightrope walk.
That tonal balance, however, is where Send Help occasionally falters. The black comedy elements don’t always mesh seamlessly with the survival thriller framework, resulting in uneven pacing through the second act. Scenes that should simmer with tension sometimes deflate with ill-timed comic beats, and the script’s attempts to satirize corporate culture can feel heavy-handed when juxtaposed against the life-or-death stakes.
Still, Raimi’s fingerprints are all over this: the dutch angles, the POV shots through jungle foliage, the escalating absurdity that somehow never fully detaches from emotional truth. Send Help isn’t a reinvention of the survival genre, but it’s a wickedly entertaining reminder of why Raimi remains one of horror’s most distinctive voices. For fans craving something darker than your standard rom-com this February, Linda and Bradley’s island nightmare offers a refreshingly twisted alternative.
Rating: 7.5/10
Send Help is currently showing in UK and US cinemas. For more film and TV reviews, visit filmandtvreview.com.
