SEND HELP (2026)

Genre: Thriller/Comedy
Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O'Brien, Edyll Ismail, Dennis Haysbert, Xavier Samuel, Chris Pang, Thaneth Warakulnukroh, Emma Raimi
Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins
Rating: NC16 (Some Violence & Coarse Language)
Released By: Walt Disney
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 29 January 2026

Synopsis: "Send Help" is a survival horror thriller about two colleagues who become stranded on a deserted island, the only survivors of a plane crash. On the island, they must overcome past grievances and work together to survive, but ultimately, it’s a battle of wills and wits to make it out alive. 

Movie Review:

On the surface, ‘Send Help’ is a survivalist thriller of two colleagues who are stranded on a deserted island somewhere off the coast of Thailand following a plane crash; but those who know Sam Raimi will know better than to expect a straightforward outing. True enough, Raimi’s first non-franchise gig after ‘Drag Me to Hell’ sees him at his gleeful and twisted, fashioning a part survival horror-comedy, part female revenge fantasy from a delectably screwy premise by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift (whose last claim to fame was reimagining the ‘Baywatch’ series).

For the most part, ‘Send Help’ is a two-hander between Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien. As strategy and planning whizz Linda Liddle, McAdams is terrifically funny playing a long-suffering employee who has spent her career trying to get ahead by working late and grinding out quarterly reports through lunch at her desk, only to see the credit stolen by her contemptible colleague Donovan (Xavier Smith). Worse, the promotion to vice-president she had been promised is promptly disregarded by the late company CEO’s odious son Bradley Preston (O’Brien), who awards it instead to his old college buddy Donovan.

As consolation, Bradley invites Linda to accompany his bros to a client meeting in Bangkok, although everything changes when the private jet they are on crashes into the ocean near the aforementioned island. That Linda happens to be a ‘Survivor’ superfan is no coincidence; neither for that matter is Donovan's brutal demise, being sucked out of the cabin and having his head smashed against the windows just minutes after mocking Linda on board the flight with her clumsy audition tape for the reality TV competition. Oh yes, it is crazy violent all right, and shall we say a curtain raiser for the rest of the gory scenes to come.

Unlike Bradley, Linda soon relishes the opportunity to be in her element. She builds a shelter, starts a fire, collects water, goes fishing, weaves a backpack for herself so she can collect fruits on the island from further inland, and even carves her name into a wooden cup she makes. On the other hand, Bradley has no choice at least at the start to accept her graces given his leg wound, and for a while after he’s recovered, undertakes a number of pathetic attempts at surviving on his own before finally swallowing his macho pride.

To his credit, Raimi never defines Linda or Bradley in the form of convenient stereotypes. As sympathetic as we are to her fate, there is good reason why Linda is difficult to embrace; and the later scenes demonstrate how she can be a monster. Meanwhile, Bradley isn’t the total asshole you’d probably be expecting him to be, and over the course of the movie, shows that he is capable of decency, perhaps even more so than Linda is. Raimi maintains an intriguing tension between Linda and Bradley throughout the entire movie, choreographing the various twists and turns into a symphony of unexpected, and increasingly violent, power shifts.

McAdams proves to be a genius stroke of casting. One of her most memorable roles is that of queen bee Regina George in ‘Mean Girls’, and McAdams once again displays her penchant for sharp satire as Linda flaunts her survival competence in front of Bradley; in fact, she more than leans into the role, McAdams pounces on it with lip-licking relish. On his part, O’Brien happily plays along without overdoing the part, allowing Bradley’s torment and even torture at Linda’s hands to be earned, especially after betraying her trust in a scene that has one of the standout gross-out scenes in the film.

Like we said at the beginning, this is Raimi’s first non-franchise gig since ‘Drag Me to Hell’, and the auteur takes the opportunity to return to his cult-favourite roots to deliver a number of gore and gross-out moments - without giving too much away, let’s just say one of them has Linda hunting a warthog for meat and another has Linda alternately throwing up on Bradley’s face while performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation after he almost drowns. Even so, Raimi never tips into indulgence; instead, he carefully calibrates the tone of the film, walking a fine line between cruelty and catharsis and never letting the proceedings tip into nihilism.

We will warn you that not everyone will love ‘Send Help’, in part because it refuses to conform to any sort of genre or audience expectation, but that is also the reason why we absolutely love it. In fact, we would go so far as to say that this is Raimi’s most purely enjoyable film in years, untethered from Marvel’s strict filmmaking demands and free to once again combine pop-comic precision with his signature gruesome ingenuity. It is also a showcase of comic talent from McAdams especially, her animated portrayal of Linda no less than a highlight of her impressive career. Even though you’re never really sure where the film will end up or how you’ll feel when you get there, trust us when we say this is a rollercoaster ride of rollicking fun that is well worth the journey.

Movie Rating:

(Gleefully untethered from any franchise expectation, 'Send Help” finds Raimi at his most mischievous—splicing survival thriller, splatter-comedy and sharp gender satire into a vicious two-hander that turns competence, cruelty and catharsis into a wildly unpredictable ride)

Review by Gabriel Chong