Culture
Now Playing: ‘Send Help’ is a creepy and comedic castaway story
By: Gordon Briggs
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I call them “castaway movies.”
They’re adventure stories where one or more characters must survive both the untamed wilderness and their own demons after they’ve been washed up on a deserted island. Some castaway movies tend to be optimistic and even romantic stories, like Robinson Crusoe, which depict the triumph of human will over nature. Still, other castaway stories, like Lord of the Flies or the recent film Triangle of Sadness, take a darker turn.
It’s there, after the thin veil of “civilization” is removed, that humankind is revealed to be nothing more than savage self-interested beasts.
Send Help is definitely one of the darker castaway tales. In fact, it’s a gory, graphic, and frequently nasty movie that is also quite entertaining thanks to two strong performances and some engaging direction from Sam Raimi.
At the start, the story follows Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien. The plot follows a lowly, but hard-working office employee and Survivor enthusiast, Linda (McAdams), and her insufferable boss, Bradley (O’Brien), who, as the sole survivors of a plane crash on a deserted island, must navigate shifting power dynamics, dwindling resources, and intense psychological strain to survive.
While Bradley wishes to escape their predicament, Linda not only becomes more comfortable with her newfound island surroundings, but is also willing to do anything to stay, even if that means making Bradley her prisoner.
The film works largely because of Rachel McAdams. There’s a gradual evolution of her character that is fascinating to watch.
When the movie starts, her boss (the equally good O’Brien) is such a jerk that we are immediately on her side. After all, who can’t identify with the “office weirdo” who lacks social skills, making her easy for her boss to overlook?
As the story unfolds, Linda is forced to take increasingly extreme measures to maintain control over the island.
I dig how her character moves from marginalized employee to ultimately taking control of the situation, often in violent, unexpected ways. (There’s a scene with a pruning knife that I won’t reveal here, but had me wincing in the theater.)
A different, less adventurous movie could have easily played into the “eat the rich” zeitgeist and turned O’Brien’s boss into the easy-to-hate villain, and turned Linda’s employee into the easy-to-root-for hero. However, the film cleverly heightens its moral ambiguity and allows us to develop complex feelings towards both characters.
Plus, I enjoy how the script zeroes in on her growing feelings of guilt. Linda is not a good person here, but we empathize with her because she is not a complete monster either.
The story’s disturbing at times, but it never feels depressing. Not one to shy away from violence, Sam Raimi’s castaway story features gleefully grotesque imagery, involving blood, fluids, and exaggerated, slapstick-style horror.
The director, Raimi, has always been one who knows how to play with our vision. His visuals include extreme close-ups, sometimes with soft focus, and moments in which the sound cuts out to emphasize a character’s internal state.
Specifically, he gives the movie a style that relies heavily on close-ups of eyes, pupils, and, sometimes, physical trauma to the eyeball itself.
That mix of violence and gender politics may turn off some viewers, but for me, the success of Send Help signals that 2026 movies are already off to a strong start. ★★★1/2