Sam Raimi's Wildly Entertaining "Send Help"

Dylan O'Brien and Rachel McAdams

Sam Raimi has achieved considerable success as a director, and is probably best known to genre fans for his work on the original Evil Dead trilogy, Darkman, the Spider Man films from the 2000s which starred Tobey Maguire, the horror thriller Drag Me To Hell, as well as other high profile projects such as Oz the Great and Powerful, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. His latest film, Send Help, is a wild, enjoyable, and often surprising ride; the movie spins through a number of genres including thriller, horror, survival drama, and black comedy.

Send Help is the story of Linda Liddle, who's an employee of Preston Strategic Solutions, While she's a smart, efficient  ans successful worker, she quickly is sidelined by Bradley, the company's new CEO, a frat boy, "bro" type dude who takes over the company after the death of his father. He marginalizes Linda, and denies her a promotion that was promised to her, citing what he views as her meek personality and socially awkward style.

The balance of power changes drastically when a plane traveling to a corporate meeting crashes, killing everyone onboard except Linda and Bradley, stranding them on a deserted island. Suddenly, the tables are turned. Bradley, who has no real world skills, must depend on Linda, who's clearly more effective in this type of crisis. Their desperate situation flips the established hierarchy. Bradley’s cocky confidence is useless, while Linda’s survival knowledge gives her the upper hand. She thrives on the island, providing food, water and shelter for herself and Bradley.

As Linda rises to the challenge and helps keep them alive, Bradley sees her in a different light. However, there might be a darker side to her personality, and she could be keeping secrets from him. As time goes on, Bradley suspects there may be something amiss in their idyllic island world. The central tension of the film comes from watching each of these characters refuse to fully surrender the upper hand. Who will be the last one standing in what ends up being a terrifying game of cat and mouse?

What makes Send Help so entertaining is that we're never quite sure what will happen next, and there are several twists to the tale. The film constantly shifts our allegiance between the lead characters. Bradley begins as an arrogant and sexist jerk, but the clever and resourceful Linda (who we are rooting for initially) ends up being the more terrifying of the two. The bravura performances of Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien deftly illustrate the psychological tug-of-war between Linda and Bradley.

Raimi's terrific direction really energizes the film, which is laced with black humor and features some unsettling, quirky and what the heck? moments, which will be no surprise to fans of director Raimi's earlier genre work. The score has a fabulous old school movie music vibe, thanks to the talents of Danny Elfman, and the clever, twisty screenplay for the film was written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift. Send Help is well worth checking out for thriller fans. Here's a look at the film's trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4wiXj9NmEE.