Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien
Screenplay: Damien Shannon, Mark Swift
113 mins. Rated R for strong/bloody violence and language.

Send Help opens with a classic old-fashioned 20th Century Studios emblem (ironic in that there is no original 20th Century Studios logo without the FOX title), but this wild horror-comedy is classic Sam Raimi (Spider-Man) in every way. Raimi takes breaks from horror to helm big budget studio pictures, frequently in the realm of superheroes, but he always comes back home, where we appreciate him most.

Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams, Mean Girls) is a bit of a loner, an unpopular but eager and ambitious employee who is nearing a major and much-earned promotion. When the recently deceased CEO’s son, Bradley (Dylan O’Brien, Saturday Night) takes over his father’s position, Linda is passed over on the promise of promotion, but she still ends up on a work trip with Bradley and his management bros, where their plane crashes and the two end up on a deserted island. Linda showcases her value as an avid fan of Survivor, while Bradley merely whines about his situation and offers little support or help. As tensions rise and Linda realizes her power in the present moment, the two survivors discover that survival may require separation…or perhaps something more severe.

Raimi’s style fits so well here in a type of movie I never thought he’d make. With Send Help, he may have just provided the world with the greatest advertisement for watching Survivor in the history of reality television. The movie has the feeling of a forgotten Tales from the Crypt movie, with all the dark comedy, gruesome violence, and more than its share of twists, turns, and sequences pulled out of EC Comics. There’s a dream sequence late in the film that is so Raimi I practically giggled with glee. At first glance, the screenplay, from Freddy vs. Jason writers Damien Shannon and Mark Swift, doesn’t feel tailored for Raimi, but the iconic director makes tremendous use of the cat-and-mouse (and occasionally mouse-and-cat) antics.

While I don’t entirely buy McAdams as an unpopular spinster trope that she opens the film with, her transformation into a more comfortable and powerful woman of the wilderness is effective, and that added confidence makes her quite formidable and occasionally frightening in the narrative. She has great combative chemistry with O’Brien, who plays pompous so well, channeling a bit of the cocky heft he brought to his portrayal of Dan Aykroyd in Saturday Night. His pathetic out-of-his-element rich boy sleaze is authentic and believable, and it’s fun watching each of them attempt to take control of the situation, even when it makes it hard to root for either of them at times.

Send Help is perfect for viewers who watched Misery and came away thinking that Annie Wilkes should be the hero. After this film and Wes Craven’s Red Eye, it’s clear that Rachel McAdams should not be flying in planes, but it makes for quality entertainment, and I’d love to see her in more genre pictures. While the screen is a bit too glossy for Raimi’s style, and the film overstays its necessity at 113 minutes, but those looking for a bit of quality splatstick horror will find plenty to love.

3.5/5
-Kyle A. Goethe