Sam Raimi's Send Help Review: A Disgusting, Brilliant Return to Horror
Sam Raimi's long-awaited return to the horror genre with Send Help is an absolutely disgusting and completely brilliant cinematic experience. The film, which marks his first horror venture since 2009's Drag Me to Hell, happily fulfils its quota of goop, gore, and visceral shocks while delivering a sharp social commentary.
Stranded in Blood and Vomit
Stars Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien find themselves submerged in a truly repulsive array of substances throughout the film's runtime. At various points, the actors are drenched in vomit, burst eyeball fluid, bug innards, fish entrails, and, of course, several power showers' worth of splattered blood. This desert island survival story takes the concept of being stranded to new, stomach-churning heights.
An 'Eat the Rich' Parable with Bite
Send Help presents itself as another entry in the popular 'eat the rich' parable genre, but executes the concept with enough wit and visceral energy to outpace many of its competitors. The story follows nepo baby CEO Bradley Preston, played by Dylan O'Brien, and Linda Liddle, portrayed by Rachel McAdams, the employee he cruelly passed over for promotion. When both characters end up as castaways on the same remote Thai beach, the stage is set for a brutal battle of wits and survival.
The film has been told with such ferocious energy that it manages to transcend its familiar premise. Raimi's camera moves with mischievous sprite-like energy, darting from one rancid spectacle to another with gleeful abandon. The verbal and literal knife fights between the two leads are played out with remarkable intensity.
The Digital Gore Debate
While Raimi's effectiveness as a filmmaker remains undeniable, some criticism can be levelled at his over-reliance on digital gore effects. There's a fairly damning indictment of Hollywood's current approach to visual effects artists here, with both money and time appearing in short supply. Several shots look worse than comparable effects in Drag Me to Hell, whose infamous possessed goat has aged surprisingly well by comparison.
Cheap CGI will never exude the same charm and ingenuity as cheap practical effects, and Raimi's digital work here inevitably pales in comparison to the exquisitely DIY shocks of his 1981 classic The Evil Dead. That said, the bitter aftertaste of green screen can at least be washed down by the film's relentless energy and the compelling performances of its leads.
McAdams' Transformative Performance
Rachel McAdams delivers what might be one of her most surprising performances to date. At first, viewers might assume the actor is too innately glamorous to play the 'office weirdo' – the pock mark on Bradley's corporate luxe life, complete with lipstick on her teeth, grease in her hair, and a glob of uneaten tuna mayo at the corner of her mouth. But there's a profound point being made in Damian Shannon and Mark Swift's script about how beauty and power are not absolute qualities, but are dictated entirely by environment.
The moment Linda, a diehard fan of the reality series Survivor, discovers that she and Bradley are crash survivors stuck on a remote island, she undergoes her own 'girl takes her glasses off' transformation. McAdams the Hollywood star emerges in full force, delivering broad comedic strokes with such forceful humanity that she's able to play her own tricks on the audience's sympathies. She can screw up her face in a way that makes you genuinely fear her entire head might explode.
Power Dynamics Reversed
As Linda cheerily informs Bradley, 'Welcome to my office' – a place where designer loafers and patriarchal condescension have no currency. Send Help benefits enormously from Raimi's trademark ruthlessness, which allows Linda (and, in turn, McAdams) to test both her sanity and our loyalty to the underdog. Meanwhile, O'Brien offers enough genuine depth to his character to force viewers, at times, to question Bradley's inherent inhumanity.
A Raimi horror is, by nature, mean-spirited – there's significantly more biting in this film than one might normally expect. But while Drag Me to Hell bestowed endless infernal horrors on Alison Lohman's otherwise sweet-natured office underling in retaliation for a single moral violation, Send Help plays a slippier, more compelling game with its protagonist.
A Satisfying Conclusion
When everything culminates in the reminder that 'no help is coming so you better start saving yourself', Send Help becomes the best of both worlds: indulgent Raimi splatter fuelled by a satisfying touch of righteous rage. The film manages to balance its disgusting spectacle with genuine thematic weight, creating an experience that's both repulsive and remarkably compelling.
Director: Sam Raimi
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O'Brien, Edyll Ismail, Dennis Haysbert, Xavier Samuel, Chris Pang
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 113 minutes
Release Date: In cinemas from 5 February
