Director Sam Raimi first established his career with the 1981 low-budget horror classic, Evil Dead, launching a franchise that even saw a new theatrical installment this year. Unlike many directors whose roots are in horror, Raimi successfully expanded into other genres, most notably helming the blockbuster Spider-Man trilogy in the 2000s. My most recent experience with his movies was 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness; while it rode the massive coattails of Spider-Man: No Way Home to box-office success, I found it merely okay, and it marked the beginning of my superhero fatigue.

Now, four years later, Raimi has returned to his signature blend of horror and humor with Send Help. Despite being marketed as a hardcore horror flick, the film leans much further into dark comedy, sprinkled with just enough horrific elements to honor his roots.

The story introduces us to Linda (Rachel McAdams), a sincere, highly intelligent, and slightly awkward office worker who is desperate to climb the corporate ladder following the death of her boss. Unfortunately, her fate now lies in the hands of his arrogant, deeply cruel son, Bradley (Dylan O’Brien). Linda is not slick or naturally charming; she is a bird-loving employee who unabashedly enjoys smelly lunches and is obsessed with the reality television show Survivor.

Stuck in a soul-crushing corporate environment, Linda’s ambition collides head-on with Bradley’s nastiness. She is forced to endure superiors who steal her ideas, offer false support, and openly delight in humiliating her. This cruelty reaches its peak during a corporate trip to Thailand, where Linda faces severe mockery on the flight.

The workplace humiliation is abruptly cut short by a spectacularly chaotic plane crash. In a blast of dark comedy that feels perfectly in tune with Raimi’s sensibilities, executives are violently sucked out of the malfunctioning jet before it crashes into the sea.

Linda manages to make it to shore, soon joined by a severely injured Bradley. Suddenly, the boardroom dynamics are rendered completely useless. While Bradley remains aggressively demeaning and attempts to maintain his unearned superiority, he is completely helpless. Linda, on the other hand, puts her Survivor fandom to practical use. She builds shelter, sources food, and sustains the pair.

As the film transitions into a two-hander between McAdams and O’Brien, control entirely shifts to Linda—and she absolutely loves it. The former office drone thrives in the wilderness, shedding her insecurities to become a confident survivor. Raimi revels in her newfound warrior spirit, highlighted by a visceral sequence where she successfully hunts a wild boar, emerging triumphantly covered in blood. As they settle into a bizarre domestic order, trading personal histories, Bradley slowly realizes that Linda is the only reason he is alive. Even more terrifying for him: she isn’t entirely committed to finding a way off the island.

McAdams is the undeniable anchor of Send Help. She could have easily played Linda as a cartoonish, frumpy caricature, but she refuses the easy way out. Instead, McAdams delivers a fiercely grounded, three-dimensional portrayal of a woman realizing that intelligence and hard work aren’t enough to win in a rigged system. The true “horror” of the film isn’t the island itself, but Linda’s heartbreaking moments of recognition regarding the career she left behind. O’Brien plays a fantastic foil, leaning into Bradley’s habitual nastiness and desperation as his authority crumbles.

Rather than leaning into straightforward survival horror, Raimi focuses on twisted behaviors, untrustworthy characters, and sticky situations. His trademark sense of humor is on full display, complete with gross-out visual gags that periodically leave characters splattered in vomit and blood.

Writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift take their time developing the psychological cat-and-mouse game between the two leads. While the shifting trust dynamic carries on just a bit too long in the middle act, the writers eventually introduce new complications that shatter the island’s delicate balance. This sets up an engrossing, highly confrontational final act that pushes the film’s central concept to its limits.

Send Help succeeds brilliantly by prioritizing character development and motivations over cheap scares. Masterfully balancing beats of shock, suspense, and dark comedy, Raimi proves he is still highly capable of turning absolute disaster into a delightful moviegoing experience.