The box office for horror in 2026 is already off to a strong start. With titles like 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come, Scream 7, and The Strangers: Chapter 3 all either out or releasing later this quarter, horror continues to be a reliable genre for theatres to fill seats.
Adding to this slate is Sam Raimi’s latest gory thrill, Send Help. Building on the director’s horror legacy from his iconic Evil Dead franchise, the film sets Rachel McAdams against Dylan O’Brien on a deserted island in a battle of survival and wit. Despite Linda’s (McAdams) wilderness smarts and poor treatment at work, Raimi gives us nothing to grasp onto—evolving his protagonist into a monster with no redeeming qualities—in a misguided attempt at female empowerment in the male–dominated workplace.
The film revolves around Linda Liddle as she struggles to fit in with the exclusive boy–club in her office led by Linda's pretentious new boss, Bradley Preston (O’Brien). On a flight, Bradley and the other men enjoy making fun of Linda—like usual—when in a moment of seemingly divine intervention, the plane crashes, leaving Linda stranded on a deserted island with Bradley.
On the island, Bradley comes to depend on Linda. O’Brien and McAdams create some beautifully vulnerable moments between their characters, tapping into deeper conversations about toxic relationships and finding the strength to move on when life leaves you behind. McAdams in particular delivers a riveting performance, quiet but dangerous to the point where it makes the audience uneasy. She succeeds in building a character who manipulates viewers into feeling sympathy for her one moment and fearing her the next. Her performance is ultimately the best part about the film.
As the film progresses, we realize that at no point do Linda and Bradley seem to truly trust one another. Throughout the film, Bradley will quickly switch from begging for Linda’s help to trying to kill her. The story becomes less about trying to leave the island, and, curiously, more about what Linda will do to make sure she and Bradley stay. And it’s here where Raimi begins to evolve Linda into a character with no redeeming qualities.
Warning: Spoilers beyond this point.
The turning point of Linda’s character comes when Raimi pushes her so far as to murder Bradley’s desperate fiancée (Edyll Ismail), who comes to the island to save him. Raimi gives us a solemn moment when Linda fears herself for what she did, but compared to the rest of the film, the moment is too short–lived to feel truly redeeming.
Upon realizing what Linda did, Bradley is enraged, pulling the two into a final battle that merges the eyeball–popping gore of Evil Dead with bold and bloody fight sequences straight out of a comic book, another Raimi forte. The scene is so explosive that it overshadows Linda’s previous moment of self–awareness. It’s during this fight that Linda reveals what she truly wants: to be loved by Bradley; for them to stay on the island and live a happy life together. But this desire for love is fraught with madness, from the gun levelled at Bradley’s head, the crazed look in her blood–shot eyes, and the desperation that quivers in her voice.
Up until this point, we’ve watched Bradley and the men in her workplace all treat her like an outcast, making us understand Linda’s desire to be loved. But in this moment, as she holds Bradley at gunpoint, Raimi makes it impossible for us to want this love for her. By escalating Linda’s violence and deluding her character into idealizing a life with Bradley, Raimi strips her of her agency and sanity, disempowering her as she confronts the workplace prejudice embodied by Bradley.
To make things worse for Linda, Bradley doesn’t buy what she’s selling. He’s holding a weapon behind his back as he plays into her fantasy, persuading her that whatever she wants, he wants too. At this point, one can’t help but feel a lack of sympathy for both of these characters as they determine how hard they have to lie to each other to get what they want.
Bradley finally goes for the killshot, but Linda ultimately emerges victorious. She leaves the island and becomes an overnight celebrity after being known as the sole survivor of the plane crash. Does she experience any internal struggle over everything she had to do to get to this point? She doesn’t—just like the men in her office never grappled with their own immoral means of ascending to power. Her survival perpetuates a neverending cycle of those in power losing their sense of morality, which is an interesting idea, but remains underdeveloped and overpowered by spectacle and gore.
While Raimi perhaps aimed to give us a darkly comedic revenge story about a woman finally getting justice in the workplace, he instead paints a picture of how women cannot find success in the corporate sphere without selling their souls. Climb the ladder, work harder than the rest, be your authentic self—none of it will ever be enough.
What is enough in his mind? Take over a deserted island and become a killer girl–boss. To Raimi, that’s success.
