'Send Help': Violence descends into exasperating silliness

SAM Raimi directs and produces this entertaining and darkly comic survival horror film about a business trip that goes very much awry.

The director of the Evil Dead and Spider-man trilogies is no stranger to wicked genre thrills and proves an ideal hand for this film.

A project that has been in gestation since 2019, Raimi managed to direct the second Doctor Strange movie while this one was still getting off the ground.

While it isn’t the best example of the director’s horror credentials, it does show there is no director who approaches the genre in quite the way that he does. In some ways, he is a style all of his own.

Linda (Rachel McAdams) is a hardworking but put-upon office worker, greatly underappreciated by her colleagues.

When new boss Bradley (Dylan O’Brien) passes her over for a well-deserved promotion, giving the job to a buddy of his with much less experience, Linda finally has enough.

When Linda angrily confronts him, the obnoxious Bradley is impressed and asks her to accompany him on an important business trip to Bangkok.

On the way to Thailand, their private plane suffers engine failure and crashes into the sea. Linda manages to free herself and finds the next morning she was woken up on a remote island beach.

She finds Bradley lying injured and unconscious and the pair is the only survivors of the crash.

A keen survival enthusiast, Linda draws on her skills to nurse Bradley back to health and build a camp.

The incident has done little to improve Bradley’s personality and he initially shows little appreciation for everything Linda has done to help him.

However, he soon learns that Linda is not the mousy pushover she appears to be and that he will live to regret his poor treatment of her.

Raimi is such a unique filmmaker (especially when it comes to horror) that it’s a shame his output of late has been so infrequent.

He has only directed three films in the last thirteen years. While he has succeeded with big budget blockbuster fare, Send Help is very much from the stable of his critically acclaimed horror offerings.

In that sense it his best film since 2009’s Drag Me to Hell, which had a similarly twisted sense of humour. Send Help is a suspenseful ride packed with thrills and surprises.

While it has the occasional dull passage, the film creates enough intrigue and tension between its two leads to more than keep audiences on tenterhooks.

No doubt part of the reason that succeeds is because of the two leads, particularly McAdams. An actress known predominantly for her work is rom coms; she is something of a revelation here.

We watch her character transform from a dowdy, unconfident office drone to a woman who ends up towering over the person who once made her life miserable.

Thanks to McAdams, the effect is convincing, not to mention a little uncanny.

O’Brien has the task of playing a slimy worm of a man begging to be put in his place. Watching that unfold is a satisfying process.

Raimi might not make as many films as we would like but Send Help proves he hasn’t lost his touch.

RATING: ****

Matthew McCaul