Send Help
Want to watch something completely unhinged? Then Send Help is your movie.
Sam Raimi, who hasn’t worked in this kind of genre for a very long time, comes back with a film that can be described as a mix of survival horror, psychological thriller, and a slightly twisted romantic journey.
The story follows Linda, an ordinary corporate worker and strategist. She’s portrayed as this clumsy, plain woman nobody really likes, someone who’s been waiting forever for her long-promised promotion to vice president. But of course, that never happens. Instead, when the new CEO position is taken by the former owner’s son — a young, arrogant, disrespectful jerk who couldn’t care less about what Linda wants — he starts promoting his bro-buddy.
The company’s management team, along with Linda — who is expected to do all the dirty work and close the reports — fly to Bangkok for a very important meeting. They never make it. The plane crashes. Only Linda and the CEO, Bradley, survive.
This is where island life begins. It turns out Linda is a huge fan of survival shows and actually does pretty well building a cozy little setup in the wild. Bradley, on the other hand, hates the idea. He keeps trying to find help and escape, while Linda is clearly enjoying what’s happening and seems ready to do whatever it takes to make sure this situation never ends.
In many ways, Send Help feels quite unique compared to recent releases. First of all, the movie genuinely tries to convince us that Rachel McAdams is ugly and deeply unpleasant — which is already a complete nonsense on its own. Secondly, Sam Raimi approaches the film in an eccentric way. That’s nothing new for him, but it’s been a while since he offered something like this.
The film is shot very aggressively, sometimes almost psychedelic, with strange camera movements, close-ups on random parts of faces, and a fair share of pretty disgusting moments — eating bugs, vomiting, and similar stuff. All of this gives the movie a very memorable look. At the same time, there’s no better way to describe this film than just… dumb. But not in a derogatory way. Extremely straightforward, very stupid, sometimes wild, sometimes cliché — and it feels like some of it is done on purpose, and some of it maybe isn’t. Yet because everything is presented in such a dark and humorous way, it somehow works on screen. Even if it’s impossible not to think that this is basically a much more unhinged version of Triangle of Sadness.
Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien — the two characters we’re stuck with for the entire film — work very well together and show strong chemistry, each using the situation in their own way. McAdams, as a totally unhinged Amazon-type character, looks genuinely hilarious, while O’Brien, essentially trapped, does a solid job playing the asshole.
Who actually wins this island battle is something you should find out for yourself. This is a movie worth seeing in a theater at least once, if only to experience how insane it is.
6/10
