--- title: "Send Help: blending dark comedy and horror in a survival showdown" description: "It’s been a while, but filmmaker Sam Raimi is back behind the camera, and on form, with twisted survival thriller and pitch-black comedy Send Help. Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien play the castaways in this battle of wills." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "WHAT WE'RE WATCHING" author: "Noelle Adams" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/noelle-adams/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-02-12-send-help-blends-dark-comedy-and-horror-in-a-survival-showdown/" published: "2026-02-12T07:00:00" updated: "2026-02-11T10:38:29" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 609 --- # Send Help: blending dark comedy and horror in a survival showdown > It’s been a while, but filmmaker Sam Raimi is back behind the camera, and on form, with twisted survival thriller and pitch-black comedy Send Help. Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien play the castaways in this battle of wills. By Noelle Adams · Published 12 February 2026, 09:00 SAST · Updated 11 February 2026, 12:38 SAST ## Key points - Filmmaker Sam Raimi returns with the darkly comedic survival thriller, Send Help, starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien as reluctant castaways. - The film explores the chaos that ensues when two rival colleagues are stranded on a deserted island, blending humour with horror. - McAdams’ character, a socially awkward strategist, thrives in the survival scenario while navigating a twisted power dynamic with her arrogant boss. - Despite its graphic scenes and genre-bending approach, Send Help offers an engaging, albeit not particularly memorable, viewing experience. ## Content What would you do if you were stranded on a desert island with your most hated work colleague? That’s the premise of new survival film Send Help, which comes across as a marriage of [Triangle of Sadness](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-12-12-triangle-of-sadness-review-shooting-fish-in-a-barrel-and-serving-them-on-a-silver-platter), sans pretention, and [Misery](https://youtu.be/9HU-RfV7QA0?si=Y5U2078awE5Uiwc-) as it deftly slides between pitch black comedy and squelchy horror. [YouTube video: "YouTube video"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4wiXj9NmEE) In the film, Rachel McAdams plays Linda Liddle, a strategist whose work brilliance is offset by her social awkwardness and frumpy appearance. Frequently exploited by her superiors, Linda is nonetheless waiting patiently for a VP position promised by the CEO. With his death, though, his suave son Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien) has taken over, and immediately gives the promotion to one of his Harvard frat mates and boys’ club golfing buddies. Bradley still needs Linda for an important meeting in Thailand, though, so she’s on the firm’s private jet when it goes down in the region, with Linda and Bradley the only survivors. The good news is that Linda is a hardcore Survivor fan, so she knows what to do – thriving in the situation. The bad news – for Bradley anyway – is that she’s so in her element that she doesn’t want to be rescued. ![send-help-review](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/4b6xPvnF_LErUkb7LNWULLIejE4=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/RachelMcAdamsasLindaLiddlein20thCenturyStudiosSendHelp_BrookRushton_20thCenturyStudios_847544.jpg) *Rachel McAdams as Linda Liddle in 20th Century Studios’ Send Help. (Photo: Brook Rushton / 20th Century Studios)* With his stints behind the camera few and far between since the noughties, it’s a treat to see [The Evil Dead’s](https://youtu.be/vTGHA33Xyh4?si=Py4qzfHZ_1aYWrSh) Sam Raimi at the helm of Send Help, bringing his signature filmmaking flair to proceedings. Expect camerawork creativity, zombie-adjacent jump scares, and an over-the-top approach to violence that will have you squirming in your seat, or turning your popcorn tub into an impromptu barf bag. Raimi isn’t afraid to push the boundaries of realism but, overall, Send Help springboards these shock moments off a fairly credible foundation. What’s perhaps most enjoyable about Send Help is how slippery it is on multiple levels. This is a movie that can’t be trusted, but in the best way. As its core battle of wills plays out, audience sympathies seesaw between Linda and Bradley, both of whom are understandable but neither of whom are particularly good people, as it turns out. At the same time, the film consciously pushes against genre boundaries, teasing the audience with a potential romance, before heading off in another direction. ![send-help-review](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/pZFLPAqKzwkKk_PCIw2P1u-T7dQ=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/L-RDylanObrienasBradleyPrestonandRachalMcAdamsasLindaLiddlein20thCenturyStudiosSendHelp_BrookRushton_20thCenturyStudios_180299.jpg) *Dylan O’Brien as Bradley Preston and Rachel McAdams as Linda Liddle, who engage in a battle of wills in Send Help. (Photo: Brook Rushton / 20th Century Studios)* Raimi doesn’t even need to hammer on about gender inequality at the office, and the film’s obvious power reversal. It’s present, but it plays out in a way that is integrated with everything else going on – and the characters are hyper aware of it. On that note, McAdams and O’Brien sell the tonal shifts with their clearly committed, all-in performances, as desperation takes hold. If you’ve watched 2022 Oscar nominee Triangle of Sadness, you may be surprised how much Send Help treads in many of the exact same narrative footprints of its predecessor’s island portion. However, Send Help is far more mainstream and accessible, with the flip side being, for all its structural cleverness (it doesn’t touch something like [Blink Twice](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-08-26-blink-twice-is-a-social-thriller-thats-hard-to-forget/) in terms of thematic sharpness), it’s ultimately not that memorable outside of its most graphic scenes. While watching, though, in the moment, it makes for a darkly twisted good time – showing Raimi back in top form, with a duo of performers fearless in showing their characters' dark hearts. **DM** *Send Help is in cinemas now, having released on 30 January. This review was first published on [Pfangirl](https://www.pfangirl.com/entertainment/send-help-review/).*