Movie Man Darian Watching All Night Long

Send Help 

This is a huge return to form for Sam Raimi He gives us the best film he has done since 2009’s Drag Her To Hell. The film gives the signature horror elements that is so uniquely Sam Raimi but at the same time he veers the film into a tone that feels like a thriller meets Cast Away and Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’ Brien both give the best work of their career with their performances in this film including giving truly electric onscreen chemistry. Send Help is a blood drenched film that keeps you on your toes the whole time that is about not underestimating someone when survival is the most vital thing. 

Firstly, Now I wanna say Sam Raimi after years I cannot stress enough has found his groove again! As when he took on the MCU it was a interesting take that is for sure and I still think Doctor Strange 2 is one of the darkest Marvel films which makes sense because that is Sam Raimi's style but that being said you can see the restraints on him when he was making that film and you all already know my thoughts on how that film was a missed opportunity in many ways. He best operates when he is not being tied down by the studio and he Is allowed free reign to do whatever he wants to do that is where he is the best that is why he has such a massive following for his distinctive style that when you watch his films you are fully aware it is very much his vision. Send Help is a tremendous film the way he tackles power dynamics and incorporates a Thriller like aspect to the film was so fun to see as he has never done a survival film from this approach before and having it revolve around the hierarchy of the workforce and what happens when your thrust into a life or death situation how those people would operate under intense pressure makes for entertaining content for sure. The film a lot will draw comparisons to the Stephen King adaptation of Misery for the psychological aspect and I can see that whole heartily but what makes this film so damn good is his ability as I may have already mentioned to meld the thriller and horror together without one over doing it and having a even keel of both tones and they work greatly together. The film still provides the Raimi gore and horror you have come to expect either as a casual viewer or a fan of his and their is great dramatic emotional weight that is brought to the screen thanks to the terrific two leads at the front of this film. Send Help keeps you guessing how the ending will play out as both characters come with their own emotional baggage but you never know if they will get along or if they will take one another out that is the fun aspect of the story is that it twists and Turns it’s way through the story to keep you locked in the whole way through. I think narratively this is one of Reimi’s strongest yet due to the multi layered aspect of how he went about telling the story and also by mixing genres this time around keeps him challenging himself on how he can approach horror from different angles Send Help is both a horror and a thriller that at the centre of it is about survival and how some peoples true colours prevail in incredibly tense situations and it is amazingly brought to the screen from the entire creative team involved. 

Secondly, Now there is only two performances in this film but Dylan O’ Brien and Rachel McAdams give sensational work I could argue it is the best work of their careers so far! Starting with Rachel she has been giving great work for decades now from Mean Girls, Spotlight even the underrated comedy Game Night she always brings a smile to your face and has so much fun and gives her all in each performance she gives. Here she for the first time really goes neck deep into horror territory which she isn’t that well known for and seeing her taking a bite out of a character like this I think was a great challenge for her as she gets to shed a skin we have not seen from her before and she is amazing in it. The character goes through so many stages and changes throughout and we see the evolution from this awkward shy employee to thus survivalist that has so much more then we thought truly evolve and she is so so good I think she needs to do more performances in the horror genre as she showed here she excels in it so strongly. Now Dylan O’ Brien gives a great turn as this unlikeable boss that thinks he Is smarter then he lets on.  Both performances in the film are tremendous and I can argue that they roles they play in this film is the best work of their respected careers the cast is very limited and the two central performances in this film is truly magnificent. 

Lastly, Send Help is Sam Rami operating at his highest creative level in years! It packs a punch about the switch of power dynamics and survival all the while giving us that signature horror feel to his films he is known for while exploring new themes he has yet to explore to keep his fans on their toes. Centred around two great actors giving sensational work from Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’ Brien giving some of the best work of their careers. Send Help is one of the best films in Sam Rami's filmography and will no doubt go down as one of the best horror films of the year! I recommend anyone that is a fan of his work to see this on the big screen it is amazing that in 2026 we are getting original storytelling from a great filmmaker like Raimi. 

This film centres around a hard working employee who really has proven her worth to be higher up in the company and when her and her Newley appointed boss get stranded on an island it is not until then he sees he sees how he massively underestimated her

Rated R : Strong/Bloody Violence|Language

Rachel McAdams : Rachel gives the strongest and most emotionally gripping performance of her career in Send help! Now I have said for years that Rachel is underrated for her talents both as a comedic actor and as a dramatic actor as she has proven in both areas she can excel in both. She has given us comedic gold in Mean Girls, and Game Night and then you have Are you there god its me Margaret and Spotlight for the more dramatic sides of her and she is amazing in both she has such a great range but somehow she still feels like a underrated actor when it comes to discussing her body of work. Now seeing her here was amazing as she has never really strayed into the horror landscape before and she plays this very shy employee that wants to be treated fairly for her work as a good hard worker at her company but sadly she is looked at as this embarrassing, gross and overly clingy person that is an irritant to others but she the sad part is she has no idea how people perceive her until a bit later in the film as she shows she is a fan of the reality show Survivor and knows quite a lot about surviving in the wilderness. That awkward shy personaIn the first 15 minutes of the film she captures beautifully  as we the audience can admit to being like that kind of person at some point in life or knowing someone like that so the way she presents that side of her personality is incredibly emotionally relatable and authentic in her execution of it. As the film progresses we see how she sheds a more real version of who she is under all that shyness and when they are stranded on the island we see how insanely resourceful she is when it comes to staying Alive and she is so used to seeing Dylan’s character be the one in control or answering to someone their is a dynamic switch where he has to now listen to her in order for them both to remain alive as she is far more knowledgeable in the topic of being outdoors and in the wild and not him. She plays this second version of herself as someone that is confident in her decisions because she spent so many years reading up on these things her ability to handle high pressure situations comes easy to her and she isn’t easily scared or stressed due to her ability to know what she is doing and so when it comes to hunting, building shelters, fires, getting water for the two of them knowing what is okay and not okay to eat all of those things she is incredibly well versed in. We when he is trying to make her feel small and hurt her how it no longer affects her as she knows that due to their environments she is vital in order for him to stay alive and their is multiple scenes where she corrects his behaviour to remind him of that very thing. She has this uncertainty about her that she knows she could kill him within seconds if she wanted but the psychological  warfare she plays with him is quite interesting because she would not have to kill him in order for him to die she knows if she stopped looking after him nature would take care of him due to their current climate their in. That being said she has this flirtation with him that makes her at one point feel like she can trust him and they have a positive relationship somewhat blossom but as the audience we do not know if that is genuine or all smoke and mirrors to get on her good side and if he is just telling her what she wants to hear. She has this darkness in her that she knows is their and can turn in on and off in seconds and is quite terrifyingly impressive as she can be very sweet and loving and cutthroat the next and it is the way she moves back and forth between those two emotional degrees that amazed me. Rachel is operating on a level we have not seen before and she proves quite strongly that she is tremendous in the horror genre and I would love to see her do more roles like these as she has proven that she can still present sides to her we have yet to see and the takeaway from her character is not to underestimate her. She is able to show parts of kindness but don’t disguise it for weakness as she can very quickly correct your wrongs if you try to insult her and Rachel soars in this film giving her strongest performance we have seen so far she is amazing. 

Dylan O’ Brien : Dylan again gives another terrific turn in this film and I have been saying he needs to do more work like this as he has found his strong footing in roles like this! He did a hilariously amazing job in 2024’s Saturday Night and he also gave a under appreciated  performance in the Outfit which I cannot recommended enough for people to check out and then American Assassin which critics weren’t huge on but I thought him and Keaton were great in it. Now here he plays this overly cocky person that thinks because he was brought up rich he can make others feel small but there is a reason why he does that and we learn later on why. At first glance the film makes you feel like he is going to be insufferable due to the way he presents himself as this total bro that just inherited his dads company and their is so much more to him then meets the eye. Dylan is able to show multiple sides to him that shows sure he is an antagonistic jerk that has few redeeming qualities but we learn why he is the way he is and his self centred ways go away when he learns that his survival depends on Rachel’s character to help him as he would not survive a day by himself in the wild. Dylan brings this I know everything snobby mentality that makes him comes across incredibly ignorant and he does it well as he thinks because he is the boss in the office he can assert his dominance outside of the office as well which he learns is not the case at all. He is a shady character too but the difference with him is he wears his selfishness like a badge of honour as he thinks he should come first as he has higher importance and their are multiple times we learn we can’t fully trust him because you never know if he is trying to genuinely build a connection with her or if he is just manipulating her to believe that he is a good person that has seen the error of his ways. Dylan shows the eye rolling frustration of his character incredibly well but at the same time there comes a moment where he begs for her forgiveness by doubting her talents to survive as he realizes how hard it is and he cannot function on his own. Dylan brings an emotional vulnerability of seething anger to the screen that you can see build more and more overtime but he knows if he lashes out the more he shows how incapable he is to control himself. Dylan soars in this film showing sides of pure helplessness and also seething anger wrapped in charm and O’ Brien once again shows he is not just a pretty face but can bring such passion to the frame in such a staggering way and I think this is one of his strongest performances he has brought to the screen thus far. 

Sam Raimi : Raimi gives his strongest film in almost two decades with Send Help! I love his style of horror but it is so specific to him that either you like it or you hate it as his editing choices and the way he presents his horror and gore is not for everyone. He abandons his traditional horror tropes and shows a more thriller like aspect to the way he tackles this story as it is about misreading people and underestimating others in very dire situations. Now I have been very vocal for years about my disliking for the Doctor Strange film he did as he is better off when he is doing his own thing and is not chained to studio driven IP films and even though his spin on strange was uniquely him you can still tell that film had massive studio input where as in films like Evil Dead and Send Help he is more free to do what he wants. I feel that is when we see Raimi at the height of who he really is as a filmmaker and the way he paints this great portrait of these two characters that have no choice but have to learn to get along in a horrible climate is fantastically well brought to the screen. He shows how all the confidence in the world would be sucked out of people’s personality’s and you would see the most real versions of them and how they would operate in such a setting of life and death like this. It has seeds and inspirations of films like Misery in the way he presents the horror as you can see that Rachel’s character is not a bad person but she for sure has a darkness to her in her that can come out if provoked and I love how he shows the tension between the two actors as you can see them acting their hearts out in this film. he uses the space of the island really well that is a character within itself in many ways while showing the building connection between these two and how they both have their own emotional stuff going on and how we really don’t know their true intentions with each other and how they constantly lie to one another to try to get ahead of the other for their own personal motivations. Sam also like I said brings that gore we know him for now this is not Evil Dead 2 but when it gets violent it gets extremely gory and I love how Sam after all this time still remains the same guy that loves giving audiences a great scare even if it is through the lens of a thriller like setting. Some will say this isn’t as scary as his other films but I can argue it still is effective with its scares because he still actives the horror elements but shown through a different way of presenting it as their is horror in what would happen if you were stuck on an island with your terrible boss as the first thought that enters your mind when you see them stranded is she easily can kill him as their is no one else on the island and that thought never leaves the mind the whole time as you constantly keep thinking will one of them snap on each other and take it too far. Sam amazingly shows that uncertainly in not knowing what their thinking and keeping you on edge the whole time he gives a sensational turn here that I could say is a top 3 best of all time film from him you can see how much fun he had making this film and giving us an old fashioned Raimi film and the kind of film that reminded us why we fell in love with his films to begin with. Sam Raimi did an incredible job.