No Need to Send Help (2026) for This Charming Sam Raimi Horror Comedy
Title: Send Help
First Non-Festival Release: January 28, 2026 (Theatrical Release)
Director: Sam Raimi
Writer: Damian Shannon, Mark Swift
Runtime: 113 Minutes
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Edyll Ismail
Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here
Most people are unlucky enough to know what it is like to work for an awful boss. Whether they are asking to meet unreasonable demands, disconnected from the realities of the job you are hired to do, or just miserable to be around, bad bosses can make any work environment toxic. Employees either suck it up or rise to the occasion.
Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) is one such employee. Working as head of Strategy and Planning at her corporate office job, Linda doesn’t have the best reputation. Eager to make a good first impression on her new boss Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien), son of the previous CEO, she works hard on their latest account and is given the opportunity to prove herself on a trip to Thailand. The stakes are high with her slimy coworker Donovan (Xavier Samuel) already taking the promotion promised to her. Despite the hopelessness, Linda refuses to give up. When their plane crash lands in the middle of the ocean, Linda washes up on the shore of a deserted island with the only other survivor: Bradley Preston.
Simply fun, Send Help is a basic survival horror comedy sweetened by its affable leads.
This workplace horror twists its setup enough ways to keep this wayward island adventure from getting too boring. Leaning heavily on the psychological toll its characters face, Send Help balances the terror and absurdity of their situation nicely. Between the isolation, the unpredictability of nature, and the quiet battle of wits bubbling beneath the surface of Linda and Bradley’s relationship, Send Help gives plenty of dimension to its story. Their relationship is centered over the obvious needs of survival making for an explosive confrontation once it finally climaxes.
Linda and Bradley are familiar characters that are given just enough dimension to make their survival equal parts fraught and hilarious. Everyone can find something to relate to in Linda. Underestimated by her peers, disregarded by her boss, and yet, still a stellar and kind employee, she represents the type of person weighed down by the good ole boy’s club that seeks to consolidate power at the expense of true talent. Linda’s resourcefulness proves powerful when they are stranded, up ending the structure of her relationship with Bradley in ways that humiliates and emasculates him deliciously. Bradley is a shining example of nepotism: uninterested in the work, incapable of making actual decisions, and lost without direction when forced to actually lead for himself. They make a perfect pair in a world grappling with the consequences of unchecked idiocy clinging to power.
Truly elevating the material, Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien anchor the flick so as to not let the survival hijinks stray too far from its distinct brand of psychological comedy. McAdams does great work as the initially meek turned self-assured Linda Liddle. Twisting the situation with her wicked charm and fierce capability, McAdams delights as an underdog taking great pleasure in humbling her horrible boss. Most of the film’s best comedy can be traced back to McAdams’s beguiling take on Linda, never quite giving audiences, or Bradley, enough to know exactly what she has planned. O’Brien plays Bradley straight, allowing McAdams to do the heavy lifting for the comedic elements while bringing a brewing intensity to the begrudging relationship. He gets plenty of time to play around too but does his best work when he’s left to sulk in the sand and doubt Linda’s prowess at every turn of escape.
Send Help works in many ways, but it doesn’t quite tie everything together in the end. There’s plenty of tension between the two workplace enemies, but it doesn’t amount to much when Send Help introduces a clunky romance subplot that goes nowhere quickly. Undercutting previous character dynamics, this storyline feels more like a tactic to pad the runtime rather than to give depth to its characters. It’s in these lulls that Send Help wavers.
Well-produced and acted, this tropical horror comedy makes quite a splash without complicating its winning premise. McAdams and O’Brien elevate writer/director Sam Raimi’s silly survival horror comedy into something with teeth. Its story meanders a bit too much for something as stripped down as Send Help, but it works regardless. Tune in to Send Help to see if Linda Liddle survives and wins her well-earned immunity idol.
Overall Score? 7/10
