Send Help (2026)

The latest from director Sam Raimi is more survival adventure than straight-up horror—but it is laced as always with streaks of comedy. Rachel McAdams is Linda Liddle, a brilliant office spreadsheet analyst wonk with a serious lack of social skills. She’s carrying her corporate team in many ways but the bros that constitute most of it have little regard for her. She is the only one surprised when she is passed over for a promotion she has earned, deserves, and expected. Linda is also a major fan of the reality show Survivor and has long been attempting to get an audition to be on it. We see portions of her video application, which is pathetic and ridiculous of course, but also sets up what follows. Indeed, it’s interesting that Survivor is so central to the story here because my theory about that show is that it is primarily about office politics, using those types of skills to get ahead and win. Then she ends up on a plane with her team, going to Thailand for a business meeting. But the plane goes down and Linda is washed up on a remote island with her boss Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien), who got his job in the first place because he’s the son of Linda’s former boss. On the island, of course, it’s Linda who has all the survival skills, using the little available to them to create shelter, gather fresh water and food, hunt wild boar, and even brew liquor. The arc of the story feels like it’s headed toward an enemies-to-lovers romance narrative. But this is Sam Raimi so that’s not going to happen, and besides, the difference between Linda and Preston is stark: she is likable in spite of everything. He is not. There are occasional eruptions of extreme violence in Send Help but for the most part they come somehow with a light touch. McAdams often plays it broadly but she’s good in this more or less loser tomboy role. O’Brien has little more to do than be an asshole and that’s what he does. Lots of elements here feel familiar because we have seen them elsewhere—Triangle of Sadness may be the most obvious source they are lifting from. Still, it’s reasonably entertaining all the way. McAdams has everything she needs to pull off her role effectively. It’s satisfying to see her turn the tables on the bro culture. Is it even remotely realistic? Well, that’s another question. But it’s always entertaining enough.