As a huge Sam Raimi fan, I was thinking that Send Help, his new horror comedy, is a sure thing. Especially after seeing the poster for the movie, featuring bloody Rachel McAdams holding a knife with palm trees. I immediately got Drag Me To Hell flashbacks and was anxious to revel in its levels of humor and grossness. Well, I think right about now you’re starting to feel that something is up. I wouldn’t be writing these cautiously optimistic lines if the movie delivered on those unspoken promises. Let me put your mind at ease first. Send Help is an entertaining horror comedy featuring hilarious gross-out moments, excellent performances, and one hell of a setting. It will be a fun watch, but that’s about it. I would place it a full notch above mediocrity as it remains quite stereotypical, predictable, and uneven throughout.
If you’re a casual viewer, the graphic violence, which was quite sparse, and gross-out scenes, combined with the survival story, might cover up that. If, however, you were expecting something more than the usual output, you will be a little disappointed. Linda Liddle is a hardworking but socially awkward woman working for a big corporation. A newly-appointed CEO doesn’t want her anywhere near him but decides to use her skills for one last big deal. And that deal is happening in Bangkok. I think you already know what happens next. The end result is that the two of them end up on a deserted island, having to fight for survival. Luckily, Linda is a fan of the Survivor television show and quite adept at surviving in the wild. I guess I’d better stop here before I tell you the entire fucking movie. Although there’s not much else to it. And that’s its biggest problem.
Send Help feels like it came out of a pitch meeting and into production in mere hours. So, you’ve got a movie for me? Yessir I do. How about we take every possible genre and just throw it in the mixer? Get romance, comedy, horror, survival, thriller, and just fucking blend it. The opening fifteen minutes feel like they’re straight from an early-2000s romcom. With just a pinch of Office Space. Quite stereotypical, wouldn’t you agree? The only “twist” is that the CEO, Bradley Preston, has no redeeming qualities. Linda, on the other hand, is a fan of Survivor and has an interest in survival skills. I feel they could’ve made this whole thing deeper, maybe leaning on not just escapism but the futility of capitalism and its broken promises. But no, she’s just a fangirl, and that’s it.
The script, along with character development, is the biggest problem in this whole movie. Sam tried to do what he could with his trademark camerawork and slapstick humor. Slapstick humor involving bodily fluids, which is one of the better ones. When it comes to the horror elements, they were okay, but perhaps too tame for my taste. I feel like they were trying to make a mainstream movie and decided to forgo the “real” stuff. Although I guess we should be happy that this is an R-rated horror. We could’ve easily ended up with some PG-13 shit. Which would’ve been a shame since this is Sam Raimi’s first horror movie since 2009’s Drag Me To Hell. And I have to admit that even direction at times wasn’t at its best. So, let’s not blame the writers for everything.
The characters are not authentic, but these caricatures are somewhat annoying to both eyes and ears. Their arcs are predictable, and when they’re not, they turn into forced and messy twists. This is perhaps a bit too cynical a take, but what can I do? What ultimately saved the movie was Rachel McAdams. Her performance here is amazing. And not just that. I applaud her decision not to get fillers, Botox, or any of that plastic surgery crap. And she looks beautiful for it. I know that it sounds strange to admire something like this, but just take a look at the rest of Hollywood. She reminds a bit of Sharon Stone here. Dylan O’Brien (Love and Monsters) was also quite good. Finally, the tropical deserted island setting was something that I enjoyed thoroughly.
I mean, they could’ve just been chillin’ on the beach, and I would’ve still enjoyed the movie purely for the setting. Just to be clear, we’re not in the tropics but in Southeast Asia. Send Help was actually filmed in Australia, hence the boars and all the other wildlife. You know that saying that everything in Australia is trying to kill you. On that note, if you’re looking for real survivor content featuring a similar, if not exactly the same setting, check out Field Days over on YouTube. Of course, Survivorman remains unchallenged in this niche. When it comes to the movies, perhaps Jungle and The Shallows are the best fit, although they don’t have a humorous side to them. And Triangle of Sadness misses the horror elements despite ticking quite a few boxes.
Director: Sam Raimi
Writer: Damian Shannon, Mark Swift
Cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Edyll Ismail, Dennis Haysbert, Xavier Samuel, Chris Pang
Fun Facts: Send Help was in development for more than 7 years as Sam Raimi was waiting for someone to ensure its theatrical release. Survival expert Kylie Furneaux was the lead consultant when it comes to the techniques you see used in film which are all very real and applicable in real-life survival situations.
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IMDb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8036976/
