If anyone asks you what day it is today, you should respond appropriately with “why, it’s Sam Raimi trailer day!” » The cinematic madman who turned the indie film from hell (“The Evil Dead”) into one of the most consistent horror series ever seen returns to the genre for the first time since 2009’s “Drag Me to Hell” with “Send Help,” and it looks awesome. The survival horror thriller, co-written by Damien Shannon and Mark Swift, sees office tensions turn deadly when Linda Laddle (Rachel McAdams) finds herself marooned on a desert island with her boorish young boss Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien). Power dynamics are suddenly reversed as Linda revels in the survival skills that give her considerable leverage over her injured employer. And you know it’s a Raimi image because it doesn’t take long before the characters have a lot of blood on their faces.
“Send Help” sounds like if you put “Misery,” “Cast Away,” and “Triangle of Sadness” in a blender, then added a dose of Raimi’s signature dark humor to make it feel fresh. There’s even a shot that directly references the original poster for “The Evil Dead.” Raimi has largely stuck to the production angle in the horror realm since 2009, with his latest genre directorial efforts being the pilot episode of “Ash Vs. Evil Dead” and a few episodes of the Quibi Original anthology series “50 States of Fright.” Although he let his horror freak flag fly throughout 2022’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” it’s truly great to see Raimi properly return to the genre that made him a titanic horror figure.
There is one thing he carries over from his brief time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, however, and that’s Rachel McAdams with a much bigger role to chew on.
Send Help reunites Rachel McAdams with Sam Raimi after Doctor Strange 2
McAdams initially entered the MCU in 2016 with Scott Derrickson’s “Doctor Strange” as Christine Palmer, a surgeon for whom Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) has deep feelings. When we meet her in “Multiverse of Madness”, Christine has left the Sorcerer Supreme romantically, while still admiring him as a good friend. McAdams does her best throughout her Marvel appearances, despite how little she actually gets to do. Raimi seemed to be doing her best to give McAdams more presence amid these universe-hopping, but the trailer for “Send Help” puts her firmly in the spotlight.
In some ways, McAdams’ Linda seems like an extension of Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) from “Drag Me to Hell”: a hard-working female employee who’s constantly getting run over by her male co-workers. “As an executive, I don’t see any value in you,” Bradley told him with such an arrogant, poker face. Nothing incites cabin fever rage more than being trapped on a desert island with the equivalent of a Roman Roy type (Kieran Culkin).
There are plenty of other reasons to be excited about McAdams as the leader of Raimi’s return to horror. It sure seems like she’s able to play in her realm of comedy and horror where one informs the other. Even with all those shots of Linda brandishing a knife in Bradley’s helpless face, I was sold when she lets out a real horror movie scream in her car before we even get to the island. With all this pent-up anger and frustration simmering behind closed doors, God only knows how far McAdams will push his rage.
“Send Help” is scheduled to hit theaters nationwide on January 30, 2026.
