Director Sam Raimi, from left, Rachel McAdams, Dylan O'Brien and producer Zainab Azizi pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere for the film "Send Help" in London, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026.
Photo by Millie Turner/Invision/AP

Sam Raimi’s “Send Help” elicits such a special kind of pleasure, I can sum it up with something I rarely say about most movies: I didn’t want it to end.

Rachel McAdams stars as Linda Liddle, a sharp-minded but socially awkward strategist who’s working in a cubicle job at a financial management company. Linda is brilliant at her job and overdue for a promotion, which is given to an obnoxious frat boy, who is the best friend of the newly appointed young CEO Bradley (played by Dylan O’Brien).

Linda fumbles at trying to make a good first impression, and Bradley singles out Linda as a target for his casual sadism. Bradley’s verbal abuse carries over into the company trip, in which a cluster of employees board a flight that crashes. Only Linda and Bradley survive the crash, leaving them stuck together on a deserted island.

What could have been fodder for crass, obvious comedy — akin to last year’s failed “The Roses” — is instead given one devious spin after another in the screenplay by Damien Shannon and Mark Swift. Raimi finds a middle ground, leaning into character drama — as he did for his masterpiece, the 1998 “A Simple Plan” — as much as the expected excess. (Remember, he gave us the original “Evil Dead” trilogy.)

The story heads in surprising directions, gets you feeling comfortable with where it’s going, then switches gears yet again, dropping another clever twist and gleeful change of tone. The key ingredient is the give and take between the two leads — the story plays fair by not making Linda entirely innocent or even likable.

Yes, this is a revenge fantasy for everyone with a rotten boss, but it isn’t “9 to 5” (1980).

You can see the film from Bradley’s perspective: He’s ready to claim his kingdom and suddenly finds himself stuck on an island with the most annoying person he’s ever met. McAdams is terrific and has a monologue where Linda makes a drunken confession that is among her best work.

O’Brien, formerly of “The Maze Runner” trilogy, gives a very different but equally difficult performance, as he’s playing a loathsome snake but leans into the humor and Bradley’s wounded masculinity. Bradley is a little Patrick Bateman and a lot Wile E. Coyote.

The cartoonish CGI portraying the plane crash fails to convince. Otherwise, even at its wildest, I was always invested in the film. Taken as a dark comedy, office satire, twisted love story or survivalist horror film, it works. All of the collaborators, including the sly score by Danny Elfman and Bill Pope’s striking cinematography, contribute to what is among their best work.

I met Raimi at the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con, where he was on hand to promote “30 Days of Night,” which he produced. He couldn’t have been nicer, as he shook my hand and listened to me tell him about a film class I was teaching. Raimi was dressed in his trademark suit and tie. Because I had barely a year of journalism experience at that point, he didn’t have to talk to me. Few filmmakers are this nice, especially when they don’t have to be.

Raimi’s last two films were the elaborate, busy and flawed studio behemoths, “Oz the Great and Powerful” (2013) and “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” (2022). Both of those films, like their titles, are overstuffed and messy. It’s a pleasure to see Raimi bring his playfully stylish touches to a story that is a delicious two-hander and doesn’t overstay its welcome.

There are so many ways this movie could have gone wrong. Exhibit A: There’s a forgotten 2005 farce starring Amanda Bynes called “Love Wrecked” about a gal shipwrecked on an island with a rock star, who she keeps in the dark over whether they could be rescued. “Send Help” wisely has a trailer that sets up the scenario but doesn’t spoil anything. See this gory, engrossing and hilarious thriller, and don’t let anyone tell you how it ends.

(3 out of 4 stars)

Barry Wurst II
For The Maui News

Barry Wurst II is the founder of the Hawaii Film Critics Society and teaches film classes at University of Hawai‘i Maui College.