
Share
6th February 2026
05:05pm GMT

Send Help, the much-anticipated new thriller from director Sam Raimi (the original Evil Dead and Spider-Man trilogies), is in cinemas now, and JOE is happy to report that it is worth the wait.
The movie follows Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams), a middle-aged, meek and overworked corporate strategist at a big company. She had been promised a long-overdue promotion by her CEO boss (Raimi regular Bruce Campbell in a picture-only cameo) just before he died.
That said, when the boss' arrogant, boorish and unqualified son, Bradley (Dylan O'Brien), takes over the company, he reneges on his father's promise, giving the promotion instead to one of his old college buddies (Xavier Samuel).
Seemingly repulsed by Linda over minor issues - including eating tuna sandwiches at her work desk - Bradley also plans on transferring her to a dead-end position at another of the company's offices.
On a work trip to Bangkok, however, Bradley and Linda's private plane crashes into the sea, with the pair being the only survivors.
Washing up on a remote island, Linda finds herself much better equipped at dealing with the situation than her spoiled new boss, due to her love of the reality TV show Survivor.
As the power dynamics start to shift between the two, tensions begin to flare.
A genuine crowdpleaser, Send Help boasts a clever, sharp script by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift (Freddy vs Jason), which satirises contemporary corporate culture, while also playing out like a power fantasy for the people who fall victim to it.
This tale of people in extreme circumstances being awful to each other proves to be a great fit for Raimi, who imbues the film with his trademark ghoulish humour, along with a sprinkle of delightfully goopy and over-the-top gore.
The latter is memorable and hard-hitting enough to appeal to horror fans, but never so extreme as to turn off the audience just seeking a psychological thriller.
Rachel McAdams does great work playing against type as a mousy, nerdy desk worker forged by fire into someone much more powerful and dangerous.
Dylan O'Brien, on the other hand, makes a meal out of his incredibly hateable upstart boss. Even his laugh in Send Help will make viewers' blood boil.
That said, as the thriller plays out, the rising star also finds unexpected depth and pathos within Bradley.
There are minor issues one could quibble about with Send Help. For someone well-known for practical effects, some moments within the big set-pieces of Raimi's new movie have a touch too much CGI artificiality.
But when the end product is this much fun and sticks the landing so well, it is hard to really care.
Explore more on these topics:

A brilliant new thriller movie is available to watch now | Joe.ie
entertainment opinion