No one is coming to save you. The harsh reality is that, despite our inherent hope that we will somehow be rescued from our humdrum existence by some desirable saviour, we’re stuck in a reality in which it is essentially every person for themselves, and the sooner we realise that the only way to survive in life is to do it yourself, the closer we are to actually understanding our purpose. It’s a very nihilistic view, and it’s not an easy discussion to have – but the unfortunate reality is that we’re all victims of a system designed to destroy our spirits, regardless of how much we genuinely think there is going to be hope for us to achieve our dreams through the help of others. The closest we can find to this is some form of collaboration, but even these tend to fall apart after a while. A bleak concept, but one that can also be liberating, as we see in the form of Send Help, the most recent offering from Sam Raimi, who has made something of a career out of darkly comical stories centred around characters simply doing what they can to survive, by any means necessary. The film follows Linda Liddle, an eternally optimistic woman with a career that she likes, even though she feels like she is stagnating. At work, she is respected but not particularly well-liked, a hard truth she accepts solely because she knows that her efforts are about to pay off with a big promotion. However, when her new boss, the charismatic but maniacal Bradley Preston, decides to overlook her and instead promote her adversary, Linda finds herself almost falling apart at the seams. This coincides with a trip she has to take with her colleagues to Thailand – but they never make it there, since the plan suffers a catastrophic malfunction. Very soon, Linda finds herself on a remote island, and unfortunately, the only other survivor is Bradley. Over the next few months, the pair have to attempt to survive in the wilderness, which ultimately leads to their dynamic flipping, Linda now being in the position of dominance, a place she is more than happy to occupy. A darkly comedic work that stands as not only a return to form for Raimi but a brilliant showcase for its actors, Send Help is tremendous and one of the year’s most delightfully deranged gems.

Many people find the idea of being trapped on a deserted island with the person who has terrorised you the most throughout your life an ideal fantasy, and it’s something we all sometimes think about, in some form. The concept of exacting revenge on someone who has seemingly spent every waking moment making your life as difficult as possible is appealing, even if unrealistic – but with Send Help, we’re given a delightfully twisted version of this fantasy coming to fruition. What makes this such an intriguing concept – and one to which many of us can undoubtedly relate – is that it touches on a very familiar theme. Every one of us has had a boss or co-worker who has been difficult to handle in some form or another, and their behaviour could never be curbed solely because of the veneer of professionalism, as well as many boundaries put up to protect those in corporate spaces, meant that their thinly-veiled abuse and mockery would be concealed behind a thin but strong veneer. In this film, we encounter a story that is quite implausible: a plane crash leaves an abused employee marooned on a deserted island, where her only companion is the very person responsible for the abuse. Suddenly, it turns into a game of cat-and-mouse as the power dynamic constantly switches between the two: the victim becomes the perpetrator, and allows herself the opportunity to make him feel as diminished as he made her feel all along. It’s a wonderfully eccentric example of how power functions in certain areas: in the office, the dynamic is clear, but as soon as they step out of it and are forced into an unprecedented position, the changes begin to occur, leading to some fascinating insights into the inner workings of the human mind. Raimi has often been compelled to tell stories about ordinary people placed in situations that are usually very far-fetched, but still resonate deeply, and in exploring the story of Linda attempting to assert dominance over the man who relished in making her feel beyond insignificant, he finds fertile ground for some very captivating commentary.

For over two decades, Rachel McAdams has more than proven herself to be a skilled actor, someone capable of delivering stellar performances in which she infuses every ounce of passion she has for the craft. It’s difficult to find any film where McAdams is not wholeheartedly committed, which is impressive considering she has done work across multiple genres, thriving in every one of them with seemingly no difficulty. Send Help was born from Raimi’s desire to give her a better role than the one she was given in their previous collaboration, the divisive Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (which did not do a good service to either of their talents, and saw both McAdams and Raimi simply going through the motions), which is substantially rectified in this film. It isn’t very often that we find a performance that is so motivated by pure anger, while still being incredibly charismatic and frankly very likeable, which is a credit to both the whip smart screenplay and McAdams’ wonderful performance. Linda Liddle is a character formed in the same vein as Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction and Annie Wilkes in Misery, women who appear relatively placid (if not outright demure) on the surface, but have a deep complexity that quickly shifts into villainy once they reach the breaking point. However, as tremendous as Glenn Close and Kathy Bates were in those films, Send Help is not just an excuse to make a woman appear to be an antagonist without reason. Instead, the villain of this film is Bradley Preston, as portrayed by Dylan O’Brien, who is quickly proving himself to be an extraordinarily gifted young actor, someone who has a quiet intensity that complements his natural charisma. He’s a terrific villain, the kind that we both despise and adore, since there are so many layers to him. Send Help would not have worked with actors who weren’t entirely dedicated to this wacky premise, and thankfully, both leads are entirely willing to surrender to the absurdity while bringing something entirely original to the absurd premise, which makes an enormous difference in how the film examines these already offbeat themes.

Ultimately, even beyond these terrific performances, Send Help is not exclusively a two-hander, since while McAdams and O’Brien may be delivering stellar work, it’s also Raimi who plays a big part in forging this film’s identity. The screenplay, written by Mark Swift and Damian Shannon (best known for penning Freddy vs. Jason, one of the most absurd and oddly entertaining horror films of the 21st century), is quite strong in itself, filled with terrific dialogue and lots of intriguing psychological machinations that prove to be an absolute labour of love. Yet, the director is the person who truly puts these ideas into motion and allows the film to flourish into something quite special. A very skilled director who doesn’t always get credit as a genuinely talented craftsman (anyone who started their career with the DIY brilliance that was The Evil Dead retains a firm place within the horror canon and deserves every ounce of acclaim they get), which is fully on display here. As arguably a major return to form – some will claim that this is his best work since the excellent Drag Me to Hell (although a botched prequel to The Wizard of Oz and a mediocre superhero sequel are hardly a high bar to clear), which is not entirely without merit – we see Raimi setting out to explore these themes in detail, but rather than taking the usual approach that we’d expect. In places where we’d anticipate a more conventional director to go in one direction, Raimi goes in the other: certain horrifying scenes are filtered through a comedic lens, while those that adhere more closely to the darkly hilarious are shown with a subtle tenderness. It’s this balance of tone and emotion that elevates the film and makes it quite a layered experience, one constructed on a seemingly simple premise, albeit one that is malleable enough to occupy many different genres at the same time. It is equal parts horror, psychological thriller, adventure drama, buddy comedy and pitch-black satire, all combined into one deceptively compelling bundle of purely dynamic filmmaking, handled by a masterful director who knows the perfect temperature for all of these complex moving parts that go into the creation of this fascinating genre film.

At a glance, Send Help seems like a relatively conventional film, a darkly comedic horror film about two characters in an unconventional situation, forced to tackle unexpected challenges and slowly seeing their dynamic shift over time, which adds new layers to their unconventional situation. However, as we dig deeper, we begin to see the more unique qualities entering, which only makes the film a more engaging affair. It is wonderful to see Raimi back in his element – he has spent far too long away from the medium (and the work he’s done for the past several years has been a pale imitation of his actual skills), and with this he radically returns to the kind of offbeat, outrageously entertaining works that defined his career and made him such a memorable figure in the first place. It’s a brilliantly crafted film, the kind of deeply unconventional but wickedly funny work that offers us something unique, even when it is playing in familiar territory. It never takes too long to reach a particular point – there’s no reason to waste any time, since we all know what this film is trying to achieve, so it seems redundant to circle it for too long, rather than cutting to the chase. Raimi has a real knack for taking a simple premise and making it seem far more complex than it is, while never coming across as overly heavy-handed or dense. The film instead moves at a rapid pace (to the point where it runs two hours, but it never feels that long, reaching its climax long before we expect it, which is a sign that we are under the care of a truly strong director who knows exactly what he is doing), and is superbly well-made, being shot on some stunning locations that are used exceptionally well – especially since it is actually well-shot and makes use of colour (which is quite rare for a lot of contemporary horror films, with the industry seemingly suffering from a severe lack of vision when it comes to visual composition in recent years), as well as several additional elements that all go into creating a captivating, enticing horror film that may not be much of a masterpiece in the traditional sense, but certainly has more than enough to offer when it comes to telling a thrilling story that is both wickedly entertaining and profoundly resonant, both in equal measure.