Trouble in Paradise

Thanks to Evil Dead and Spider-man, Sam Raimi will forever be associated with horror and superhero movies, but he has actually dipped his toe in many genres, from Westerns to sports movies. Send Help appears to be his twisted take on a rom-com. A good looking guy and an also good looking but awkward woman are stuck getting to know each other in a tropical paradise in a classic romance setup. In a slight break from tradition, proceedings are garnished with buckets of blood and puke and served with a side of black slapstick and maiming.

Said couple is Rachel McAdams as super competent, but socially inept business strategist Linda, and Dylan O'Brien as Bradley, Linda's douchebag boss who passes her over for promotion as soon as he inherits daddy's company. When the private jet they are travelling in goes down they find themselves the only survivors as they await rescue from a remote island. Similarly to 2022's Triangle of Sadness, the power dynamics are completely shifted once the pair are removed from civilisation as Linda is a survival aficionado and Bradley is, unsurprisingly, a useless man baby.

This is the first original film Raimi has made since 2009's Drag Me to Hell and it's clear he is having a blast. His Three Stooges meets bucket of blood style is on full display, particularly in an insane boar hunting scene, complete with trademark frenetic camerawork and zoom-in close ups. Everything zips along at pace and for a large part of the runtime it is unclear exactly how things are going to resolve as we seesaw between the two leads warming to each and potentially plotting grisly murder.

The conflict works so well because of the script's, and actors', ability to change up our levels of sympathy. She may be put upon and underappreciated in the real world but Linda is an oddball and, tool though he may be, Bradley is kind of right when he says there is no way she could be an executive. On the island she saves her boss's life and looks after him but it's clear she is enjoying the castaway life a little too much to be all sweetness and light. If Raimi is having fun behind the camera, McAdams appears to be having the time of her life as the table-turning survivalist queen.

For his part, Bradley is an unrelentingly unlikeable corporate bro in the office and completely entitled and ungrateful when they first reach the island. Once he is humbled, and we learn a little about his upbringing, he becomes more sympathetic but any time we are in danger of warming to him too much, O'Brien busts out a laugh so obnoxious it should be a crime in its own right. Suffice to say neither character is squeaky clean come the film's gnarly resolution.

The comic violence may be a little too over the top for some viewers and some people won't gel with the flippant tone, but if you are on Send Help's wavelength this is an absolute blast. When everyone involved is having this much fun it's impossible not to get dragged along.

8 sturdy rafts out of 10.

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