The Hardworking Employee v.s. The Horrible Boss: Who survives in ‘Send Help’?

Sam Raimi’s new suspense-thriller, starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien, is now showing in cinemas nationwide! 

There are nightmares, then there’s getting stranded on an island with your horrible boss, that a-hole straight from hell. 

20th Century Studios explores the spine-chilling, nerve-wracking scenario in the darkly comedic psychological thriller ‘Send Help,’ now showing in Philippine cinemas nationwide. Directed by genre-bending visionary Sam Raimi, the action-packed film stars Oscar® nominee Rachel McAdams (‘Spotlight,’ ’Mean Girls’) as Linda Liddle, a mistreated office worker, alongside Dylan O’Brien (‘Twinless,’ ‘Saturday Night’) as her arrogant boss, Bradley Preston. The two survive a  plane accident, wash ashore on a remote island, and navigate a dramatic power shift. 

In the end, only one of them makes it out alive.

From strategy and planning 

Rachel McAdams turns in a stellar performance as Linda, a hardworking but downtrodden employee from the Strategy and Planning department, who was promised a promotion to Vice President by the company’s CEO. However, he suddenly died, and so did the plans for her.  Taking the reins was Dylan O’Brien’s Bradley Preston, the big boss’ chauvinistic son—a living, breathing example of a self-absorbed nepo baby. He thumbs down Linda’s promotion, thinking she lacks “charm” for the role. Linda confronts him, and Bradley gives her one last shot to prove her worth, inviting her to a business trip to Bangkok to oversee a company merger. Their flight is met by a storm, the plane’s engine gives out, and they crash into the ocean. Linda and Bradley somehow survive and find themselves alone on a deserted island, introducing both a drastic change to their employee-boss dynamic and a massive tonal shift to the story. 

Who dies and what happens next are impossible to tell 

In ‘Send Help,’ the laugh, shock, and scare are all over the place in the best way. At its core are layers of simple-enough premises: a classic Robinsonade, along with class struggle. However, the action-packed story takes tons of twists and turns that leave the audience clueless on where the story goes, but keeps them engaged and on the edge of their seats. It’s difficult, if not downright impossible, to predict how one would feel toward a scene, or a character, even.  There’s just no telling what comes next. ‘Send Help’ is Sam Raimi at his finest, with all the right mix of emotions at just the right moments, more so when it’s least expected. Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien own their characters as well, keeping true to their identities even when everything around them has changed. They make it impossible to root for one character throughout the movie, up until the end, when just one of them walks away from the island. 

‘Send Help’ is produced by Raimi and Zainab Azizi, executive produced by JJ Hook and written by Damian Shannon & Mark Swift, with original music by Danny Elfman. Catch the all-original  darkly comedic psychological thriller from 20th Century Studios now showing in cinemas  nationwide. Book your tickets at https://www.disney.ph/movies/send-help.