Zane's take at the Cinema's

Sam Raimi is one of the best horror directors in the industry. He may not be everyone’s personal favorite but he’s definitely in the discussion because of how much he’s brought to the table within the genre. Renowned for The Evil Dead franchise, he perfected “splapstick” (splatter-comedy), blending gore with over-the-top comedic moments. He’s famously known for kinetic and rapid camera work, which is a style coined as “Shaky Cam” but Sam Raimi drastically different than what people are used to. He loves to create sequences of demonic possessions and a distinctive aesthetic characterized by high energy. Sam Raimi has stepped out of the horror genre several times with his three Spider-Man movies, the western The Quick and the Dead and the even the thriller A Simple Plan. But when I think of Sam Raimi I think horror. Whether it’s The Evil Dead franchise, Drag Me to Hell or Darkman, Sam Raimi has a distinctive voice in the horror genre that can’t be overstated.

Send Help being his first movie since Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness should be very exciting it’s his first piece of original horror since 2009’s Drag Me to Hell. The pitch for this movie being described as Cast Away meets Misery is a fascinating concept and having Sam Raimi at the helm makes it even better. Send Helps absolutely. Thank god Sam Raimi is still alive making horror movies because Send Help delivers a diabolical, hilarious and terrifying story about toxic relationships in the work force and survival on a ruthless level. It’s completely unhinged and it’s got a great balance of cringe and tension that was satisfying but uncomfortable simultaneously. Rachel McAdams kills it in this movie and Dylan O’Brien plays one hell of a CEO jerk.

The best thing about Send Help is it’s simplicity. At it’s core is about an employee and their boss stranded on an island after a terrible plane accident and seek to survive as best as they can while tensions between the two. Simple enough? Sure, and it’s about as simple as you get. But what makes Send Help much more captivating is that it conveys two different perspectives wonderfully, if you strip away the craziness and wild ride that it is. On the one hand you have Rachel McAdams’ (Linda Liddle) character, who’s completely neglected by her credit at work. She’s practically a ghost in her work environment but when chaos ensues and she gets stuck on an island she’s able to present her strengths in a very dominant way. The other side is Dylan O’Brien’s character who’s a terrible boss, incredibly selfish and doesn’t what Linda does or says. All he cares about is getting off the island and returning home a quick as possible. All that is to say is that these two ideologies make the experience far more compelling because you can see it from both sides. Without getting too much into spoiler, the tension that’s created between these two evokes questions about relationships between coworkers. It’s effectively demonstrated.

With that being said, Send Help delivers all of the Sam Raimi goodness that you would expect when he conjures up an original story. There’s montages, a surreal dream sequence, blood and guts and humor that’s both absolutely hilarious but uneasy. It’s different that the horror and comedy Raimi used in Evil Dead, but the approach still feels similar. Sam Raimi infuses a ton of rapid camera moments, an aggressive level of push-ins and the usage of Dutch tilts within the context of goofy but very menacing movie. Every great movie boils down to great direction and Send Help does all of that. Sam Raimi paired up with his long time cinematographer, Bill Pope, and the movie has a great use of vivid and feverish visuals of Thailand’s beaches and jungles. It gives it a sense of how beautiful and exotic a tropical island is but also paints it as a devilish playground.

Rachel McAdams may not be regarded as the best actress in the world but there’s nothing to not like about her. She’s great in comedies like Game Night or when she’s part of a huge ensemble like the Best Picture winner Spotlight or the drama Southpaw. Her performance in Send Help is easily the best performance of her career thus far. She plays a character who gives off “goody two-shoes” vibes but underneath is a monster that you don’t want to mess with. Dylan O’Brien also gives a great performance and what’s interesting about his character is that he doesn’t play a villainous boss, rather than just a smug guy who got handed the CEO position like a piece of cake. McAdams and O’Brien are our two focal points because the rest of the cast is gone after the plane crash.

With 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple and now Send Help, it’s becoming more and more clear that the horror genre is maybe the most thriving and interesting genre today. Plus, it makes it even better knowing that the beginning of the year can deliver quality entertainment. It’s great to see Sam Raimi back in his roots and lets hope that his next movie is another great horror picture.