Send Help is a 2026 American survival horror thriller film[5] directed and co-produced by Sam Raimi and written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift. The film stars Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien as an employee and her boss, respectively, who become stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash and attempt to survive while tension rises between them.
Send Help premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California on January 21, 2026, and was released in the United States by 20th Century Studios on January 30. The film received positive reviews from critics and grossed $94 million against a $40 million production budget.
Plot
Socially awkward and downtrodden corporate strategist Linda Liddle anticipates a long-promised promotion from Bradley Preston, the son of her former boss, upon his appointment as CEO. Instead, Bradley awards the position to Donovan, a recent hire and former fraternity brother, and plans to sideline Linda in a dead-end role, citing her abrasive manner and lack of charisma.
When Linda confronts him, Bradley is impressed by her boldness and invites her to accompany him, Donovan, and two other executives on a business trip to Bangkok to finalize a company merger. During the flight, Donovan humiliates Linda by playing an audition tape she made for Survivor, highlighting her survival skills. As the plane passes through a storm, it suffers engine failure and rapidly loses altitude. During explosive decompression, Donovan attempts to strangle Linda and take her seat, but she stabs him with a fork. Everyone except Linda and Bradley is sucked from the aircraft before it crashes into the sea and sinks. Linda escapes, swims to the surface, and clings to floating debris.
The next morning, she wakes on a remote island in the Gulf of Thailand and finds Bradley alive but badly injured. With no other survivors, Linda builds shelter and secures food and water. Bradley relies on her but continues to treat her as a subordinate. In response, Linda abandons him for two days. When she returns, he is near collapse from dehydration. Though still resentful, he begins to accept her authority. Linda proves adept at survival, catching fish and killing a wild boar. While exploring the far side of the island, she spots a passing boat. Though tempted, she deliberately avoids signaling it.
As Bradley recovers, Linda teaches him survival skills but warns him to avoid the far side of the island, claiming it is filled with poisonous plants. One night, while drinking homemade fruit wine, she confesses that she was once married to an abusive man and allowed him to drive drunk, leading to his death. Bradley appears sympathetic and offers to cook for her, but secretly poisons her meal with berries before attempting to escape on a makeshift raft. The raft is destroyed by the waves, and Linda, having survived due to his misjudgment of the dosage, rescues him from drowning.
In retaliation, Linda paralyzes Bradley using octopus toxin and pretends to castrate him, asserting control over him and their situation. While harvesting fruit, Linda encounters Bradley's fiancée, Zuri, who arrives by boat after the end of official rescue efforts. Fearing the loss of her new life and purpose, Linda leads Zuri and the boat captain to an unstable cliff, where they fall off. She returns to the camp alone, shaken and withdrawn, allowing Bradley to hunt by himself. While doing so, he discovers Zuri's buried remains.
Confronted, Linda claims the deaths were accidental, but Bradley accuses her of murder and attacks her. In the ensuing fight, Bradley gouges Linda's eye before she stabs him. Bradley escapes and discovers a luxurious beach house on the far side of the island. Linda follows, revealing she had known about the house all along and confessing to causing Zuri and the captain's fatal fall. She threatens Bradley with a shotgun, and he pleads for his life, claiming he loves her and wishes to remain on the island. However, she notices he is concealing a weapon. Bradley seizes the shotgun, but discovers it is unloaded. Linda overpowers and kills him with a golf club.
A year later, Linda has been rescued and reinvented herself as a wealthy and beloved celebrity, capitalizing on public interest in her ordeal as the apparent sole survivor of the crash. At a celebrity golf tournament, she promotes a film adaptation of her best-selling memoir and announces her intention to write a self-help book, saying, "No help is coming, so you'd better start saving yourself."
Cast
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- Rachel McAdams as Linda Liddle, a strategist from a financial management company's Planning & Strategy Department and survival enthusiast[6]
- Dylan O'Brien as Bradley Preston, the newly appointed CEO of the financial management company where Linda works[6]
- Edyll Ismail as Zuri, Bradley's fiancée
- Dennis Haysbert as Franklin, a senior executive at Bradley's firm who is on good terms with Linda
- Xavier Samuel as Donovan Murphy, a former frat brother of Bradley's
- Chris Pang as Chase, one of Bradley's inner circle
- Thaneth Warakulnukroh as a boat captain who aids Zuri
- Emma Raimi as River, Linda's coworker
- Kristy Best as Polly Perera, a reporter who interviews Linda
Bruce Campbell makes photographic cameos as Bradley's unnamed father, the former CEO of the financial company who appears in several photographs and paintings seen in Bradley's office and had passed away at some point.[7] Audio of Survivor host Jeff Probst is used, and there were plans for him to make a cameo as himself but he was forced to decline due to scheduling conflicts.[8]
Production
In October 2019, Columbia Pictures announced that Sam Raimi would direct an untitled horror film with Mark Swift and Damian Shannon writing the script.[9] In an interview with TheWrap, Raimi revealed that Columbia, which Sony Pictures owns, initially wanted the film to be a streaming exclusive, but Raimi declined, wishing it to instead receive a theatrical release.[10] The film would later be titled Send Help,[11] with 20th Century Studios attached to distribute.[12]
In October 2024, Rachel McAdams entered negotiations to star.[13] Raimi had worked with McAdams in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) and considered her underutilized in the movie. He therefore intended to showcase her talent in another project. He added that one of his producers advised that "the fact that she has not really played a dark, terrible villain before really sets the audience up to be surprised".[14] In December, Chris Pang joined the cast.[15] In early 2025, Dylan O'Brien and Dennis Haysbert joined the cast, with McAdams confirmed to star.[16][17] Principal photography was scheduled to begin in January 2025.[18][19] Filming ultimately began that February, in Sydney, Los Angeles, and Thailand,[20] and concluded on April 17.[21]
Music
The soundtrack to Send Help was released by Hollywood Records on the same day as the film's release. The soundtrack contains 23 tracks composed by Danny Elfman.[22][23]
Release
Send Help premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre on January 21, 2026,[24] and was released in the United States on January 30, 2026, by 20th Century Studios.[25] The film was released on VOD on March 24, 2026, and is scheduled to be released on DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray on April 21, 2026.[26][27]
Reception
Box office
As of March 22, 2026, Send Help has grossed $65 million in the United States and Canada, and $29 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $94 million.[4][3]
In the United States and Canada, Send Help was released alongside Iron Lung, Shelter, and Melania, and was projected to gross $14–17 million from 3,475 theaters in its opening weekend.[2] The film made $7.2 million on its first day, including $2.2 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $19.1 million, topping the box office.[28][29] In its following weekend, it dropped 48%, earning $10 million.[30] The film made $8.9 million, and $4.5 million in its third and fourth weekends.[31][32]
Critical response
Metacritic review
breakdown (unweighted)
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 276 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Putting director Sam Raimi's penchant for diabolical mayhem to great use, Send Help doesn't need any assistance in thrills thanks to a very game Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien along with a viciously clever script."[33] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 75 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[34] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[35][36]
IndieWire's Alison Foreman gave an A− for the film, and called it "wickedly lovable with the potential to be timeless".[37] Michael Phillips of San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "At its simplest, we have here a performance showcase for O'Brien's artfully restrained sniveling and, especially, for McAdams' miraculous shape-shifting abilities. Essentially Send Help is Cast Away if Wilson the volleyball was a misogynist tool."[38] Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "It could be said that Send Help indulges in more baroque plot twists than fully necessary and begins to lose some steam toward the end. But the surprising climax, plus an amusing coda, brings it all home. Audiences are in for quite a ride."[39] Deadline's Pete Hammond wrote, "Send Help is the first movie gem of 2026, a devilish treat and welcome respite from the real world. It's a pleasure."[40] Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times said, "From its cheeky score by the director's frequent collaborator Danny Elfman, to its darkly humorous tone and playfully yucky special effects, the movie is Raimi at his most gleeful and twisted."[41]
TheWrap's Amelia Emberwing wrote that the film is "a story rooted in the exploration of human nature and exactly who we become if it means survival both in the literal and figurative sense".[42] Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting wrote, "Send Help is full of vibrant personality, with all of Raimi's signatures."[43]
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