{"id":32900,"date":"2026-01-28T16:29:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T00:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=32900"},"modified":"2026-01-28T16:29:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T00:29:45","slug":"send-help-delivers-shocks-and-laughs-in-equal-measure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=32900","title":{"rendered":"SEND HELP Delivers Shocks and Laughs in Equal Measure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Running Time: 113 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This film from 20th<\/sup> Century Studios opens\nexclusively in cinemas on January 30th<\/sup>. It will also be presented in\n3D at select theaters.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While director Sam Raimi has had a history with big\nHollywood productions like the original Spider-Man<\/em> trilogy, cult movie\nenthusiasts will likely rank genre titles such as The Evil Dead, Evil Dead\nII, Army of Darkness<\/em> and Drag Me to Hell<\/em> among their favorites from\nthe filmmaker. These pictures have brilliantly mixed horror and humor, making\naudiences squirm one moment, before having them burst out loud with laughter\nthe next. His new picture Send Help<\/em> falls into that category. It\u2019s a\nstory about a battle between two individuals that entertains with thrills and\nwild gags, while effectively emphasizing how unchecked power can corrupt us\nall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) is an introverted and\nundervalued Strategy and Planning executive at a consulting firm. Long valued\nby the organization, she still struggles to make friends at the office, which\nis little more than a boy\u2019s club. Linda spends most of her free time watching\nthe television program Survivor<\/em>, and developing her survival skills in\nthe hopes of becoming a contestant. When new president Bradley Preston (Dylan\nO\u2019Brien) arrives on the scene, the arrogant businessman takes an instant dislike\nto Linda. He gives the promotion promised to her to his college buddy Donovan\n(Xavier Samuel) with the intention of phasing her out of the company. But\nBradley realizes that he needs Linda\u2019s services for one more meeting in\nBangkok, Thailand, and invites her along. A horrific air crash leaves Linda and\nBradley isolated on a deserted tropical island. The two are forced to coexist\nuntil help arrives, but Linda\u2019s quick adaptation to the new environment causes\ntension that escalates in increasingly outrageous forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the publicity surrounding the feature sells it as a straight-up\nhorror film. Make no mistake, there are several incredibly wince-inducing\nmoments in the story that are hard to forget, but at its heart this is a dark\ncomedy. There isn\u2019t a whole lot of subtlety, as the egotistical Bradley is\nrotten to the core, earning his position from nepotism and treating Linda with\nincredible disdain. Linda is socially awkward and finds almost no support from\nthose around her. But the performers are incredibly entertaining in their broad\nparts, maximizing the humor in their awkward and antagonistic interactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When they\u2019re on the tropical island, the script has a lot of\nfun pitting the two against each other. It\u2019s very amusing witnessing an\nincreasingly emasculated and frustrated Bradley wilt under Linda\u2019s newfound\npower and resolve. And while the characters do try to mend fences as the story\nprogresses, it\u2019s clear that both have ulterior motives and are trying to\nmanipulate each other for their own benefit. In fact, a turning point comes at\na certain section of the film where the viewer\u2019s loyalties may be tested, as\none begins to exhibit some of the same behavior as the other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Director Raimi is known for his incredible camera work. While conversations between the characters both in the office and on the distant locale don\u2019t feature wild camera moves, there are plenty of creative shot moments. These include some extreme close-ups early on, hilariously grim angles during the plane crash as panicked executives are thrown around a plummeting plane, and a boar-hunting sequence that gets outrageously messy as it progresses. A later showdown between the two leads that includes one specific act that is so unsettling it\u2019s still hard to shake. Despite all these disturbing sights, the film manages to emphasize absurdist humor which somehow makes it all amusing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, this is a smaller picture for the filmmaker,\nmeaning that the CGI effects aren\u2019t always top-of-the-line. As such, there is\nno mistaking the featured boar for a real animal. Additionally, the story can\nbe a bit choppy when the characters are first stranded, cutting from one brief\nargument and\/or situation to the next a little too abruptly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is not an Oscar-bait drama about the abuse of power, but it gets the same message across and has a great time doing so. The cast are fully committed as they go to extremes and their enjoyment in taking part in outrageousness is infectious, with several sequences that aren\u2019t easily forgotten. If you can handle a bit of blood, this is likely the most fun you\u2019ll have at the movies in the next little while. Send Help<\/em> is a rare January treat at the movies that provides jolts and laughs in equal measure.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 113 minutes This film from 20th Century Studios opens exclusively in cinemas on January 30th. It will also be presented in 3D at select theaters. While director Sam Raimi has had a history with big Hollywood productions like the original Spider-Man trilogy, cult movie enthusiasts will likely rank genre titles such as The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":32901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[217,221,697,6632,9319,16567,17563,17934,17935,17936,17937,19399,22825],"class_list":["post-32900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-217","tag-20th-century-studios","tag-action","tag-dylan-obrien-2","tag-horror","tag-rachel-mcadams","tag-sam-raimi","tag-send-help","tag-send-help-film-review","tag-send-help-movie-review","tag-send-help-review","tag-survival","tag-thriller"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32900\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}