Filmmaker Sam Raimi’s latest creation, ‘Send Help,’ chronicles a hellish journey in which a corporate executive (Dylan O’Brien) and one of his brightest employees (Rachel McAdams) are stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash where they are the only survivors.
As soon as she is shipwrecked, the role reversal becomes clear, because the subordinate has far more practical survival skills than her unskilled boss.
The film by Raimi, director of ‘The Evil Dead’ (1981) and ‘Drag Me To Hell’ (2009), makes the viewer reflect on values at work, and specifically on the relationship between an arrogant young director, Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien) and his efficient but neglected subordinate Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams).
“It’s a film that I feel we miss a lot,” O’Brien tells EFE in an interview.
The young American actor -‘Twinless’ (2025) and ‘Teen Wolf’ (TV series that aired between 2011 and 2017) shares the lead role with Rachel McAdams and describes the film as “total mix of chaos and unhinged terror, but also very funny (…) with so many simultaneous elements. It keeps you on edge, you never know where it will go next.”
The film falls into the thriller-gore genre, with flashes of black humor and impossible situations, the kind that push and explore the limits of the human being himself, with a psychological undertone. “Sam has a unique vision in every story he tells (…) that special Sammy sauce, the Sammy sauce,” laughingly defined actress McAdams.
“The juicy parts, you always live by and for them, that’s where you can experience so much, and the further you go, the better,” the artist values.
Playing these characters “with so many flaws and seeing how far we could take them and still keep the audience hooked” is the real challenge, in the opinion of McAdams who recently unveiled her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for her successful career, nominated in 2016 for ‘Spotlight’ for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, and starring in ‘The Notebook’ in 2004, among other roles.
In its first weekend, ‘Send Help’ grossed $20 million (’17 million) in the United States, making it the top grosser, ahead of‘Melania‘ with $7 million (‘5.93 million).
Help: Monsters and how to create them
The plot plays with the question “what if?” which is conjugated with the clash of both characters, whose actions, reactions and consequences make the viewer’s sympathy and empathy fluctuate between the director and his employee.
“I love Bradley,” McAdams states sarcastically, “I love both of those characters…”
“You don’t like Bradley, he doesn’t like my character!” jokes O’Brien for his part.
“I like that (Bradley) goes back and forth. You think he’s in one place and…no!; then maybe it comes back to seeming…chaotic.” describes McAdams, who acknowledges connecting more with Linda.
It is in this ambiguity where both characters grow, that dark part that the human being keeps hidden.
“We are an amalgam of our different traumas, environments and experiences that we’ve had to learn from,” reflects the American actor.
“I think,” he continues, “it’s an experiment in humanity and forgiveness when you see a film like this (…) where these two characters demand a lot of compassion while committing acts that are pretty unforgivable, or a lot of people would consider them so.”
During the plot of the movie ‘Help’, the quote “Monsters are not born; they are created.”, attributed to the author of the novel ‘Frankenstein’ (1818), Mary Shelley, is heard and suggests that villains and their evil behavior are a consequence of neglect and social rejection, rather than something inherent.
“They’re the consequence of not treating each other right,” McAdams says. “My Buddhist teacher says I can’t fix the world, but at least I can avoid being a problem for others. Don’t make anyone have a bad day if you can help it, you don’t know what they’ve been through,” reported Agencia EFE.
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