As a longtime admirer of Sam Raimi, his next feature, Send Help, is easily one of my most highly anticipated upcoming horror movies already. Yet, speaking not only as a fan of Sam Raimi’s movies and of great horror movies, but also as a film lover in general, there are a few of things about this project that I cannot help but rack my brain over.
It has only been a matter of months since Send Help was announced as Raimi’s first directorial effort since the Spider-Man trilogy helmer returned to making Marvel movies with 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. So, naturally, at this point in the production, there is still very little we know about the new thriller, although we can probably infer that it might not show up on the upcoming 2025 movie schedule. I have a few questions about this movie but, first, I’ll briefly go through what we do know about it.
Quick Facts About Send Help
Based on its title alone, you might be able to make a guess about the plot of Send Help, which will also see Sam Raimi reunite with a Doctor Strange 2 star and sees him collaborate with a couple of screenwriters who are veterans of both horror and comedy – both of which are genres the filmmaker is known and commended for. See for yourself in the list of quick facts about the movie below:
- Send Help is a survival thriller about co-workers stranded on a desert island
- Send Help stars Dylan O’Brien and Rachel McAdams
- Send Help is directed by Sam Raimi
- Send Help is written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift
Questions I Have About Send Help
Now that we have gone through the facts about Send Help, let’s discuss some of the things that we do not know about this film and what sort of ideas I have speculated over since I first caught wind of it. Let’s start with its amusing elevator pitch.
What Does “Cast Away Meets Misery” Mean?
In January 2025, Empire mentioned in a report about O’Brien and McAdams’ casting that Send Help was first pitched as “Cast Away meets Misery.” Namedropping both Robert Zemeckis’ heartbreaking, Tom Hanks-led thriller from 2000 and Rob Reiner’s 1990 adaptation of Stephen King’s chilling novel in the same conversation is certainly enough to spark intrigue. The question is, how exactly do the writers intend to pay tribute to each of those acclaimed and relatively different works of art in this story?
I mean, the “stranded on a desert island” concept was always destined to inspire comparisons to Cast Away but, other than how James Caan’s Paul Sheldon is “stranded’ by iconic female villain Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates in an Oscar-winning horror movie performance), what sort of themes or elements are they borrowing from Misery? Could it be that, through their bid to survive together, McAdams and O’Brien’s characters form some kind of romantic bond that eventually curdles into something dangerously obsessive on one end? A part of me actually hopes so, because I would totally watch that.
Will This Be Sam Raimi’s Official Return To More Overt Horror?
Raimi is a filmmaker who has proven he can master nearly any kind of genre, having made some of the best superhero movies of their time with his 2000s Spider-Man movie trilogy (well, the first two achieved wide praise, at least), crafted a unique Western movie classic with 1995’s The Quick and the Dead, and even satisfied some baseball movie fans with his romantic drama, For Love of the Game, in 1999.
However, his definitive magnum opus is the Evil Dead movies – a franchise of grueling possession films he created with the 1981 original that made him an indie horror hero. Thus, I ask, what kind of “thriller” is Send Help going to be exactly?
Unless you count Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (which, despite a few magnificently macabre moments in the Multiverse movie, I do not think I would), or, perhaps, the 2015 pilot episode of Ash vs. Evil Dead, Raimi has not helmed a genuine horror picture since 2009’s Drag Me to Hell, which was a bit tamer than what he is normally known for, mind you. So, fans like me have been waiting more than a decade to see the filmmaker return to his roots with something that really packs a punch. Could he be planning to fulfill our wishes by making Send Help something that stands out from other survival movies with visceral thrills and glorious gore, or could he be going in another direction he is also praised for?
Will Send Help Be Funny?
Raimi arguably perfected the horror-comedy movie genre with 1987’s Evil Dead II by blending shocking gross-out effects with a cartoonish tone straight out of a Looney Tunes short. His dark sense of humor has since become a recurring staple in his career and has even been expected by some audiences. So, it would not be much of a stretch to anticipate that Send Help could inspire some laughs.
In fact, I also have reason to believe that the thriller will take some humorous turns based on its screenwriters, Damian Shannon and Mark Swift who, like Raimi, also broke into the industry with the horror genre, having penned 2003’s Freddy vs. Jason and the 2009 reimagining of Friday the 13th.
However, their most recent credit is an entirely different kind of reboot: 2017’s Baywatch, which is a purely comedic take on the hit TV series. So, it seems that the writing duo might be a perfect match for Raimi’s signature style of humor and could make Send Help into something refreshingly fun.
Will Bruce Campbell Make A Cameo?
Another classic staple of Raimi’s filmography is the involvement of his longtime friend, Bruce Campbell, who led the original Evil Dead trilogy as one of the most resourceful horror movie characters (despite a few intelligible shortcomings), Ash Williams. The horror movie icon would later make memorable cameos in Raimi’s movies, most recently in Doctor Strange 2 as Pizza Poppa. Needless to say, I am hoping this tradition continues with Send Help.
Some may assume that a Campbell appearance is a given at this point, but let’s not forget that he has been absent in some of his buddy’s films, such as when he was cut from The Quick and the Dead, as he acknowledged on X. Not the mention, this movie is set on a desert island which opens very little potential to feature characters other than our two leads. Maybe Raimi could cast Campbell as O’Brien and McAdams’ boss in a scene taking place before they land on the island or even a mirage. Anything would be groovy enough.
Even if Campbell does not make it into Send Help, I have a good feeling he will somehow be incorporated into the next installment of the franchise he helped pioneer, the upcoming Evil Dead Burn, which Raimi is also producing. At this rate, there is a chance Send Help could come out around the same time as that spin-off, which is due in 2026, making this an especially great time to be a Raimi fan!