In a movie-age filled with complex characters, it takes a smart director and actors to truly take a movie to the next level. This is the case for the new horror-comedy movie “Send Help,” directed by Sam Raimi. While “Send Help” is a part of the horror genre, it contains compelling characters and smart camera usage which intensify the movie’s story and make it thought provoking. 

“Send Help” follows the story of longtime corporate employee with serious survival skills Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) when her sexist new boss, who inherited the job from his late father, Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien) passes her up for a long-overdue promotion. However, things take a turn when Linda and Bradley become trapped together on a deserted island after a plane crash. 

One of the reasons why I think “Send Help” is a success is due to McAdam’s performance. From the initial scenes of Linda’s awkward office conversations filled with her kind yet crazy eyes to her finding her strength through her ability to survive and take care of Bradley in a weird albeit endearing way on the deserted island, McAdams portrays Linda as well-meaning, with a self-esteem that makes her truly unaware of her cringyness. As a result, Linda’s ignorant character captures the audience’s pity, and her blissful actions become a comedic relief.  

Moreover, without McAdam’s performance, Linda’s character would lack the inherently-good-yet-slightly-weird person the audience knows her to be. Instead, Linda would fall into a one-sided, completely awkward and cringy character that lacks the depth of McAdam’s performance, and diminishes Linda’s character arc on the island and thus significance of the movie’s ending.

The same is true for O’Brien’s performance of Bradley, where he brings a male swagger to the character that prevents Bradley from just being mean. Instead, he’s mean and funny. Overall, O’Brien portrays Bradley’s character as a shallow boss whose initial altruistic office disguise transforms into unfiltered anger and desperation and a comedic relief once he loses all of his “office boss” power by becoming trapped on a deserted island and has an existential male-swagger struggle. 

It’s through O’Brien’s eyes that he does the best work for Bradley’s character. At times, Bradley’s face can be difficult to read. However, O’Brien always gives away Bradley’s thoughts through his eyes, such as his initial office scene with Linda where, despite smiling, his eyes portray disgust which highlights his true arrogance toward Linda. As a result, O’Brien’s performance makes it easier to understand Bradley’s character arc throughout “Send Help.”’

Additionally, Raimi’s directing decisions regarding camera angles highlights each character’s truth, and adds a layer of depth to “Send Help,” despite its classification in the shallow horror genre that is defined with screams, in-your-face gore, and little character development. From the very first shot of Linda’s plain brown lunch bag sitting in her refrigerator, to the smooth camera pan of the inspirational quotes about being positive on her desk, to the tapping of her foot, Raimi effortlessly uses fluid camera transitions to illustrate Linda’s anxious yet well-meaning character to the audience.

 

Raimi later zooms out the camera to contrast the earthy tones and messy style of Linda’s clothes compared to the cool calm blue and black’s of her colleague’s office attire. This stark contrast builds on the introduction of Linda’s character by empathizing with her office outlier situation. Additionally, Raimi strategically illuminates Linda’s and Bradley’s differences by panning the camera from their two distinct shoe styles. Bradley’s a polished blue loafer, and Linda’s brown orthopedic shoes. As a result, the contrast reveals the great extent of Linda’s and Bradley’s differences to the audience.

Working together, McAdams and O’Brien brought both chemistry and tension to Linda’s and Bradley’s relationship. Although Linda and Bradley worked together to survive on the deserted island, they ultimately had different interests: Linda had everything she needed on the island, and Bradley lost all of his office power and needed to return to the office to feel like himself again. Raimi illustrates this change well by often placing Linda above Bradley in scenes to highlight the transformation in the characters’ initial power dynamic. Raimi also uses a shifting camera angle to contrast Bradley’s initial failure to survive independently on the island (i.e., obtaining freshwater and building a shelter), with Linda’s survival success and joy. 

However, when Linda and Bradley eventually make small bonds, it’s always over a fire’s warm light with focus on the sparks between them; Raimi actually shows sparks flying in Linda’s and Bradley’s relationship.

While “Send Help” ends with a plot twist regarding Linda’s and Bradley’s relationship, it is justified by McAdam’s performance, and intensified by Raimi’s artful directing skills. What would have felt like an unsuitable ending instead works, considering the differing experiences and qualities between Linda’s and Bradley’s characters, and how Raimi exploits them using camera angles. 

Additionally, McAdam’s and O’Brien’s portrayals of Linda and Bradley intensified “Send Help’s” ending so much that I found a thrilled version of myself asking with the credits rolling and the song “One Way or Another” playing in the background: to what extent can people be so different before teamwork fails?