Sam Raimi’s ‘Send Help’ Test Screens to Rave Reactions: A Darkly Hilarious “Return to Form"

Sam Raimi is attached to direct ‘Doctor Strange 3,’ which is still in development, but the project we’re most looking forward to is “Send Help,” which is being billed as his return to the horror genre. The last horror project Raimi directed was 2009’s “Drag Me To Hell.”

“Send Help,” which wrapped production early this year and stars Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, and Denis Haysbert, is slated for release on January 30, 2026, via 20th Century Studios. It’s an unusual placement, as the early months of the year are typically when studios offload titles they’re less confident in.

That doesn’t seem to be the case here. “Send Help” is a hybrid of comedy, adventure and horror about Linda, a female employee, and her irritating boss, Bradley whose plane crashes on an island with only the two of them making it out alive. Linda has serious survival skills, which means she's Bradley’s only hope to stay alive.

I come bearing good news. “Send Help” has now test-screened in California, and early word is, it’s actually very good.

Sam Raimi has made a great film, This is a return to his twisted roots with a vengeance. A gleefully demented morality tale, pitting morally bankrupt characters against each other in a constant game of one-upmanship. Bloody, grotesque, and darkly hilarious in all the ways we’ve come to expect from him. Raimi’s signature style is back. Total return to form.

Rachel McAdams delivers a performance that’s both outrageous and tightly controlled. Raimi hands her a character soaked in theatricality, and she doesn’t just run with it; she owns it, turning in one of his most memorable protagonists. Tonally, the film plays like a hybrid of “Drag Me to Hell” and “A Simple Plan.”

Once the plot kicked in on the island, the audience was laughing and gasping and clapping in total satisfaction at this very wicked ending only Raimi could get away with

There’s real sadism here, the kind Raimi does best. He torments his leads, bathes them in fluids, and lots of blood, and dares the audience to keep caring. It’s mean, stylish, and absolutely thrilling. Guaranteed R rating.

Raimi, a highly influential genre filmmaker, has only directed two movies in the last twelve years — “Oz the Great and the Powerful” and “Doctor Strange 2” — neither of which were in his wheelhouse, or really that alluring to his diehard fans.

“Send Help,” which has been described as “Misery” meets “Cast Away,” was penned by ‘A Quiet Place’ duo Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. The original draft, before Beck/Woods came in to rewrite the whole thing, came from Damian Shannon and Mark Swift (“Freddy vs Jason,” “Baywatch”).

With a signature horror-comedy style that’s been imitated by many, Raimi’s influence cannot be understated — his best work includes “Army of Darkness,” “Evil Dead II,” “A Simple Plan,” “Darkman,” “Drag Me To Hell,” and “Spider-Man 2.” In Raimi, we trust, and it looks like he might have a winner here.