Send Help

Meek but hard-working corporate strategist Linda Liddle looks forward to a long-deserved promotion promised by her former boss, which she expects his son Bradley Preston to give her upon becoming CEO. Instead, Bradley gives the promotion to Donovan, a recent hire and his old fraternity brother, much to the dismay of senior executive Franklin. He intends to have Linda transferred to a dead-end position out of disgust for her boorish manner and lack of style and charisma.

When Linda protests Bradley's decision, he is impressed by her bravado and asks her to accompany him, Donovan, and two other executives on a business trip to Bangkok to finalize the company's impending merger. During the flight, Donovan humiliates Linda by playing an audition tape she recorded for Survivor, showcasing her extensive survival skills. Flying through a storm, the plane suffers engine failure and begins to lose altitude. As the cabin undergoes explosive decompression, a panicking Donovan attempts to strangle Linda and take her seat before she stabs him with a fork in self-defense. Everyone except for Linda and Bradley are blown out of the hole in the fuselage. The plane soon crashes into the sea, breaks apart on impact, and sinks. Linda frees herself from her seat, swims to the surface, and clings to a floating seat.

Linda wakes up the next morning beached on a remote island in the Gulf of Thailand. She finds Bradley, but no other survivors. Linda builds a shelter and obtains food and water. Bradley, unable to move due to an injured leg, accepts her help but continues to treat her like a subordinate. Linda responds by abandoning him for two days; just as he collapses from thirst, Linda returns and gives him water. Bradley remains defiant and tries to build his own camp. When his efforts fail, Bradley swallows his pride and allows Linda to take the lead. Linda is proficient at fishing and even manages to kill a wild boar. One day, while foraging on the other side of the island, she notices a small boat approaching, but deliberately avoids attracting its attention.

Bradley's leg injury heals, and Linda becomes stronger and more confident as she teaches him lessons in survival. She warns Bradley against venturing to the opposite side of the island, saying that it is teeming with poisonous vegetation. The pair appear to form a bond, with Linda calling him "sweetie". One night, while sharing homemade fruit wine, Linda drunkenly confesses to Bradley that she was married to an abusive husband until she allowed him to drive drunk, causing his death. Seemingly moved, Bradley offers to repay Linda by cooking her dinner. He spikes the food with poisonous berries and attempts to flee on an improvised raft, leaving Linda to die. The raft is destroyed in the waves, and Linda, partially recovered due to Bradley's ignorance about the poison dosage, is able to save him from drowning.

As punishment, Linda paralyzes Bradley with octopus toxin and pretends to castrate him, explaining that with her career effectively over, she has nothing to return home to. Bradley finally accepts that the power dynamic has shifted and gives up hope of escape. While harvesting fruit, Linda is surprised by the arrival of Bradley's fiancée Zuri, who has hired a boat to rescue them after other search and rescue efforts were called off. Fearing her new life will be ruined, Linda leads Zuri and her boat captain to a rocky cliff where she nearly fell earlier; she causes Zuri and the captain to fall off the cliff. She returns to camp visibly depressed and haunted, and lets Bradley go out to hunt alone. While stalking another boar, he finds Zuri's hand poking out of the sand at the beach.

When confronted, Linda admits to Zuri's death but says it was an accident. Bradley accuses Linda of lying, distrusting her because of her story about her husband, and tries to kill her. A brutal hand-to-hand fight follows, with Linda suffering a partially gouged eye before stabbing Bradley in the side. He flees and finds a luxurious beach house on the other side of the island. Linda admits to having known about the house and reveals she murdered Zuri, before aiming a shotgun at Bradley. Begging for his life, Bradley claims that he now loves Linda and wants to stay with her on the island forever, before grabbing the shotgun only to find it unloaded. Linda overpowers him and beats him to death with a golf club.

One year later, Linda has been rescued and is a wealthy celebrity after turning her survival story into a lucrative self-help career. She is interviewed at a celebrity golf tournament about the upcoming film adaptation of her best-selling memoir, in which she claims to be the only survivor of the plane crash. Linda drives away with her cockatiel Sweetie, singing along to Blondie's "One Way or Another".

Lead actors Rachel McAdams (left) and Dylan O'Brien (right)

• Rachel McAdams as Linda Liddle, a strategist from a financial management company's Planning & Strategy Department and survival enthusiast^[6]
• Dylan O'Brien as Bradley Preston, the newly appointed CEO of the financial management company where Linda works^[6]
• Edyll Ismail as Zuri, Bradley's fiancée
• Xavier Samuel as Donovan Murphy, a former frat brother of Bradley's
• Chris Pang as Chase, one of Bradley's inner circle
• Dennis Haysbert as Franklin, a senior executive at Bradley's firm who is on good terms with Linda
• Thaneth Warakulnukroh as a boat captain who aids Zuri
• Emma Raimi as River, Linda's coworker
• Kristy Best as Polly Perera, a reporter who interviews Linda

Bruce Campbell makes photographic cameos as Bradley's unnamed father, the former CEO of the financial company who appears in several photographs and paintings seen in Bradley's office and had passed away at some point.^[7]

In October 2019, Columbia Pictures announced that Sam Raimi would direct an untitled horror film with Mark Swift and Damian Shannon writing the script.^[8] The film would later be titled Send Help,^[9] with 20th Century Studios attached to distribute.^[10] In October 2024, Rachel McAdams entered negotiations to star.^[11] Raimi had worked with McAdams in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) and, for considering her underutilized in said movie, intended to bring her back in another project. He added that one of his producers advised that “the fact that she has not really played a dark, terrible villain before really sets the audience up to be surprised”.^[12] In December, Chris Pang joined the cast.^[13] In early 2025, Dylan O'Brien and Dennis Haysbert joined the cast, with McAdams confirmed to star.^[14][15] Principal photography was scheduled to begin in January 2025.^[16][17] Filming ultimately began that February, in Sydney, Los Angeles, and Thailand,^[18] and concluded on April 17.^[19]

The soundtrack to Send Help was released by Hollywood Records on the same day as the film's release. The soundtrack contains 23 tracks composed by Danny Elfman.^[20][21]

Send Help premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre on January 21, 2026,^[22] and was released in the United States on January 30, 2026, by 20th Century Studios.^[23]