A blend of wilderness survival craft, body horror, and just straight-up chaos, Send Help is one of those movies that starts off feeling grounded and then completely loses its mind—in a good way. It lulls you into thinking you know what kind of story you’re getting, and then it just keeps escalating. Every time you think it’s hit its limit, it somehow finds another level of ridiculousness to jump to.

Rachel McAdams is honestly incredible here as Linda Little. She starts off as this awkward, overly earnest office worker who just cannot figure out how to play the corporate game, and you feel bad for her almost immediately. But once things shift and she’s thrown into survival mode, something else starts creeping in. McAdams plays that turn so well—it’s not sudden, but you definitely feel it. There’s this underlying coldness that builds until you’re sitting there wondering if you should still be rooting for her at all.

On the other side, Dylan O’Brien absolutely nails the role of Bradley Preston. He’s basically the perfect version of a rich, entitled corporate guy, but he plays it with just enough awareness that it doesn’t get boring. The back-and-forth between him and Linda is one of the best parts of the movie. It flips constantly—sometimes it’s genuinely funny, other times it’s just straight-up hostile. There were moments where I was laughing and then immediately uncomfortable.

The effects are… a lot. Very B-movie, very over the top—but that’s clearly the point. The film knows exactly what it’s doing. The CGI is often so obvious that it almost feels like a joke in itself, but weirdly, it works because the actors commit so hard to it. There’s a boar chase scene shot partly from the boar’s perspective that I did not expect to be one of my favorite parts. It’s tense, it’s gross, and it’s also kind of hilarious at the same time.

One thing I really enjoyed was all the survival stuff. Linda’s constantly building things, figuring out how to use what she has, and those moments were weirdly satisfying to watch. It actually got to the point where I found myself waiting for the next bushcraft scene more than some of the plot. The fact that her knowledge comes from obsessively watching Survivor is a great touch too—it makes everything feel just grounded enough to buy into, even when the movie is going completely off the rails.

Visually, the movie kind of tracks Linda’s mental state. It starts off in this dull, gray office where everything feels lifeless and controlled. As things spiral, the world gets brighter, stranger, and way more intense. It’s not subtle at all, but it doesn’t need to be. The movie isn’t aiming for subtlety—it’s aiming to keep pushing further, and it definitely succeeds at that.

What surprised me is that, underneath all the insanity, there are actually some solid ideas here. When the film slows down (which isn’t often, but it does happen), it touches on things like power, capitalism, and how much context matters. Power in an office is completely different from power in the wild, and different again when you’re the only one who knows how to survive. Linda kind of sits right in the middle of all that, and the movie never fully tells you how to feel about her. At certain points, I genuinely wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be on her side anymore.

By the end, Send Help is a mess—but very intentionally so. It’s chaotic, excessive, and not even remotely subtle, but that’s exactly why it’s fun. It feels like the movie is constantly trying to outdo itself, and for the most part, it pulls it off. It’s not going to be for everyone, but if you’re willing to go along with it, it’s a pretty wild ride.

Favorite Scene: Octopus Paralysis

It starts off confusing, then gets genuinely disturbing really fast. McAdams plays it completely straight, which somehow makes it worse. You start to process what’s happening, and it’s honestly kind of horrifying—but then the scene keeps going and adds this bizarre layer of dark humor. The rat reveal at the end somehow manages to be funny, gross, and unsettling all at once. It shouldn’t work, but it does.