Film dubbed ‘corporate Lord of the Flies’ leaves viewers ‘squirming’ | Films | Entertainment

A new release described as ‘unhinged’ by fans is garnering enthusiastic praise following its cinema debut.

The survival thriller Send Help follows two co-workers stranded on a remote island following a plane crash. Employee Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) becomes marooned in an idyllic yet perilous setting with her obnoxious and misogynistic superior, Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien).

Survival demands cooperation, yet their already strained professional dynamic casts doubt over who will ultimately emerge from their ordeal, reports the Mirror. 

McAdams’ portrayal of the determined and frequently gore-covered Linda is a far cry from her breakthrough performance as vindictive teenager Regina George in the 2004 romantic comedy Mean Girls.

Send Help marks Sam Raimi’s return to the director’s chair, with the filmmaker celebrated for The Evil Dead trilogy and the Spider-Man franchise. This latest offering represents his first standalone, non-franchise production in over 15 years.

Speaking to Radio Times, Raimi revealed his enthusiasm for audience responses to his signature visceral style, which features prominently throughout Send Help. He explained: “I love putting them to use to show what this character Linda Liddle has to go through to survive on this island… and it was fun tossing the blood again!”

The film premiered in UK cinemas today (February 5) and has already garnered a wave of glowing reviews.

As it stands, it holds an impressive 93 per cent critics’ score and a robust 87 per cent audience rating.

One cinema-goer wrote: “I enjoyed it, but from the trailers, I thought it was going to be more of a Misery-style psychological horror, about this guy with a broken leg trapped at the mercy of an insane woman with complete power over him. It pretty quickly moved on from that and became more of a comedy-thriller-adventure with some guts and gore, but it was still fun.”

Another chimed in: “It’s on the edge of your seat psychological horror with a decent amount of gore and room for a few good laughs,” while a third likened the film to a “corporate take on Lord of the Flies.”

A further review read: “If you miss that very particular brand of Sam Raimi horror comedy, where you’re squirming, screaming, and laughing all at the same time, you achieve that over and over again with Send Help.”

Send Help is out now in UK cinemas. For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new **Everything Gossip** website.