Send Help is an interesting survival horror film with some solid performances in spite of the outlandish twists and turns throughout the experience.

Sam Raimi is the director of this film, which was written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift. Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien play the corporate colleagues who survive a spectacular plane crash and end up on what appears to be a completely deserted island.

Dennis Haysbert, Xavier Samuel, and Edyll Ismail are included in the small cast. Of course, the focus will be on the chemistry and banter between McAdams and O’Brien.

McAdams plays the shy, eccentric corporate strategist, Linda Liddle, who is passed over for an expected promotion by O’Brien’s typical spoiled new CEO for the company he basically inherited from his recently deceased father. Linda is a Survivor enthusiast and even auditioned for it. O’Brien’s Bradley Preston is shown the audition tape which amuses him and his cohorts greatly. Well, the plane suddenly develops a problem which kills everyone but Linda and Bradley and crashes into the island. After they awake and reunite on the island, their power struggle begins in earnest. Linda is the one with the knowledge of survival skills, and Bradley is just a spoiled jerk who has little respect for his strange subordinate. Linda’s many years of suffering underestimation and unappreciation may have unhinged her in ways that Bradley could never imagine.

On the whole, this is a pretty good film. Some of the twists were a surprise, but there was still more than a tinge of predictability as to what the final outcome would be.

The performances of McAdams and O’Brien were really quite compelling. O’Brien nailed the part of the obnoxious, entitled rich kid who ultimately cannot conceive that he could be in over his head. The evolution of McAdams’ character arc was pretty well written. I am not sure that McAdams is going to be considered one of the great actresses of the silver screen, but she does shine quite effectively here. She usually does more than hold her own alongside her peers in the projects that I have seen her participation.

Some of the gore still seemed a little too egregious at times, and I had some trouble believing that Linda Liddle would know that much about octopus’ toxins, which does involve a rather disturbing, grotesque scene of retribution midway through the film.

There are some moments that seemed a little too ridiculous at times, but I believe that was rather intentional in the writing.

Anyway, the story does seem to bring out some interesting thoughts on potential shifts in dynamics when two people from very different social standings are isolated and sharing a uniquely harrowing experience. Both of the lead characters had some depth when they were trying to outwit the other.

If one can handle some unnecessary gruesomeness and unlikely plot swings, the performances and a pretty interesting script still makes this film something I could recommend seeing.