Plot
Meek corporate strategist Linda Liddle looks forward to a long-deserved promotion promised by her former boss, which his son Bradley Preston is obliged to give her upon becoming CEO of his family's financial management company. Bradley has already given the promotion to Donovan, his old college buddy. He intends to have Linda transferred to a dead-end position out of disgust for her boorish manner, lack of self-confidence, and unattractive appearance.
When Linda protests Bradley's decision, he asks her to accompany him, Donovan and two other executives on a business trip to Bangkok to finalize the company's impending merger. While flying through a storm, Donovan humiliates Linda by playing a clumsy audition tape she recorded for Survivor , showcasing her extensive survival skills. The plane suffers engine failure and begins to lose altitude. A panicking Donovan attempts to strangle Linda with her seat belt before she stabs him in self-defense. The plane crashes into the sea and sinks.
Linda frees herself and wakes up the next morning on a remote island in the Gulf of Thailand. She finds Bradley with a sprained ankle, but no other survivors. Linda puts together a shelter and obtains food and water. Bradley accepts her help, but goes back to ordering her around. Linda responds by abandoning him for two days where he is unable to move, exposed to the hot sun, and has nothing to drink. Just as he collapses from thirst, Linda returns and gives him water. Bradley remains defiant and eventually tries to build his own camp. When his efforts fail, Bradley swallows his pride and allows Linda to boss him around. She notices a boat sailing offshore, but ignores it, wishing to stay on the island.
Linda becomes stronger, more attractive, and confident, while teaching Bradley lessons in survival. One night while sharing homemade alcohol, Linda drunkenly confesses to Bradley that she was married to a man who abused her until she allowed him to drive drunk, causing his death. Seemingly moved, Bradley offers to repay Linda by cooking 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 is able to save Bradley due to his miscalculating the poison dose.
Linda paralyzes Bradley with octopus venom and pretends to castrate him as punishment, 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 fiancé Zuri, who has hired a boat to rescue them. Fearing her new life will be ruined, Linda lures Zuri onto a rocky cliff and pushes her and the boat captain off. Haunted by the murders, Linda allows Bradley to go out to hunt alone, whereupon he finds Zuri's corpse washed up on the beach.
Linda admits to Zuri's murder. Bradley tries to kill her. A brutal hand-to-hand fight follows, with Linda suffering a partially gouged eye before stabbing Bradley in the chest. He flees and finds a luxurious beach house on the other side of the island. Linda admits to having known about the house and aims 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 beats him to death with a golf club.
Sometime later, Linda is a wealthy businesswoman after usurping control of the Preston family company. 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 parrot, singing along to Blondie's "One Way or Another".
Reception
Box office
In the United States and Canada, Send Help will be released alongside Iron Lung , Melania , and Shelter , and is projected to gross $14–17 million from 3,475 theaters. [2] The film earned $2.2 million from Thursday previews. [20]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 94% of 170 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.5/10.The website's consensus reads: "Putting director Sam Raimi's penchant for diabolical mayhem to great use, Send Help doesn't need any assistance in thrills thanks to a very game Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien along with a viciously clever script." [21] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 76 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [22] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. [23] [24]
IndieWire 's Alison Foreman gave an A− for the film, and called it "wickedly lovable with the potential to be timeless." [25] Michael Phillips of San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "At its simplest, we have here a performance showcase for O'Brien's artfully restrained sniveling and, especially, for McAdams' miraculous shape-shifting abilities. Essentially Send Help is Cast Away if Wilson the volleyball was a misogynist tool." [26] Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "It could be said that Send Help indulges in more baroque plot twists than fully necessary and begins to lose some steam toward the end. But the surprising climax, plus an amusing coda, brings it all home. Audiences are in for quite a ride." [27] Deadline 's Pete Hammond wrote, "Send Help is the first movie gem of 2026, a devilish treat and welcome respite from the real world. It's a pleasure." [28]
TheWrap 's Amelia Emberwing wrote that the film is "a story rooted in the exploration of human nature and exactly who we become if it means survival both in the literal and figurative sense." [29] Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting wrote, "Send Help is full of vibrant personality, with all of Raimi’s signatures." [30]
