“Send Help” is a Bloody Delight

Depicting blood artfully is a hallmark of the horror genre, and nobody does it like Sam Raimi. 

“It’s just a job I feel I have to do,” the 66-year-old filmmaker said in a featurette. “Because no one does it as well as me.”

In “Send Help,” Raimi (“Spider-Man,” “The Evil Dead”) is back to prove himself worthy of his self-proclaimed mastery. 

The film, released in theaters Jan. 29, stars Rachel McAdams as Linda Liddle — an awkward, overly eager “Survivor” superfan who talks more with her pet bird than actual humans — and Dylan O’Brien as Bradley Preston, the new CEO nepo baby that looks like he walked straight out of a Will Ferrell comedy. 

Despite being promised a promotion by Preston’s father, one of Preston’s fraternity brothers gets the job instead, much to Liddle’s chagrin. She is, however, promised an “opportunity” to prove herself worthy on a company trip to Bangkok.

Early on in the plane ride, it becomes obvious Liddle is being strung along, before — in a startling turn of events — the plane nosedives into the ocean. Liddle and Preston are the only survivors, leaving the embittered employees stranded together.

The premise is a pulpy, entertaining conceit that both works thoroughly and serves as the most limiting factor to the film’s success as there’s only so much new ground to cover in the desert island film space.

Choosing to frame the story as a “Survivor”-esque island story rather than as a pure horror movie does take away from the sheer amount of blood or gore depicted on screen, but Raimi’s mastery of those features combined with their rarity makes them far more effective. 

The film is a great star vehicle — the sort of throwback Hollywood movie that allows a couple actors to be at the center of the frame for an entire movie — and McAdams (“Mean Girls,” “The Notebook”) and O’Brien (“Saturday Night,” “The Maze Runner”) take full advantage. 

McAdams is at the point in her career that many of the best actresses reach. She’s aged out of the romantic leading roles that made her famous, but her success in those roles has left her with a strong fanbase. 

With their stardom left at an awkward inflection point, many of her peers such as Reese Witherspoon and Kate Hudson have shifted into television. McAdams, however, has carefully reinvented herself by taking distinct roles in genre films like the comedy “Game Night,”  coming-of-age story “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret?” and especially in her first horror film, “Send Help.”

McAdams subverts her on-screen persona in some unexpected ways, particularly in the latter moments of the film, while utilizing her inherent magnetism to the film’s benefit. 

Acting alongside her is young star O’Brien. He’s put in a great position getting to perform across McAdams, whose loud performance allows O’Brien’s sarcasm and boyish qualities to shine through. 

The duo has great chemistry together, with McAdams’ affability and O’Brien’s sliminess providing the necessary tonal balance to make the comedic parts of the film successful. 

As a director, Raimi has great instincts in casting leads that are both sincere and knowing. In both the “Evil Dead” and “Spider-Man” franchises, he utilizes Bruce Campbell and Tobey Maguire’s innocence and winking humor, doing the same with McAdams and O’Brien in this film. 

Raimi brings with him his usual crop of Hollywood veterans, including cinematographer Bill Pope, composer Danny Elfman and editor Bob Murawski, adding a level of competency to the film. 

The crew’s abilities shine throughout the film. Unfortunately, in the pivotal plane crash sequence and a couple other moments, horribly rendered CGI conjures images so poor your half-blind grandma could recognize them as fake. 

As for Mark Swift and Damian Shannon’s script, it’s a fairly ordinary genre script, but it succeeds in constantly shifting the power dynamics, which allows both stars a lot of room to display their comedic and dramatic range. 

By design, “Send Help” is a very Hollywood movie — in its premise, stardom, release date, in everything, which may annoy some viewers looking for a more nuanced film. 

Themes about power are there for those that want them, but it’s a film more interested in being a bloody showcase that lets McAdams cook rather than being an art piece. When viewed on those terms, it’s a total knockout. 

“Send Help” is in theaters now.