Sam Raimi’s Send Help (read our full review here) establishes itself as the most satisfying revenge movie for anyone who has ever had to deal with a terrible boss. Rachel McAdams plays Linda Liddle, who finds herself stranded on a deserted island with her arrogant CEO, Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien), and they have to survive the situation – and each other.
Through Raimi Productions, Zainab Azizi and Raimi have lent their producing talents to notable films like Locked and Don’t Move in recent years. While any of those movies could have also been directed by Raimi, it was Send Help that captured their attention for a specific reason. “Sam loves to root for the underdog,” Azizi said. “And Linda Liddle, her story is about the underdog. We’ve all been her. We’ve all had a job where we felt that we’ve been overworked, underpaid, undervalued. So, it’s very relatable. Ultimately, we make movies to thrill the audience and to entertain, and we thought we had to make this film.”
Raimi’s signature style is all over Send Help, especially in the final showdown between Linda and Bradley. Anyone who has watched The Evil Dead will recognize the influence immediately. Was this a conscious decision to pay homage to Raimi’s previous filmography, or did it just transpire organically? “It’s a little bit of both,” Azizi said. “Of course, Sam’s DNA is all over the film. But some of those gore moments, especially the fighting scene, was choreographed by our amazing stunt coordinator, John Walton. We did a lot of planning with him and the stunt team to make sure we gave audiences something original, exciting, terrifying – and I hope that was delivered.”
For O’Brien and McAdams, they know all about Raimi’s distinctive filmmaking style. However, they admitted they didn’t revisit any of the filmmaker’s past films in preparation for Send Help. Instead, they went with the flow.
“I feel like the thing about Sam and such a reason I’ve always been such a fan of his, he has such an eclectic array of work,” O’Brien said. “It’s actually so funny how much of a fingerprint he does have, sort of a reputation he has, and how much people associate him with certain elements, but he’s also made so many different kinds of films. And I feel like with each piece, he tackles it individually. So, for me, no, [I didn’t revisit any of his films], but I’m also very familiar with his work. So, yeah, I was definitely coming into this, leaving it open to see what his take on this particular piece would be.”
“Thinking about it,” McAdams said, “he’s kind of a pioneer in genre-bending.”
“Totally,” O’Brien added. “His particular infusion of this kind of comedy and campness to a true horror element. I was actually thinking about how many people were maybe inspired by [him]. I was thinking about David Lynch potentially being a Raimi-head.”
Raimi and his collaborators certainly have fun in the movie, especially in the usage of Blondie’s famous song “One Way or Another,” which seemingly forebodes and acts as a bookmark in the movie. Was this always the plan from the outset? “We actually had a different song originally,” Azizi said. “We had Madonna’s ‘Like a Prayer’ – that’s my favorite karaoke song. But as we were developing the character, we thought, ‘Hmm, I think that a cool girl would like that song.’ So we wanted something that was a little bit more quirky. And also, as you said, foreboding. So we thought Blondie’s ‘One Way or Another’ was a great one.”
Considering the ending of Send Help, there’s certainly the opportunity to continue Linda’s story somewhere down the line. Could we see this character return in another movie? “As a producer, I’d always love a sequel,” Azizi said with a laugh. “So I’m open to it.”
Send Help is out now in theaters.
