Sam Raimi has always been a cult favorite director, and he doesn’t seem to be slowing down with his latest directorial effort being another major hit. Raimi got his start with the Evil Dead franchise, and while that has been his most beloved work for horror fans, he has dipped his toes into blockbuster waters more than once. In 2002, he started working with Sony to make the first Spider-Man trilogy, and then he moved on to direct the big-budget blockbuster Oz the Great and Powerful. He took almost nine years off from directing before heading to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and directing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. However, in 2026, he went back to his horror roots, and fans were all in.
Raimi directed the small horror movie Send Help, which was released in theaters in January. It has now arrived on streaming and is an instant hit on Disney+ in its first week there. According to FlixPatrol, Send Help is the number one movie on Disney+, surpassing The Devil Wears Prada, which got a sequel this weekend.
Send Help Remains a Massive Success for Sam Raimi
Image Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
Send Help proves that Sam Raimi is almost always at his best with horror, and the movie was a huge success. It made $94 million worldwide at the box office on a $40 million budget. More importantly, it received high praise from critics and the audience on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 93% “Certified Fresh” critics’ score and an 87% audience score. This made it a perfect example of a movie that should thrive for a very long time on streaming services. It debuted on Disney+ on May 7th, and this fact proved to be true.
Send Help stars Rachel McAdams as a socially awkward and downtrodden woman named Linda Liddle. She works hard, but often finds herself belittled by her boss, Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien). When the two are on a flight to Bangkok for a business meeting, Bradley continues to mock her, and he does this by showing a “humiliating” audition tape she made when she tried out for Survivor. The tape’s contents came into play when the survival dynamics shifted, and Bradley and Linda ended up stuck on an island together. This is when Linda, who was equipped for survival, took over the role of the person in charge rather than her abusive boss. This is what leads to the survival horror aspects of the film as Bradley attempts to regain control, and Linda is always one step ahead of him.
In our Send Help review, Spencer Perry wrote, “Send Help is an entertaining horror-thriller that will easily satisfy fans of Raimi’s past work, who like to see him blend his horror sensibilities with Three Stooges-inspired gags and grossout moments that make you laugh and cringe.”
This plays out in most reviews, as the Rotten Tomatoes consensus praises Sam Raimi’s “diabolical mayhem” and the “clever script” on which he based his movie. The audience praised Rachel McAdams’ performance and called Send Help an “unhinged survival horror thriller that keeps you guessing and laughing.”
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