There’s nothing like a Sam Raimi jump-scare. His Evil Dead movies are full of mischievous jolts, as is spiritual follow-up Drag Me To Hell. Even his
There’s nothing like a Sam Raimi jump-scare. His Evil Dead movies are full of mischievous jolts, as is spiritual follow-up Drag Me To Hell. Even his Spider-Man movies often see him dip back into the horror well. And this year’s Send Help saw Raimi return to the genre for the first time in 17 years, telling the story of two co-workers – Dylan O’Brien’s douchebag CEO Bradley Preston, and Rachel McAdams’ downtrodden employee Linda Liddle – stranded on a desert island together, vying for power. For all its thrills and spills – of vomit, blood, and other goops – it is a largely grounded horror tale, without any supernatural elements.
But, one dream sequence sees Raimi indulge his inner Deadite, as a guilt-ridden Linda is spooked by a zombified body – of Zuri, Bradley’s girlfriend who Linda has (SPOILER ALERT!) brutally dispatched – on the beach. It’s a giddily fun little fright, and the director simply couldn’t support himself from – in cinematic terms – shouting “boo!” at the audience. “We wanted to scare those kids,” he tells Empire. “They deserve it! That seems to get them, that one.” It’s not just that Zuri’s demonic corpse pops up on screen – Raimi even pushes it screaming towards the lens, in a move that doesn’t make logical sense, but is a brilliantly fun flourish. “At that point it’s a dream, so why not have the monster turn to the audience?” he asks. “It’s kind of hokey, but it was a lot of fun to shoot.”
As daft as the scare is, it reveals the monstrousness hiding in Linda – and previous drafts of Send Help had an even bigger twist involving McAdams’ not-really-a-hero. “Originally, we revealed that Linda is the one that brought down the plane,” co-writer Mark Swift tells Empire, revealing that there was once a third-act flashback sequence that would have shown Linda orchestrating the crash. “Sam loved it, everyone loved it, and we had a very hard time getting that made because it was dark.” Either way, don’t mess with Linda Liddle.
Read Empire’s full Send Help interview with Sam Raimi and writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift in The Odyssey issue, on sale Thursday June 2. Pre-order a copy online here. Send Help is out now on 4K, Blu-ray, DVD, digital, and streaming on Disney+.
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