If You Enjoyed Send Help, Stream This Underrated Sam Raimi-Produced Thriller

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Rachel McAdams as Linda Liddle covered in blood and leaning forward in Send Help

Published Jan 31, 2026, 11:30 PM EST

Bill Dubiel is a veteran writer, editor, and college professor based in Buffalo, NY. He has been a Senior Writer with Screen Rant since 2023. You can usually find him at a late-night double feature including the newest horror movie and latest Oscar bait.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Send HelpSam Raimi's return to true horror Send Help has dialed up some of the best RT scores of Raimi's career as a director, and reminded the cinema world that he is still one of the most influential voices in the genre. It's equal parts gross, funny, and thrilling, and most of all, it is undoubtedly Raimi; it's loaded with trademark elements and camera shots from his long and storied career.

While the modern characters and island aesthetic may not conjure images of Raimi classics like The Evil Dead or Drag Me To Hell, there are some scenes that clearly refer to his past work. It also contains some scenes that may have drawn inspiration from a movie that Raimi did not direct or write himself, but one where he did act as a primary producer.

Don't Move Matches Send Help's Captive Victim/Killer Energy

Those with a Netflix subscription can currently stream the thriller Don't Move, which stars Yellowstone's Kelsey Asbille as a grieving mother who finds herself the victim of a serial killer who has injected her with a paralytic agent. Finn Wittrock (American Horror Story) plays the charismatic serial killer who she must escape from as her body slowly shuts down, which leads to a desperate, claustrophobic battle loaded with tense moments.

While Send Help doesn't involve a serial killer, there is a clear parallel between the plight of Dylan O'Brien's character Bradley, who is not trapped in his body but rather on the island he and Rachel McAdams' Linda Liddle are stuck on after a plane crash. Linda isn't looking to kill Bradley when they first arrive on the island, but her confidence and ability to thrive in the setting certainly creates a victim/captor power dynamic between the two.

Eventually that dynamic is brought to bear, as it's revealed Linda really has trapped Bradley on the island, and has been manipulating and lying to him almost since they first washed up on the island. Their conflict devolves into a vicious battle to the death, which is reflected in the climax of Don't Move as Asbille's character Iris tries to fight through both the paralytic agent and the dastardly machinations of her captor.

Don't Move May Have Inspired Scenes In Send Help

It isn't the basis of the plot, but Send Help does in fact have a scene that seems like it was ripped right out of Don't Move. As a means of intimidation, Linda feeds Bradley a certain species of octopus that contains a toxin that paralyzes him. She then proceeds to torment him with one of the gnarliest fake-outs ever put on the big screen (involving a rat and riveting conversation about fixing dogs), which definitely has serial killer vibes to it.

In Don't Move, Iris' captor kills two people in an attempt to ensure that he keeps control of Iris and that they can't turn him in. In Send Help, Linda murders Bradley's girlfriend and the boat captain who managed to track them down on the island with the same intentions. The final desperate battle between Linda and Bradley shares a very similar vibe to that of Iris and Richard (Wittrock) in Don't Move, in that it's tense, bloody, and vicious.

It seems pretty clear that Raimi borrowed some ideas from his time working on Don't Move for his movie, distilling the overarching concept into a few key scenes that were executed really well. Anyone who enjoyed Send Help is sure to find similar satisfaction in the lean, tense Netflix thriller when they have 90 minutes to spare.