SEND HELP (2026) MOVIE BREAKDOWN! Sam Raimi Easter Eggs You Missed!

Hello and welcome back to New Rockstars. I'm Jessica Clemens. And on January. 30th, Evil Dead Sam Ramy released his. newest horror feature, Send Help, starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan. O'Brien. The film centers on two. co-workers, Linda and Bradley, who find. themselves in a horrific situation after. a plane crash on their way to a company. event. Stranded on a deserted island, they're forced to survive not only the. natural elements, but each other. The. trailers didn't really reveal much. beyond the story of two people who just. can't stand each other stuck on an. island. But in true Sam Ramy fashion, the film carries strong evil dead and. drag me to hell energy. The movie. constantly bends into comedy, creating.

that infectious tone that Sam Ramy just. does so well. The R-rated material leans. heavily into gory moments and jump. scares, but in a way that feels really. playful. It becomes campy without ever. losing tension, and gives you characters. to definitely root for. So, in this. video, I'm definitely diving into this. movie as a whole, how it worked, why I. love Sam Ramy, but also how he keeps. getting away with making movies like. this because they're just so dang fun. But first, before I get into it, we want. to make sure you start the new year with. some new A Nerd Riot merch like you see. us wearing. This one isn't new, but I. really like this one. I want to go home. It's so cute. Don't we like Star Wars?

We all like Star Wars. Go on over to. nerdride.shop. Check out our top items. Grab a hoodie, a t-shirt, or a hat for. your favorite show or movie, and be a. rock star out in the wild. Buying a. shirt from Nerd Ride is the best way to. support the channel. Just head to. nerd.shop to pick one out for yourself. All right, now let's get into this. video. In 2019, Sam Ramy was announced. to direct an untitled horror movie. written by Mark Swift and Damen Shannon, the duo who wrote 2003's Freddy verse. Jason and 2009's Friday the 13th. We. actually have a really great breakdown. by Gina on our horror channel, The. Witching Hour on Freddy verse Jason that. you should absolutely check out. Go do.

it right now and then come back to this. video. The film written was Send Help. It was originally set up as Sony, but. while the team was securing funding and. co impacted the industry, the studio. offered to direct a streaming release. instead of a theatrical run. Sam Ramy. was strongly against that decision, so. the project ultimately moved to 20th. Century, part of the Disney company. Remy had previously worked with Disney. on 2013's Oz the Great and Powerful and. 2022's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse. of Madness. He went on to say that that. experience with 20th Century was much. better, noting that they gave him. creative freedom to make the film that. he really wanted. In his interview with.

the rap, he was very transparent about. how positively the project was received. and supported throughout the process at. 20th Century. But it absolutely doesn't. go unnoticed that this is an original. film, not a sequel or a big IP grab, which yes, we want more from studios. This is what gave us sinners and. weapons. But like Sam Ramy says in his. interview, they have no reference for. it. It's a mixed genre and it takes some. courage for the audience to get out. there and see something new. To break. through, they often rely on something. audiences already really trust, typically from the filmmaker or the. cast. In this case, attaching beloved. horror director Sam Ramy helps draw fans. attention. And then you pull even more.

of an audience in with people who. already feel connected to the. performers. Rachel McAdams was attached. in 2024. She and Sam Ramy had previously. worked together on Doctor Strange and. the Multiverse of Madness. She's our. Christine, so they already had a good. rapport. And later in early 2025, Dylan. O'Brien joined the cast. Now, the first. thing a lot of people tonally. acknowledged after seeing the first. trailer was witnessing Rachel McAdams, the notebook Rachel McAdams, Doctor. Strange, and the vow Rachel McAdams in a. dark role like this one. She hardly ever. plays a deranged and evil person, unless. you're referring to Regina George, but.

this ain't Regina George. Rachel McAdams. character, Linda, is a highly. underappreciated corporate strategist. who has spent the better part of 10. years devoted to her job, all for a long. promised promotion to be VP. Unfortunately, the original president. dies and his son Bradley, played by. Dylan O'Brien, inherits the company and. becomes the new president. Bradley, in. other words, is a douchebag. He's that. typical like finance bro who boasts. about his like swag and wealth and ego, and their relationship is immediately. flawed. Rachel is like the ugly Betty of. the office, a little bit older and. frumpy, while Bradley is cool and the.

boss man. He gives her promotion to his. longtime friend and former frat brother. Donovan. But as a shitty offering, he. invites her to join him and the other. executives, aka his business bros, on a. business trip to Thailand on their. private jet. During their flight, the. men fully shame Linda, finding her old. audition tape for Survivor. And this. humiliation ritual is cut short when the. plane crashes into the water, leaving. only two survivors, Linda and a badly. injured Bradley. On the island, it. quickly becomes clear that all those. days spent watching Survivor and. auditioning for Survivor were not for. nothing. Linda is far more than a.

corporate strategist. She in many ways. is an amateur survivalist. >> Are you going to hunt a boar? Linda from. accounting. >> Strategy and planning actually. >> Whatever. >> While Bradley recovers from his. injuries, she tends to him and builds. him a shelter. He's forced to rely on. her in ways that deeply bruise his ego. Clinging to his corporate lifestyle, he. has a very triangle of sadness moment, insisting that he is still the boss and. that she is still the subordinate. But. like triangle of sadness, he ain't the. captain here. No.

In the yacht, toilet manager here. Captain, who am I? >> It's captain. >> Yes. Who am I? Captain. >> Very good. >> It doesn't take him long to realize that. the power dynamic has changed. significantly. To survive, he must obey. and work with Linda. What the film is. really tapping into, and this is one of. the two major spoilers I'll mention in. this video, is what happens when someone. who has been powerless for just so long. is suddenly handed control. At one. point, Linda comes across a boat with.

people on it. She has a clear chance to. call out for help. Instead, she turns. away. She chooses to recreate the system. in which she was abused rather than. dismantle it. As humans, most of us have. experienced toxic bosses than being. stranded on an island. So, emotionally, we understand the impulse. We understand. the fantasy of staying in this position. where the power dynamic has flipped. That does not make her choice morally. right. But in a way, it makes it. psychologically believable. So, our. perspectives begin to shift and they. will continue shifting throughout the. movie. >> I love the idea [music] of this role. reversal dynamic shift. >> It's funny to watch Bradley slowly.

recognize that he's no longer in power. and really never was. I'm your boss. You. work for me. >> We're not in the office anymore, Bradley. >> The movie has a lot of inspirations. You. could say it's giving the obvious cast. away, but there's a lot of. self-sabotaging and roller coaster of. emotion seen in Yellow Jackets and a. tension-filled perspective shifting. survival element from Barbarian. In Zack. Kger's 2022 Barbarian, Tess and AJ are. forced to survive in a secret. underground labyrinth filled with a. horrifying past. Tess does everything. she can to survive while AJ only makes. things worse. By the end of the movie,

AJ's given a chance at redemption, but. he fails, proving that he was always an. [ __ ] A similar dynamic plays out. here. Beyond the trope of a better than. useful female and a less than useful. manchild, the writers clearly laid. breadcrumbs showing that most of the. disastrous situations were caused by. Bradley's own mistakes. He's repeatedly. given opportunities to save himself, but. never acts on them because he's too. selfish and lacks common sense. And he. really does doom himself here. Throughout the movie, Linda comes up. with clever, sometimes strange excuses. How did I get this knife? It must have. washed up on the shore. Once Bradley is. able to walk, she willingly goes along.

with his walks, not for his sake, but to. monitor him. She tells him that the. cliff side marked with a giant X has. sticker bushes, when in reality, the. other side is where the boat was. spotted. She never outright refuses him. when he wants to do something. Instead, he stubbornly insists on doing things. his own way, failing twice in the. process. The fact that that rescue was. just so close and all it would have. taken was him walking the same distance. Linda was managing daily, he just he. relied on her for literally everything. and it feels like he had all the. opportunities all along, but he just. refused to take them because it would.

give her some satisfaction or just. bruise his ego. Most New Year's. resolutions fade by February, and that's. okay. The cultural pressure to make a. huge lifeimproving swing once a year. doesn't really line up with how actual. impactful change happens. Real change. comes from small, consistent habits that. create growth over time. And I mean. real, real small. For instance, my. therapist once pointed out to me that. starting and ending my days with a short. screen-free walk around my neighborhood. can help a ton with emotional. regulation. Do I do it every day? No, cuz life gets in the way sometimes. But. still, my therapist did help me build a.

release valve into my schedule that. gives me a chance to reset my emotional. baseline. And that steady habit makes a. huge, huge difference, not just. daytoday, but over the course of a. couple months. And that's how therapy. really works. It's a tool that gives you. a set of additional tools to support. lasting positive change. And BetterHel, the sponsor of today's video, makes that. support easier to access. You fill out a. short questionnaire about what you're. looking to get out of therapy. Then. Better Help will match you with a. therapist based on your preference, their own clinical experience, and over. a decade of matching expertise. You can. easily switch therapists anytime at no. extra cost if that's not the right fit.

for you. Join the 6 million plus people. who have gotten help from BetterHelp, the platform that you can trust. Click. the link in the description or go to. betterhelp.com/newrostars. and get 10% off your first month of. therapy. I will say it's great when he. finally finds the motivation to escape. by drugging her one night and pushing. his makeshift boat into the water, only. for it to be destroyed almost instantly, nearly killing himself. But that's. exactly my point. He wouldn't have. gotten into the situation in the first. place if he had questioned things. earlier or just used some basic common. sense. Yes, building a fully functional. boat was never going to actually work, but starting a fire maybe with smoke,

that's totally doable. However, moments. like this are justified by his sheer. stupidity. He couldn't even spell help. correctly. This man is an idiot. One. reason I genuinely think this movie. works beyond being a funny survival. focused horror film directed by Sam Ramy. and starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan. O'Brien is that the characters never. pretend to be something they're not. They really don't hide who they are. Bradley is always lazy. He's. insufferable and greedy. He's righteous. through capitalism and that mindset. doesn't disappear just because he's. stranded on an island. He is stubbornly. grounded in his ways from start to.

finish. Linda, on the other hand, is. trapped in the ways others always. perceive her to be. She's misjudged by. her appearance despite being highly. capable and excelling at what she does. Like the island with her normal. day-to-day life, she's always been. trapped. But within her own sandbox, she. has always thrived. Throughout the. movie, Sam Ramy includes subtle visual. nods to the shifting power dynamic. between the characters. Bradley's. designer shoes that he flaunts are. ruined and muddy. His body, it looks. sick, like he's decaying. In contrast, Linda's skin takes on a very healthy. sun-kissed tanned glow, and her. beachcurled hair falls beautifully over.

her shoulders. It's not accidental. It. helps build the world visually. It's in. the details. And speaking of details, Sam Ramy also in true Sam Ramy fashion. left some Easter eggs that I spotted and. I was like like the Leonardo Caprio. meme. You guys know what I'm talking. about. Bruce Campbell makes a cameo in. this movie. As we know, Sam Ramy and. Bruce Campbell started with 1981's The. Evil Dead, and since then, the two have. continued to work together over the. years. You might remember Pizza Papa. from Multiverse of Madness.

>> [laughter]. >> It's over. >> It's revealed in Send Help that he's. actually the former president, Bradley's. father. The portrait in Bradley's office. is actually a Bruce Campbell where it. looks exactly like him, but that's. insane. There's also the car as well, the 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88. This car. was in the Evil Dead and Sam Ramy used. it again in Army of Darkness, and it's. popped up in Ramy's Spider-Man, Drag Me. to Hell, and Multiverse of Madness. Ramy. has mentioned that the car was his. mother's car in Detroit back in the7s. and his mother later gave him and his.

brother the car when they entered. college. It was during the production of. his first feature film, The Evil Dead, that he needed a car for the film and. the only one he could access again was. his mother's. And now it's been a. reoccurring Easter egg in all of his. movies. There are a couple of jump. scares in the movie. One during the. plane crash and another later when. Linda's having a nightmare. It's a. zombie-like creature that jumps up and. scares everyone in the theater. This. creature looks straight out of Sam. Ramy's Evil Dead. It resembles most of. the deadites. There are a lot of Sam. Remy nods in this movie, like the way. that Linda kills the boar. It's just. very ridiculous and bloody in a very.

Remy inspired way. We also see that. Linda at the beginning of the movie is. wearing this giant necklace and the. bottom forms a ring. In the first Evil. Dead movie, Ash gave his girlfriend. Linda a small necklace with a magnifying. glass. And I think they're trying to. make the connection to our Linda. It's. very similar, if not the same kind of. necklace. There's also a moment on the. beach, a hand is found sticking out of. the ground. And this feels like it could. be loosely inspired from the Evil Dead. It might not, might be. It feels like. it. Another less than Remy Easter egg. that I noticed. The movie opens up on. Linda with 1976's Blondiey's ripper to.

shreds playing. It's a classic song. It's featured in many films, but. ironically, a cover of that song also. opens in Mean Girls, the 2004 movie. starring Rachel McAdams in a very. different evil role. In Mean Girls, it. plays over Katie Catty Heron on her. first day at school, who is socially. judged and ignored and a little bit of a. loser, much like Linda in this movie. In. both cases, the women are misjudged and. underappreciated for their intelligence. and abilities until they're needed for. someone else's advantage. All in all, I. had a fun time watching this movie. It. wasn't like astonishing, but it's that. fun Sam Ramyesque delivery that I.

missed, and it's just really fun. Yes, it's gory, but underneath all of that, it's about power, and I love the. conversations you can have about its. satirical yet pretty spot-on approach to. casual, hostile working environments for. women and a systemic loop of toxic. bosses who charm you with their. arrogance. Bradley never changes. He. never adapts. He clings to this. hierarchy even in the world when it's. stripped away from him. Linda doesn't. suddenly become evil. She becomes. empowered and then she makes a choice. A. very animal kind of choice, but a choice. for herself nonetheless. And that's what. makes this movie really stick. It's not. just about surviving the island. It's.

about surviving systems. Sam Ramy wraps. that commentary and camp and gore and. ridiculous set pieces, but it's all. still there and that's why it really. lingers. I will say there is a stretch. in the final act where the pacing does. slow down quite a bit. The cat-and-. mouse dynamic between them starts to. feel slightly repetitive, like it could. become an endless cycle of just push and. pull. But just when it risks stalling, the film shifts motivations and. accelerates just so quickly, snapping. back into intensity, almost out of. nowhere. The movie released on January. 30th and has continued to perform. strongly at the box office, even. outperforming its earlier estimates. It.

had an unusually low8% drop its third. week staying weirdly steady with a. projected 9 million additional dollars, bringing its US total to 50 million and. its worldwide total to 74 million. And. that's seriously not bad considering its. budget was $40 million, which puts it on. track to double its production costs. This is Ramy's first directed film since. 2022's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse. of Madness, and it's just great to have. him back in theaters doing what he does. best. The fact that Send Help is. performing this well in January, typically a slower season for movies,

feels very promising. Between this and. the other recent successes, it looks. like there's still room for original. films to really break through when. audiences show up for them, especially. for smaller horror ones. Comment down. your thoughts below on Send Help. Tell. me what team you were on, Linda or. Bradley. Please don't say Bradley, but. also if you don't say Linda, I would. kind of understand. And a special thanks. to one of our YouTube members, Paulo. Bianca, who supports us at the executive. producer level. Big credits and big. thanks to Studio Tech Brian Kim behind. the camera, to New Rockstars editors. Joshua Steven Herd and Abby Fel and the. supporting editors for their work on.

this video. Follow me at Lulu Clement. Subscribe to all the channels of the New. Rockstars Network for breakdowns and. news coverage of everything you love. Thanks for watching. I'll see you guys. later. [music]. >> [music].