Commentary: ‘Send Help’ Is A Different Kind Of Revenge Fantasy
by Frank Martin
Revenge fantasy is a very interesting genre. It involves a character — usually female — undergoing a traumatic experience only to seek vengeance on her tormentors later on. It’s meant to be a cathartic experience for the audience as they root for the underdog’s efforts to make the villains pay. Send Help definitely exists in this vein. But it approaches its plot and characters in a completely different way, setting it apart from other stories in the genre.
The film centers on Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams), a very eccentric office worker who is very good at her job. She was promised a promotion by her boss before his passing. Unfortunately, his egotistical son, Bradley (Dylan O’Brien), took over the business and has no interest in promoting Linda. Instead, he only wants to use her for his own ends while promoting his buddies. The story takes a turn when their private plane crashes in the ocean. Linda and Bradley are the only survivors, and since she is an amateur survivalist with aspirations of being a contestant on Survivor, she has all the skills to keep them alive. This results in the dynamic of their relationship changing completely.
These types of tales usually start with a prolonged period of the abused facing ridicule. The first act of this film definitely checks this box. Of course, it doesn’t come close to matching the trauma characters face in revenge fantasy films like I Spit On Your Grave. Instead, the power dynamics shift early on, allowing Linda’s revenge to take up the bulk of the running time. Her torment of Bradley occurs gradually, even becoming pathological as she sometimes treats him as a respected subordinate. She savors her newfound role and thrives in it, almost bordering on the sadistic. So while the film definitely fits the markers of a revenge fantasy story, it stretches the concept in totally new dimensions.
Send Help is now streaming on Hulu.
