Sam Raimi Pushes Back on SEND HELP Being Compared To Stephen King's MISERY

As Send Help prepares to hit theaters, comparisons to Misery have followed the film since its announcement, andSam Raimi isn’t exactly thrilled about it.

While he’s upfront about his admiration for Stephen King’s work and Rob Reiner’s 1990 adaptation, Raimi feels the shorthand description undersells what his new movie is trying to do.

When news broke in July 2024 that Raimi was developing Send Help, early trade reports framed it as a blend of Misery and Cast Away. That framing stuck, but Raimi says it doesn’t sit right with him. During a recent interview with CinemaBlend, he addressed the comparison directly:

“As far as Misery is concerned, I love the book. And Rob Reiner's film is brilliant and Kathy Bates is awesome. But when I read in Variety [sic], ‘Oh, Send Help is going to be like a mix between Misery and Castaway,’ I thought I'd rather not have those references. As much as I love both the movies and they're both great classics, I want it to be its own thing.”

That reaction makes sense as nobody sets out to tell an original story just to hear it reduced to a remix of older ones. While there are surface-level similarities, Send Help plays in a very different emotional and thematic space once you get past the elevator pitch.

The film stars Rachel McAdams as Linda Liddle, a middle-aged woman who survives a plane crash alongside her sexist, entitled boss Bradley, played by Dylan O’Brien.

Stranded on a deserted island, the power dynamic flips fast. Bradley is injured, helpless, and stripped of modern comforts. Linda, on the other hand, is a hardcore Survivor fan who’s more than ready to handle life in the wild.

From a distance, it’s easy to see why some people draw parallels. One character holds control while the other is vulnerable. But that’s where the similarities thin out.

Linda isn’t a deranged captor or a “number one fan.” She’s the protagonist, not the villain, and while her moral compass starts to wobble as the story unfolds, she isn’t driven by the same psychological instability that defined Kathy Bates’ iconic Annie Wilkes.

Raimi’s frustration seems rooted in wanting audiences to meet Send Help on its own terms. It plays with tension, power, comedy, and survival in ways that feel modern and sharp. The comparisons might help sell headlines, but they don’t fully capture what the movie delivers.

Whether viewers spot echoes of Misery or not, Send Help clearly wants to stand alone.