Why Sam Raimi’s Dream Batman Movie Should Never Become a Reality

Image: Columbia Pictures/Everett Collection

In Send Help, Raimi masterfully adapts his signature toolkit—heightened performances, kinetic camerawork, and unapologetic bloodletting—to a new subgenre. Deviating from the supernatural horror of his Evil Dead roots or the manic energy of 2009’s Drag Me to Hell, he instead delivers a survivalist nightmare. Think Castaway, but refracted through a uniquely delirious and macabre lens.

Image: 20th Century Studios

Rachel McAdams portrays Linda Liddle, a perennially overlooked middle manager navigating the soul-crushing ecosystem of a Fortune 500 firm. Linda’s life is a cycle of professional disrespect and solitary nights spent watching Survivor with her avian companion. Her existence is further plagued by Donovan (Xavier Samuel), a parasitic colleague who shamelessly hijacks her ideas. When the CEO’s son, Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien), inherits the leadership, he compounds Linda’s misery by rescinding a promised promotion in favor of his old frat brother, Donovan.

Raimi amplifies the indignities of corporate life to a satirical extreme. Donovan is reimagined as a caricature of Wall Street excess, complete with Gordon Gekko suspenders and a sneering demeanor. One particularly cringe-inducing scene depicts Linda attempting to negotiate her salary while oblivious to a smear of tuna salad on her face. The camera magnifies every flake of fish and dollop of mayo with excruciating precision—a moment of mundane horror that would be sanitized in a cape-and-cowl blockbuster, but thrives under Raimi’s direction.

While the film initially wallows in workplace drudgery, it eventually takes a violent detour. During a business excursion to Bangkok, their private jet suffers a catastrophic failure over the Pacific. Raimi orchestrates the crash with the choreographed carnage of a Final Destination set piece, delighting in the messy demise of Bradley’s entourage. It is pure, unadulterated cinematic chaos.

Stranded on a remote atoll, the narrative shifts as Linda’s obsession with Survivor becomes her greatest asset. She transforms into a formidable survivalist—building shelter, hunting, and tending to the injured Bradley. This role reversal provides an “eat-the-rich” subtext that simmers with hostility, as the social hierarchies of the office are stripped away by the harsh realities of nature.

Expect plenty of viscous, gore-soaked imagery as the island environment stands in for the Deadites of old. A sequence involving a boar hunt is drenched in an almost comical amount of blood, while Bradley’s attempt to scavenge food leads to a truly repulsive culinary moment that the camera captures with glee. There is even a graphic castration scene that ensures the audience remains on edge—a brand of audacity reminiscent of James Gunn’s early work like Slither, before he became the architect of the DC Universe.

Image: 20th Century Studios

Films like Send Help—those that marry A-list talent with a singular directorial vision and a wide theatrical window—are an endangered species. Today’s horror landscape is often bifurcated into micro-budget indie hits or streaming-only fodder that vanishes into the algorithm. Raimi is one of the few veterans with the clout to command a theater screen for such a project, and it is a resource that should be protected.

Regardless of the genre, I will always show up for a Raimi film. Even in the flawed Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, his stylistic flourishes frequently pierced through the homogenous Marvel “house style.” His Spider-Man films essentially established the template for the modern MCU—blending heart, spectacle, and humor—a formula that continues to influence the superhero landscape to this day.

While Raimi has expressed interest in helming a Batman film, I can’t help but hope he stays on his current path. I would far prefer a follow-up to Send Help than seeing him spend years navigating the bureaucratic maze of a major franchise. It’s also heartening to see him mentoring a new wave of horror filmmakers, ensuring his “Splatterstick” legacy continues even when he isn’t in the director’s chair.

Image: 20th Century Studios

Ultimately, there may be a middle ground. Raimi recently confirmed to Movieweb that he is developing a sequel to Darkman, his original 1990 superhero-horror hybrid. Whether or not he steps behind the lens for it remains to be seen, but the prospect of a superhero film made entirely on his own terms—outside the boundaries of established cinematic universes—is a win for everyone.

Source: Polygon