Festivals - Gerardmer 2026: Send Help : Opening film with Sam Raimi’s return to psychological horror grounded in dark humor

By Mulder, 07 january 2026

The Gérardmer International Fantastic Film Festival has announced that the 33rd edition will open with Send Help, the new feature film directed by Sam Raimi, confirming a strategic and symbolic choice for an event known for highlighting major figures in genre cinema alongside innovative emerging voices. The preview screening is scheduled for Tuesday, January 27, 2026, setting the tone for a program that will fully reveal its selection on January 15, followed by the detailed screening timetable on January 20, while festival passes will open for reservations on January 24 and individual ticketing will begin on January 25. Positioning Send Help as the opening film underscores the festival’s interest in works that combine strong narrative concepts with precise cinematic authorship, and this title clearly meets those criteria through its mix of psychological tension, survival narrative, and controlled doses of black humor.

Directed and produced by Sam Raimi, with Zainab Azizi also producing, Send Help is written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, whose collaboration aims to explore power dynamics and psychological shifts within an extreme situation. The film follows Linda Liddle, portrayed by Rachel McAdams, and Bradley Preston, played by Dylan O’Brien, two colleagues with a complicated hierarchical relationship who become the only survivors of a plane crash before finding themselves stranded on a deserted island. Forced into cooperation at first, they gradually enter a confrontation that evolves into a tense psychological duel, mixing survival necessity with unresolved resentment and increasingly strategic behavior, until the situation transforms into a disturbing, darkly ironic struggle for dominance. The cast also includes Edyll Ismail, Dennis Haysbert, Xavier Samuel, Chris Pang, Thaneth Warakulnukroh, and Emma Raimi, reinforcing the film’s narrative framework while supporting its central duo.

Beyond its narrative content, Send Help arrives at Gérardmer with a production background that reflects careful preparation and clear industrial positioning. The project was first mentioned in October 2019, when Columbia Pictures revealed that Sam Raimi would direct a new horror film scripted by Mark Swift and Damian Shannon, before it was officially confirmed under the title Send Help, with 20th Century Studios handling distribution. In October 2024, Rachel McAdams entered negotiations before being confirmed, followed by Chris Pang in December, and then Dylan O’Brien and Dennis Haysbert joining in early 2025. Principal photography, initially planned for January 2025, began in February instead and took place across Sydney, Los Angeles, and Thailand, before wrapping on April 17, 2025. With cinematography by Bill Pope, editing by Bob Murawski, and an original score composed by Danny Elfman, the film relies on collaborators already familiar with Sam Raimi’s cinematic universe, which indicates a deliberate desire for visual coherence, rhythmic precision, and a controlled tonal balance.

From a distribution standpoint, Send Help is scheduled for release in the United States on January 30, 2026, through 20th Century Studios, and in France on February 11, 2026, via The Walt Disney Company, with a confirmed running time of 112 minutes and production under Raimi Productions. Its world premiere at Gérardmer positions the festival as a key space for international genre visibility, while allowing industry professionals and audiences to discover one of early 2026’s most observed studio-backed horror-thrillers in advance of its general release. More than a simple event opening, the choice of Send Help also reflects Gérardmer’s ongoing relationship with cinema that explores fear not only through spectacle, but through psychological construction, narrative tension, and human behavior under pressure. In that sense, bringing Sam Raimi back to the forefront of psychological horror, supported by performers such as Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien, reinforces Gérardmer’s role as both a celebratory and analytical platform for contemporary fantastic cinema, and establishes the 2026 edition under the sign of continuity, expertise, and a clear respect for filmmakers whose work has shaped and continues to redefine the genre.

Synopsis :
The sole survivors of a plane crash, Linda Liddle and Bradley Preston now find themselves stranded on a desert island. For these two colleagues who are complete opposites, the time has come to overcome past grievances and work together to try to escape. Except that in the end, the battle for survival becomes a disturbing and cruelly funny trial of strength, where each wants to outsmart the other...

Send Help
Directed by Sam Raimi
Written by Damian Shannon, Mark Swift
Produced by Sam Raimi, Zainab Azizi
Starring Rachel McAdams, Dylan O'Brien, Edyll Ismail, Dennis Haysbert, Xavier Samuel, Chris Pang, Thaneth Warakulnukroh, Emma Raimi
Cinematography : Bill Pope
Edited by Bob Murawski
Music by Danny Elfman
Production company : Raimi Productions
Distributed by 20th Century Studios (United States), The Walt Disney Company (France)
Release date,: January 30, 2026 (United States), February 11, 2026 (France)
Running time : 112 minutes