Tuna fish sandwiches get a raw deal. They’re delicious, the best of the basic (one meat, cheese, or peanut butter and a complimentary spread) sandwiches, and I’m tired of people acting otherwise. The latest offender is Send Help. It turns a small amount of tuna fish sandwich remnants on all-star employee Linda Liddle’s (Rachel McAdams) face into a horror so terrible it sends big boss Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien). If only poor Bradley knew further grossness awaited him.

Director Sam Raimi is back. Not superhero Sam, a perfectly worthy filmmaker to be sure. No, this is the Raimi of Drag Me to Hell and Army of Darkness. He’s got a movie for us that’s gory, gross, and equally happy to make you laugh or scream. Although, all things considered, it would really like you to do both at once. For his third film in a row, he’s working from someone else’s script. This time, however, the writers—Damian Shannon and Mark Swift—seem remarkably simpatico to Raimi’s vibes. Unlike Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness—which felt like half a Raimi—or Oz the Great and Powerful—which anyone could’ve, and no one should’ve—Send Help fits so snugly into the director’s unique vision that finding out he didn’t write it himself is a bit of a surprise.

As with Drag Me to Hell, Raimi is once again at least partially focused on the evils of the modern workplace and what they drive us to. In the case of Linda, it costs her a promotion long promised by the previous company president, Bradley’s deceased father (seen as Bruce Campbell in a single photograph). Regardless of her competence, she weirds Bradley. She never really stood a chance anyway, though. Not with the new company president’s golf buddy Donovan (Xavier Samuel) standing right there, taking credit for her work and looking far less offensive to Bradley’s eyes.

With the company up against deadline on a major deal, Bradley knows enough to not totally reject Linda. Instead, he offers her a challenge. Join him and some other execs on his private jet to Bangkok to seal the deal. If she demonstrates that she can be an asset and that his impressions of her are wrong, well… Crucially, he never reveals exactly what that will result in. Linda, however, can’t let the opportunity pass, so she does get on the flight. Hours later, the plane is sinking to the bottom of the ocean in pieces. Only she and her awful boss survive, waking up on a tropical deserted island.

It sounds dire—and surely would be to live through—but the writers, director, and stars all conspire to give it an undeniable sense of fun. Raimi and cinematographer Bill Pope collaborate to well highlight the island’s beauty. On the other hand, they frequently give it a creeping sense of artificiality, with obvious green screens and too-perfect backgrounds. As a result, the audience, subconsciously or otherwise, is always waiting for the other shoe to drop. It gives every scene an air of unreliability where even the most obvious development feels a bit unexpected.

And the gore. Oh, the gore. It’s goopy, gross, and frequently hilarious. Raimi, unlike nearly any other director this side of Troma, has an uncanny ability to make gratuitous blood and guts feel just right for the film. Does Linda’s first hunting expedition need to be so spurting and chaotic? No. But if it weren’t, it—and the movie—would be lesser for it. The best mix of makeup and scares is too good to spoil, but when you see it, you’ll know it. Or rather, when it sees you.

McAdams imbues Linda with an off-kilter energy that makes her easy to root for AND often unnerving. The corporate structure was obviously screwing her over. She provided work that was genuinely essential to the company’s well-being. And yet, it doesn’t just feel cruel. She’s awkward, unaware of herself, and makes others uncomfortable. Of course, her island mate is even worse. O’Brien’s Bradley has a laugh sure to annoy, if not enrage. Still, there is a certain vulnerability to his inability to shed the “master of the universe” thinking when his world has been turned entirely upside down. Nonetheless, time and again, he tries to reassert an authority that turned to ash the moment the first plane engine blew. The prickliness of the survivor’s dynamic, which rises and fades throughout, is an undeniable kick.

The film’s ending, which rewards a close look, is nearly perfect. The amorality of it is obvious. However, the buy-in is so full that one cannot suppress their delight. It’s the final chuckle to a movie that will have you groaning and giggling through, often at the same time.

Send Help crashes in theatres starting January 30.

Send Help Trailer: