I SAW SEND HELP

Director Sam Raimi's Send Help, scripted by the ever-so-clever Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, isn't a traditional, horror thriller, not by a long shot, but its raw, psychological intensity rivals that of most. 

The story deals with a frumpy, beleaguered employee named Linda Liddle, played by Rachel (Sherlock Holmes/Mean Girls) McAdams (who, as fans know, sports a real-life, drop-dead gorgeous persona that few can match). Liddle gets bullied by her new boss, Dylan (The Maze Runner) O'Brien's Bradley Preston, though in actuality, she's put upon by most others, but her sad, milquetoast relegation makes her ideal for what unfolds. 

After Preston denies Liddle an expected promotion, she accompanies him on business trip to Thailand, but when the plane crashes, the two find themselves on an island in a Swept Away conundrum. It's this that gives Liddle the upper hand and with that, sweet revenge.

We learn that Liddle is a connoisseur of survivalist techniques, and as she implements such, she begins to torment Preston. (As a devilish hook, Liddle knows how to get off the not-so-isolated island, which alludes to the catch of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone episode, "I Shot an Arrow into the Air," which in turn influenced Planet of the Apes.) At any rate, if the two disliked each other before the crash, matters only worsen, with cerebral swings occurring, ala William Wyler/John Fowler's The Collector, Rob Reiner/Stephen King's Misery and Robert Aldrich/Lukas Heller's Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, with underscoring flecks of John Boorman's Hell in the Pacific, Frank Sinatra's None But the Brave, Ruben Ostlund's Triangle of Sadness, Neil Simon's The Odd Couple and Raimi's Drag Me To Hell.  

The movie does have some violent and repellent parts, though nowhere near what one would find in an Evil Dead picture. I'll bypass the outlandish details, so as not to spoil the freaky fun, though I can say that matters do boil over to a conclusive climax, with an ending that's as uplifting as it's demented.   

Danny Elfman's score enhances Raimi's build-up, but then Elfman is good with that type of thing, as he's demonstrated with such superheroic, rise-to-the-occasion staples as Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns, Ang Lee's Hulk and Raimi's Darkman, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and The Spider-man Trilogy. (In this case, Elman's music is bookended by apt, Blondie tunes: a cool touch.)

If one digs Raimi's zooming, over-the-top, filmmaking style (and Bruce Campbell cameos), as well as edgy fables with a prefatory but displaced, Working Girl rotation, Send Help will be your cup of tea. It sure was mine. Can't wait to take another sip.

GOODBYE, CATHERINE O'HARA

For some folks, it's the Home Alone movies that they link to you; for others, it's the Beetlejuice set. For yet others, it's SCTV and the many characters you portrayed throughout the series, including my favorite, the damaged but mirthful Lola Heatherton.

There's also Moira Rose on Schitt's Creek, as well as your work (on screen and voiced) in Dick Tracy 1990 (in a clever, little cameo), The Addams Family 2019, Frankenweenie 2012, A Nightmare Before Christmas (as Sally), Monster House, A Monster in Paris, What Lives Inside, Bartok the Magnificent, The Wild Robot, Elemental, Tall Tale (as Calamity Jane), Wyatt Earp 1994, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Surviving Christmas, Intergalactic Thanksgiving, Easter Fever, Chicken Little, Over the Hedge, The Life Before This, Mamma Bear 2, Where the Wild Things Are 2009, Game 6, The Last of the High Kings, When Marni Was There, Extinct, Pippi Longstocking 1996, A Simple Twist of Fate, The Paper, Speaking of Sex, Killers, There Goes the Neighborhood, Home Fries, Little Vegas, Betsy's Wedding, Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big, A.C.O.D., The Right Kind of Wrong, Hope, Late Last Night, Orange County, Pain Hustlers, Temple Grandin, Penelope, Dave Thomas - The Incredible Time Travels of Henry Osgood, For Your Consideration, Being Canadian, Canada: Far and Wide, Searching for Debra Winger, John Candy: I Like Me and those uproarious mockumentaries, The Last Polka, For Your Consideration, Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman and The Mighty Wind.

Your television roles (whether long or short term) are pretty darn special too, including The Studio (as Patty Leigh), Skylanders Academy, Central Park, The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley, Wayne and Schuster, Come Up Rosie, Morton & Hayes, The Outer Limits 1997, Tales from the Crypt, Really Weird Tales, The Hidden Room, The Last of Us, Six Feet Under, Odd Job Jack, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, The Magic School Bus Rides Again, The Last Kids on Earth, Harvey Breaks, Glenn Martin DDS, Dr. Kratz Professional Therapist, The Larry Sanders Show, I, Martin Short, Goes Hollywood, The Dave Thomas Comedy Show, Andrea Martin ... Together Again, The Steve Allen Comedy Hour, George Burns Comedy Week, Sophia the First, Saturday Night Live, MAD TV, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Kids in the Hall, Married ... with Children, Modern Family, Oh Baby and Whose Line Is It Anyway?

You were always funny as heck, Ms. O'Hara, and quite a attractive comedian, at that. Your passing caused a jolt, leaving a deep hole in our hearts. However, your decades of varied characterizations will abide and ferment, bringing us boundless joy whenever your sprightly spirts fills our eyes and warms our hearts. 

PINUP TIME: BARDOT

 

R.I.P. SAL BUSCEMA (OUR PAL SAL)

Like your brother, John, you were as much a Marvel legend as those you rendered. 

Your runs on The Incredible Hulk, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Peter Parker and The Amazing Spider-Girl are long revered for extending the titular characters into new and exciting territories. 

You also co-created the dictatorial Ultron with Roy Thomas, co-created the regal Starhawk with Steve Gerber (ultimately a Guardian of the Galaxy), fleshed out the mythology for Parker Brothers' Rom the Space Knight with Bill Mantlo, and even set the quirky Elf with a Gun upon the Defenders (vexing Daredevil and the gang). Perhaps of greatest importance, you and Stainless Steel Englehart gave readers one of the most gratifying team-ups of the 1970s, as the valiant Captain America and the Falcon can attest.   

Your innovation didn't cease there, of course, as you energized Conan the Barbarian; Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle; The Uncanny X-Men; Captain Marvel, Gunhawk; The Rawhide Kid; Western Gunfighters; The Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer; Howard the Duck; Kiss; Dead of Night; and so many fascinating facets of so many of The Avengers.  

For a spell, you even shared your talents with DC, handling artwork for Superman, Superboy, Batman, Catwoman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow and Creeper.

Your career was one to envy, having reached infinite, influential heights. Your significance, therefore, can't be denied, Mr. Buscema. In fact, like that of any legend, it'll only grow more admired and beloved over time. 

HAPPY NATIONAL GORILLA SUIT DAY 2026 (1/31)

 

I SAW SILENT HILL 2

Christophe (Brotherhood of the Wolf) Gans' Return to Silent Hill is a loose sequel (or more so, a companion piece) to his 2006 endeavor, based on the eminent, video-game series, where surreal, Fulci-styled aesthetics intersect with Phantasm/Hellraiser-like imagery and Carnival of Souls/Jacob's Ladder allusions. The new Silent Hill picture is, in truth, just as surreal and perhaps even more abstract than its moody predecessor, making it an experimental niche dropped within the prime, movie flow. 

For Silent Hill 2, our protagonist is Jeremy (War Horse) Irvine's James Sunderland, an alcoholic, guilt-ridden, in-therapy artist, who decides to return to his old stomping ground, Silent Hill, where things have gone (pardon the pun) down hill and are ripe for messing with a susceptible mind.   

In his unwitting attempt to find himself in this crumbled realm, as well as locate his lost love, Hannah Marie Anderson's Mary, the flashlight-armed Sunderland stumbles upon several ashy, if not frightful sights, including the popular Pyramid Head, freaky nurses, body-horror monsters, Rosemary's Baby, cult-bound interludes and Evie Templeton's forlorn Laura, who looks like a cross between Barbara Steele and M3GAN (and if the truth be known, performs much the same function as the creepy, little girl featured in the first flick). Sunderland segues from them to visit flashbacks, only to fall back into their grasp, in an ongoing, arthouse-movie manner. 

Perhaps I shouldn't have liked the approach, but for whatever cause I did. It may be as simple as my thinking that Irvine resembles me (though some I've spoken to say I'm nutty to think so). Still, I didn't have any trouble seeing the weirdness through his eyes, even though the first flick's sexy-babe quotient is a lot more appealing for a compounded journey.

At any rate, the sequel's premise promotes the idea that Sunderland's depression is the real antagonist: that he's fighting his personal demons, which includes Mary's manifestation, as well as her perplexing doppelgangers. But then we also know, from the franchise's established lore, that Silent Hill's wacky, funhouse imagery does hold sustenance, but where in the epic expanse does its Freddy Kreuger angle begin and/or end? The lines of cohesiveness melt away much of the time, creating an effectual, fever dream (think along the lines of Carl Theodor's Vampyre, retold by David Lynch), but for those who just might prefer linear storytelling, head-scratching confusion is inevitable. To rephrase, when all is said and done, some may ask did any of the events occur and what the hell did the culmination even mean? 

Silent Hill 2, as with its predecessor, is more of a visual exercise in this respect: a winding, dread-laden, grief-allegory tug-a-long, if one will, to engage during those times when one wants to veg out, albeit in a melancholic, "sad song" sort of way. To be honest, Fantasia follows a similar, open-ended, seemingly purposeless path, and there are those who hold it in high regard. I say embrace whatever floats your boat. There's no reason to think that Silent Hill 2 can't charm; it's more a matter of whether you're one of those it can charm. There's only one way to find out, of course. Take a deep breath, grab some popcorn and view it.