Sam Raimi To Direct & Produce Horror Thriller ‘Send Help’ For 20th Century Studios

EXCLUSIVE: Sam Raimi, architect of the Evil Dead franchise, has closed a deal to direct and produce Send Help, a new horror thriller for 20th Century Studios.

Not yet officially greenlighted by the studio, according to our sources, the film is described as a two-hander horror thriller set on an island. The story is said to fall somewhere between Rob Reiner’s Stephen King adaptation Misery and Robert Zemeckis’ classic Castaway.

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Pic is based on an original script by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift (Baywatch). Raimi will produce alongside Zainab Azizi under Raimi Productions, and we’re told the film is expected to get a theatrical release.

One of the most influential genre filmmakers still working, Raimi is responsible for the Evil Dead franchise, whose most recent installment, Evil Dead Rise, grossed over $147 million worldwide last spring. As we were first to report, two new, untitled installments from directors Francis Galluppi and Sébastien Vani?ek and Raimi and Robert Tapert’s Ghost House Pictures are currently in the works.

As a director, Raimi’s most recent credit is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which generated over $955M globally for Marvel. He’s also known for his directing work on the Spider-Man franchise, as well as titles like Drag Me to Hell and Oz the Great and Powerful. As a producer, his upcoming films include the horror thriller Don’t Move, which Netflix swooped on in April, and the horror thriller Locked, starring Bill Skarsg?rd and Anthony Hopkins, which is currently in post.

Perhaps best known for co-writing Paramount’s 2017 take on Baywatch, starring Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron, Shannon and Swift before that co-wrote a pair of horror projects: 2003’s Freddy vs. Jason and 2009’s Friday the 13th.

Raimi is represented by CAA and Craig Jacobson and Stewart Brookman at Hansen, Jacobson, Teller. Shannon and Swift are repped by UTA and McKuin Frankel Whitehead.

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