The original score for “Send Help” was written by Academy Award®-nominated composer
Danny Elfman, whose collaborations with Raimi span over 30 years. The pair previously worked
together on “Spider-Man,” “Darkman,” “A Simple Plan” and “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of
Madness.”
“It was great, incredibly great, collaborating with Danny Elfman, as it always is for me,” Raimi
says. “He literally makes your movie one letter grade better. And he always knows where to put
his music and precisely the tone to elevate the scene. It’s not what you might think it would’ve
been.”
“The thing that made me say yes to ‘Send Help’ without even knowing what the movie was, was
the fact that it was Sam Raimi who was the director,” says Elfman. “Sam and I have worked
together for somewhere between 30 and 35 years now. And Sam’s one of those people when he
calls with the question of if I’m available, I automatically say yes.”
In Azizi’s experience, “Danny Elfman is a dream come true to work with. He is an absolute
legend, and he’s elevated so many scenes.”
As he approached the project, Elfman was excited to find the right tonal balance for the film’s
music landscape.
“Balancing all the elements of a film and a score is the fun part–you take things in many
different directions. The thing that was unique in ‘Send Help,’ because I’ve done a number of
16 thrillers, is this also had a kind of a dark comic side to it, which made it even more fun to play,
because sometimes I can have fun with the music and just play it over the top in a kind of a
broad way. And then sometimes it’s like, ‘No, now I really want to be intense and moody with
the music.’”
For Linda Liddle’s theme, Elfman wanted to reflect her character’s transformation.
“I wanted to find a theme that played very sweetly and gently with a woman’s voice that could
be both innocent and have a tinge of madness to it,” Elfman explains. “And so, I think I used as
my inspiration ‘Rosemary’s Baby.’ It was a score that I really loved growing up. When we hear
her theme early on, it’s got kind of an innocent quality to it, but by the end when we hear it, it
takes on a darker, more sinister quality to the same voice singing the same theme. I always love
it when I can do something like that, take a little innocent piece of thematic material and in its
simplicity and innocence try to make it feel almost menacing.”
Elfman adds, “The whole end of the movie was delightful and fun to score too, because things
get so intense.”
“Danny has a mastery of film and music that nobody else has–he tells the story with his music,”
Raimi says. “He enhances, he sometimes plays counterpoint when he decides, sometimes he
stays out because the moment will land better like that. He’s a never ending teacher for me of
how film music works. I couldn’t ask for anything better than what he delivered.”
Elfman’s experience on the production was an equally positive one.
“With Sam, it’s just fun. I love the dynamic between me and Sam and Bob, the editor, because
we all go back together. Really, it’s just like getting back into the playpen for us. It’s almost like
we went to elementary school together and we were play pals back then. And now, as adults,
we get to get together and play in this big playpen called a movie. And even though we didn’t
know each other as kids, that’s kind of what it feels like to me. It just becomes a joyful
experience.”
“My only wish when audiences hear the music, is that it enhances their experience of the film,”
Elfman concludes.