---
title: "In ‘Send Help,’ Terp Helps Sam Raimi Deliver a Twisted Castaway Tale"
date: 2026-02-02T05:30:00-05:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/in-send-help-terp-helps-sam-raimi-deliver-a-twisted-castaway-tale"
section: Articles
---
# In ‘Send Help,’ Terp Helps Sam Raimi Deliver a Twisted Castaway Tale

*February 2, 2026* — by [Sala Levin ’10](/author/sala-levin-10)


> Alumna Turns Love of Horror Into Fast-Rising Career With Hollywood Master of Thrillers

*Zainab Azizi Send Help — Zainab Azizi '12 talks with director Sam Raimi on the set of "Send Help," which opened Friday to strong reviews and ticket sales. Azizi, who was named to *Variety*'s list of "10 Producers to Watch" in 2025, produced "Send Help," starring Dylan O’Brien and Rachel McAdams, shown below. (Photos courtesy of 20th Century Studios)*

Most 6-year-olds watching movies in the mid-’90s were twirling along as Belle danced with the Beast in his cavernous ballroom or hoisting younger siblings aloft for benediction like baby Simba.

Not Zainab Azizi ’12. After a relative gifted her a box full of B horror films on VHS, Azizi gobbled up movies like Peter Jackson’s gore-spattered zombie comedy “Dead Alive” and Sam Raimi’s demonic possession “Evil Dead” trilogy. She became a fiend for the genre. “Going to Blockbuster on a Friday night was my dream come true.”

She's no longer just renting movies that make you cover your eyes. Azizi is now president of Raimi Productions, and she’s a producer on Raimi’s newest film, “Send Help,” a darkly comedic thriller starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien that opened Friday.


*From left, woman and a man sit on a log near the ocean and tie strings together.*




**Topics:** [Arts & Culture](https://today.umd.edu/tags/arts-culture)


**Tags:** [Sociology](https://today.umd.edu/topic/sociology), [Arts](https://today.umd.edu/topic/arts)


**Units:** [College of Behavioral and Social Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-behavioral-and-social-sciences)