Send Help, Disney Has A New CEO, and A Sundance 2026 Recap
/Film Weekly
SlashFilm.com
4.4 • 942 Ratings
🗓️ 4 February 2026
⏱️ 149 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On the February 4, 2026 episode of /Film Weekly, /Film editor Ben Pearson is joined by several people to talk about the latest movie and TV news, have a discussion about Sam Raimi’s Send Help, and talk about almost every single movie we saw at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
(~00:19) News
- https://www.slashfilm.com/2089157/catherine-ohara-home-alone-schitts-creek-star-dead-obituary/
- The Chain
- HBO has given an eight-episode, straight-to-series order for THE CHAIN, a new limited series written and executive produced by Emmy®-winner Damon Lindelof (HBO’s “The Leftovers,” “Watchmen”). Lindelof will showrun, a position not held since HBO’s “Watchmen.” HBO has also signed a two-year overall deal with Lindelof which began in September 2025.
- Based on the acclaimed New York Times bestselling book by Adrian McKinty of the same name, THE CHAIN is the first project under this deal with the Emmy®-nominated television studio Media Res (“The Morning Show,” “Pachinko”) serving as the co-studio. Details are under wraps, but Lindelof is said to be expanding the mythology of McKinty’s award-winning thriller.
- Edgar Wright was going to turn this into a movie a few years ago: https://www.slashfilm.com/574844/the-chain-movie/
- the “expanding the mythology” aspect is intriguing, because the premise of the book sounds pretty bonkers
- The Chain tells the story of Rachel, who learns that her 11-year-old daughter has been kidnapped. The only way to get her back is to kidnap another child. Her daughter will be released only when that next victim’s parents kidnap another child. If Rachel doesn’t kidnap another child, or if that child’s parents don’t kidnap a child, her daughter will be murdered. She is now part of The Chain, a terrifying and meticulous chain letter-like kidnapping scheme that turns parents from victims into criminals. The book tells Rachel’s harrowing story as victim, survivor, abductor and criminal. What the masterminds behind The Chain know is that parents will do anything for their children. But what they don’t know is that in Rachel they have finally met their match, as she is smart and tough enough to have survived a bout with cancer and is determined to break The Chain while getting her daughter back.
- https://variety.com/2026/film/news/nancy-meyers-comedy-penelope-cruz-kieran-culkin-jude-law-release-date-2-1236649935/
- https://www.slashfilm.com/2089145/final-fast-and-furious-movie-fast-forever-2028-release/
(~4:31)
- https://www.slashfilm.com/2092175/disney-bob-iger-ceo-replacement-josh-damaro-meaning/
- The Drama trailer
(~18:40) Send Help Review: Rachel McAdams Is Delightfully Unhinged In Sam Raimi's Bloody Horror Comedy
(~41:22) Sundance 2026
2026's First Truly Shocking Comedy Has Scenes You Have To See To Believe [Sundance 2026]
A24's New Horror Film Is Already The Scariest Movie Of 2026 [Sundance 2026]
The Moment Review: The Charli XCX Brat Phenomenon Gets A Bitterly Hilarious Mockumentary
All the other stuff you need to know:
- You can find more about some of the stories we mentioned on today’s show at slashfilm.com, and linked in the show notes.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, everyone. Welcome to Slash Film Weekly. It's Wednesday, February 4th, 2026. On today's episode of the show, we're going to be talking about the latest film and TV news. We'll have a discussion about Sam Ramey's new movie Send Help. And we'll talk about almost every single film we saw at the 26 Sundance Film Festival. My name is Ben Pearson. I'm an editor at SlashFilm.com. I'm going to go rapid fire through a bunch of news |
| 0:21.7 | items really quickly because we just have a really packed show today. Unfortunately, I have to |
| 0:26.1 | start by talking a little bit about Catherine O'Hara, who died at age 71 on, I think it was January 30th. |
| 0:32.5 | Just a really devastating loss for an actress who seemed like she was still very much at the top of her game. |
| 0:38.8 | She obviously was still a major factor in season one of the studio, which was not that long ago when |
| 0:44.2 | that came out. And yeah, just very, very sad to lose her at such a pretty young age, all things |
| 0:50.3 | considered. And she was just a comedy legend and seemingly beloved by everyone. |
| 0:57.1 | We have several articles up on the site about her just highlighting some of our favorite |
| 1:01.5 | moments of hers and just these incredible moments that she gave us in film and TV over the |
| 1:06.9 | year. |
| 1:07.3 | So she's going to be greatly, greatly missed. |
| 1:10.5 | I wanted to mention that HBO has given |
| 1:12.8 | an eight episode straight to series order for a new TV show from Damon Lindelof, the creator of |
| 1:18.4 | Lost, or one of the creators of Lost, and the creator of Watchmen and the leftovers. And this show |
| 1:24.8 | is called The Chain. And Damon Lindelof is going to be show running this, |
| 1:28.4 | which is the first time he's done that since Watchman. |
| 1:31.4 | And The Chain is based on a book by Adrian McGinty. |
| 1:35.3 | Edgar Wright was actually looking to turn this into a movie a few years ago, |
| 1:39.5 | and Lindelof is looking to expand the mythology of what McKinty did in the original book. So the chain for |
| 1:46.6 | those who don't know tells the story of Rachel, who learns that her 11-year-old daughter has been |
| 1:50.5 | kidnapped. The only way to get her back is to kidnap another child. Her daughter will be released |
| 1:55.4 | only when that next victim's parents kidnap another child. If Rachel doesn't kidnap another |
... |
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