Sam Raimi Reveals the Send Help Easter Egg He Sneaks Into Nearly Every Movie

Sam Raimi has a new movie out, and yes, the yellow 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 is in it. Because of course it is. The car pops up again in 'Send Help' — his psychological thriller with plenty of tense, prickly character stuff — and Raimi just explained why that beat-up yellow ride keeps tagging along in his filmography.

Why the yellow car keeps showing up

Talking to Cineatomy while promoting 'Send Help,' Raimi said the car isn’t just a cute nod — it’s personal. He grew up borrowing that exact Oldsmobile for his early Super 8 shorts, then kept using it because it was the only car he could reliably get on camera. When he and his brother headed to college, his mom handed them the keys so they could get to class. A practical gift that turned into a decades-long tradition.

"That car was my mother's car in Detroit back in the '70s."

When it came time to shoot his first feature, 'The Evil Dead,' Raimi needed a car, and the only one available was — again — his mom’s Delta 88. She gave the OK, the car made the cut, and then it stuck. By the sequel, it had to be there for continuity. Somewhere along the way, Raimi realized it had basically slipped into every movie he’d made. At that point, it wasn’t just a running gag — it was comfort food for the director, a familiar anchor he kept threading into new projects. And now it’s back in 'Send Help' too.

'Send Help' quick snapshot

• Now playing in theaters
• Directed by Sam Raimi; co-produced by Raimi and Zainab Azizi
• Screenplay by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift
• Rotten Tomatoes: 93% certified fresh; 87% audience score
• Cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O'Brien, Edyll Ismail, Dennis Haysbert, Xavier Samuel, Chris Pang, and more

If you’ve followed Raimi for any amount of time, you already know the yellow Delta 88 is basically a supporting character. Now you know the origin story too — it’s not just a filmmaker in-joke, it’s a family heirloom that never left the frame.