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The spectacularly dumb, weirdly entertaining bad-taste thriller "Bad Samaritan" is the kind of movie that many will assume can only be enjoyed ironically, or just with some sort of emotional detachment. This serial-killer horror flick does, admittedly, sound like low-brow kitsch: former "Doctor Who" star David Tennant , playing murderous trust-funder Cale Erendreich, chases after glassy-eyed, underachieving artiste Sean Falco ( Robert Sheehan ) in an expressive, sleazy, sub-Hitchcockian battle of snobs versus slobs. It isn't exactly a good film, but it is weirdly charming, thanks to its creators' exuberant commitment to tacky ideas.

Cale is rich and perverse enough to try to ruin the life of Sean, a petty thief who makes the mistake of breaking into Cale's ultra-luxe Portland, Oregon house. Sean discovers an appropriately petrified Helen ( Lisa Brenner ) tied to a chair just two floors above Cale's garage-set torture room, where he keeps his Maserati and impeccably mounted tool kit.

"Bad Samaritan" starts out like a lurid stoner horror film. This comparison isn't made arbitrarily: early on, Sean conspicuously smokes a joint with his best buddy/fellow thief Derek ( Carlito Olivero ), a restaurant valet who—with Sean's help—sneaks into clients' homes and selectively divests them of their valuables. This table-setting scene of recreational drug use doesn't tell you a lot about Sean, but it does cast the film's slow-burning first act in an inadvertently funny light. Maybe Sean's status as a stereotypical pothead makes it easier to understand why a later scene, set in an outdoor car-park, is shot with special attention on Sheehan and Olivero's highly visible breath as it rises from their mouths like dragon's breath. And maybe Sean's one-time toke also accidentally explains why there are so many low-key red herring jump scares throughout the film's first 45 minutes. And hey, how about the film's dimmer-switch-low lighting, and hazy grey color palette? Maybe this is what it's like to be the Cary Grant character in a Hitchcock thriller, only super-high, young, and capable of any number of dumb life choices, like trying to call the cops on a super-rich guy who has a torture chamber in his house.

Then again, one of the main pleasures of watching "Bad Samaritan" is puzzling over the barely sensible motives of dim-bulb characters like Sean. This is, weirdly enough, the main appeal of Tennant's character, an absurdly calculating antagonist whose motives are a great source of mystery (but not really). Cale's weird need to destroy Sean is that much more tantalizing thanks to his bizarre Freudian backstory about horses and childhood trauma (it's hinted at in the film's opening scene). Receptive viewers are bound to enjoy watching Tennant's motiveless killer half-scowl and half-pout like the Muppets' Sam the Eagle as he painstakingly dismantles Sean's life in the silliest, and most aggressive ways. Nothing is sacred, not Sean's parents' jobs, not his Facebook password, and not his girlfriend's college lecture on ... glaciers? 

This movie proves the Oscar Wilde joke about how playing the piano "accurately" is over-rated as long as you play "with expression": you don't need to be technically accomplished to make a fun, unsound piece of pulp fiction. There's even a certain charm to the film's sleazier scenes, the ones set in Cale's remote cabin, where he locks Helen up in a a homey jail-cell-like enclosure—complete with designer blankets and Land's-End-catalogue-quality clothes—that seems to have been home-decorated by Crate and Barrel. There's not a distracting amount of gore or nudity in these scenes, though there is some of both. Cale's rote serial killer backstory is made bearable by Tennant's gamely hammy performance (the man tears up scenery like Pacman gobbles up pellets).

What I like most about "Bad Samaritan" is that it seems to have been made by people who refused to be stymied by their long-term lack of direct contact with actual human beings, as evidenced by the film's tin-eared dialogue. These filmmakers keep on stacking bad ideas on top of each other until bombs, literal skeletons, and live, menacing people are leaping out of closets, premature graves, and convection ovens. If you feel a little ironic detachment coming on, remember: if "Bad Samaritan" works for you, your pleasure can't be all that guilty.

Simon Abrams

Simon Abrams is a native New Yorker and freelance film critic whose work has been featured in  The New York Times ,  Vanity Fair ,  The Village Voice,  and elsewhere.

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Film credits.

Bad Samaritan (2018)

Rated R for violence, language throughout, some drug use and brief nudity.

111 minutes

David Tennant as Cale Erendreich

Robert Sheehan as Sean Falco

Kerry Condon as Katie

Jacqueline Byers as Riley Seabrook

Lisa Brenner as Helen Leyton

Hannah Barefoot as Sabine

• Dean Devlin
• Brandon Boyce

Cinematographer

• David Connell
• Brian Gonosey
• Joseph LoDuca

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Bad Samaritan Reviews

Bad Samaritan is the tale of an immigrant taking on a dangerous, out of touch, entitled, rich asshole. There's a dose of politically charged wish fulfillment in that, which makes an already fun movie even more of a blast.

Full Review | Dec 10, 2020

Bad Samaritan has all the cleverness of a shovel to the head.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Jul 18, 2020

No one gives a dull performance and the story is compelling enough to keep you hooked from beginning to end.

Full Review | Oct 29, 2019

It's not bad, it's just boring.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Oct 1, 2019

By devolving into unoriginal nonsense by the third act, the film is laid even lower by the fact that it actually had a lot going for it before completely falling apart.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.25/5 | Jul 20, 2019

This sincerely made thriller with an itty-bitty IQ will never be confused for "good," but it is fully immersive in its floundering failure.

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Jun 18, 2019

The pretty standard and otherwise forgettable low-budget thriller has only the whacked-out performance by David Tenant going for it, but that's enough (he's worth it).

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Mar 20, 2019

Tennant relishes the chance to deliver a heady blast of nostril-flaring villainy.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 16, 2019

There is also a social dimension to their clash, with Cale, heir to a vast family fortune, breaking into the life of working-class Sean much as Sean broke into his, only with an added, overt sense of entitlement and superiority.

Full Review | Dec 13, 2018

A machine built for screaming speed and excitement that only ever just cruises through the suburbs at half speed.

Full Review | Nov 27, 2018

I think it's meant to be hysterical. I hope so, anyway, because I laughed a lot.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 30, 2018

A tight little film which does a good job of living up to its bold premise, Bad Samaritan makes occasional slips but delivers, overall, a solid two hours of entertainment.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 27, 2018

Dean Devlin finally steps out from Roland Emmerich's shadow with a tight, twisty little thriller.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 27, 2018

The more ridiculous the film gets, the more entertaining it becomes.

Full Review | Aug 26, 2018

The debut director Dean Devlin clearly has Hitchcockian pretensions, even if the sleazy thrills he offers lunge closer towards torture porn.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 24, 2018

What is David Tennant doing in this fantastically charmless and unpleasant film?

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Aug 24, 2018

[Bad Samaritan] ties on the odd scare and builds the thief's character better than the serial killer. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Aug 23, 2018

Filmmaker Dean Devlin assembles the movie with gritty, sleek style, offering just enough character development to hook the audience before things turn viciously over the top. And also rather silly.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 22, 2018

Devlin's directing takes the paint-by-numbers approach with nothing new to offer.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/10 | Aug 20, 2018

It will never go down as one of the best suspense films, but it will entertain those looking for a little thrill. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 6.6/10 | Aug 15, 2018

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Review: A Burglar Breaks Into the Wrong House in ‘Bad Samaritan’

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By Glenn Kenny

• May 2, 2018

A young would-be photographer who’s supplementing his income via petty thievery breaks into the wrong house early in “Bad Samaritan.” One half of a team operating a valet-parking scam in Portland, Oregon, Sean (Robert Sheehan) thinks he’s struck gold after gaining entry to the home of the ultra-haughty Maserati-driving Cale Erendreich (David Tennant). Instead he finds what appears to be the lair of a serial killer — think a moneyed version of Buffalo Bill in “Silence of the Lambs.” He also finds one of Cale’s victims chained to a chair, and still alive.

A failure of moral nerve compels Sean to leave the scene, but guess what, he feels kind of bad about it. The intrusion drives Cale to go into supervillain mode, methodically destroying Sean’s life while continuing to toy with the woman he’s kidnapped.

The story line, not to mention the trappings of wealth, make the movie feel a bit like a tribute to the cheesy deluxe-house-of-guilty-mirrors thrillers of the ’80s and ’90s — “Jagged Edge,” “Fatal Attraction” and so on. The “Bad Samaritan” director, Dean Devlin, handles the proceedings like Adrian Lyne (who directed “Fatal Attraction”) on HGH supplements (and divested of over a third of Mr. Lyne’s visual elegance, such as it is).

Mr. Tennant, who usually is scrupulous in conveying the nuances of volatile characters (see his work on the British television series “Broadchurch” ), just goes utterly bananas here. Particularly in the last 15 minutes when, for reasons perhaps only fully known to himself, he attempts an impersonation of Steve Carell’s character on “The Office.”

Rated R for violence, language, a little drug use, a little nudity, and general bad vibes. Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes.

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Film Review: ‘Bad Samaritan’

A hustler tries to redeem himself by rescuing a kidnap victim in a potboiler that channels early-’90s Hollywood thrillers like 'The Silence of the Lambs.'

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

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A small-time scam artist (up-and-coming Irish actor Robert Sheehan , “Mute”) inadvertently stumbles upon a far more dangerous criminal (a sadistic serial killer played by ex-“Doctor Who” star David Tennant ), earning a chance to redeem himself in the catchy if somewhat nonsensically titled “Bad Samaritan.” The notion of a well-meaning sinner doing penance for past wrongs may as well extend to producer-turned-director Dean Devlin , who’s evidently using this potboiler to atone for last year’s disastrous “Geostorm” (in which Sheehan also appeared), delivering a down-and-dirty quickie that’s less ambitious in every sense yet ultimately far more effective as a piece of shamelessly manipulative, armrest-clutching genre entertainment.

Banking heavily on the unconventional, almost-androgynous looks of its blue-eyed, ringlet-haired leading man, “Bad Samaritan” expects audiences to identify with an opportunistic hustler — and talented amateur photographer — who uses a Portland restaurant’s valet parking service to break into rich folks’ homes while they dine. Sean (Sheehan) and partner in crime Derek (Carlito Olivero) are running a pretty simple scheme: They take your keys, then use your in-car GPS system to steer themselves back to your home, swiftly nicking whatever you won’t notice is gone and having the car back before you’ve finished dessert.

According to the movie’s messed-up sense of morality, the duo only rob those rude, stuck-up jerks who treat them badly when pulling up to the restaurant (which is everyone, apparently), tapping into that simmering resentment that turned have-nots against the privileged 1% during the 2008 financial crisis. The movie doesn’t approve of this behavior per se, but it does take a certain gleeful thrill in the adrenaline rush of pulling off such a heist. Early on, Brandon Boyce’s screenplay (which follows a tight, B-movie template in the vein of David Koepp’s “Panic Room”) illustrates how Sean and Derek’s system works when a rich white family pulls up in a Range Rover, before efficiently shifting into more unpredictable territory when a far shadier character pulls up in his Maserati.

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Clearly relishing every second of his role as a skin-crawling super-creep, Tennant plays the worst-case version of a Patrick Bateman-esque sociopath — an insufferable trust-fund kid who has used his wealth to justify a lifetime of outside-the-law behavior. At first glimpse, wrapping up what sounds like a sketchy business call, Cale Erendreich (whose very name sounds like that of the Ivy League son of a Nazi war criminal) reminds of those condescending my-life-is-more-important-than-yours customers who approach the counter at the dry cleaner, Starbucks or Sprinkles without so much as hanging up the phone, making the world wait while they multitask their business.

He deserves to be burgled, the movie seems to suggest, taking illicit satisfaction as Sean races the Maserati back to the minimalistically furnished mansion just a few minutes away. After opening Erendreich’s mail and activating a newly arrived credit card from the stranger’s landline (such tricks are so literally reenacted, it feels as though screenwriter Boyce has adapted a click-bait article on identity theft), Sean uses his keys to go snooping through the rest of the house, where he finds a battered and chained young woman (Kerry Condon) held captive in a locked room upstairs. Lest anyone mistake this for a kinky sex game, in a private chamber adjoining the garage he discovers what looks like a set from the “Saw” movies, a home abattoir complete with gnarly, blood-spattered tools.

Needless to say, Sean freaks out, renouncing his breaking-and-entering shenanigans right then and there. But his transformation goes farther than that, as the young man declares himself personally responsible for saving Erendreich’s victim, whatever the cost. His accomplice Derek isn’t so sure that’s a good idea, but Sean is determined to risk his life to make things right, setting off a ridiculous but engaging showdown between this poor immigrant (who’s inexplicably Irish at a time when undocumented workers from other countries dominate the news) and a lunatic for whom money is no object, to the point that he’s willing to murder complete strangers and blow up his own home to get back at the young trespasser.

Veering dangerously close to torture porn in places, “Bad Samaritan” evokes urban myths about an upper class so entitled that it hunts or enslaves people for its own amusement. Aside from repeated flashbacks involving a wild horse, a gun, and an ambiguous murder, the movie offers precious little explanation for Erendreich’s proclivities, apart from the fact that they tie back to his childhood obsession with dressage. As one of the consistently ineffectual law enforcement officers puts it, “So now, instead of breaking horses, he breaks people,” as if anything could explain the elaborate series of bridles and shock collars he forces his victims to wear.

It’s all thoroughly unpleasant, but then, that’s what audiences for this kind of movie want from the experience, so consider it a success of sorts. When it comes to sick thrills, “Bad Samaritan” is nowhere near as horrible as “The Human Centipede,” harking back to such early-’90s thrillers as “The Silence of the Lambs,” “Cape Fear,” and “The Vanishing.” Apart from those attracted to the idea of seeing a “Doctor Who” star sink his teeth into such a role, the cast is virtually unrecognizable, but the production values are high, rendering its consistent suspense all the more unsettling by cinematographer David Connell’s cold, extreme-widescreen lensing. The movie implies that under different circumstances, Sean might be a gifted photographer, underscoring that both Devlin and his DP appear to be wasting their potential on such depraved material. One thing’s for sure: You won’t think of valeting your car the same way again.

Reviewed at Electric Entertainment screening room, Los Angeles, April 30, 2018. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 110 MIN.

• Production: An Electric Entertainment release and presentation, in association with Global Pictures Media. Producers: Dean Devlin, Marc Roskin, Rachel Olschan-Wilson. Executive producers: Brandon Lambdin, Carsten H.W. Lorenz.
• Crew: Director: Dean Devlin. Screenplay: Brandon Boyce. Camera (color, widescreen): David Connell. Editor: Brian Gonosey. Music: Joseph LoDuca.
• With: Robert Sheehan, David Tennant, Kerry Condon , Jacqueline Byers, Carlito Olivero, Carsten Lorenz, Lisa Brenner, Rob Nagle, Austin Leo.

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Bad Samaritan

A pair of burglars stumble upon a woman being held captive in a home they intended to rob. A pair of burglars stumble upon a woman being held captive in a home they intended to rob. A pair of burglars stumble upon a woman being held captive in a home they intended to rob.

• Dean Devlin
• Brandon Boyce
• David Tennant
• Robert Sheehan
• Kerry Condon
• 334 User reviews
• 93 Critic reviews
• 42 Metascore
• 1 nomination

• Cale Erendreich

• Derek Sandoval

• Riley Seabrook
• FBI Agent Olivia Fuller

• (as Robert P. Nagle)
• Patty Falco

• Rowan Falco

• Detective Wayne Bannyon

• Helen Leyton

• Officer Aguilar

• FBI Supervisor
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia The ring Sean gives his mother for her birthday is a Claddagh ring, a traditional Irish ring which represents love, loyalty, and friendship.
• Goofs Cale states that the paddle shift and that Sean shouldn't confuse it with his Granny's Vauxhall. Neither Cale as an American nor Sean as an Irishman would be familiar with Vauxhall's. Cale would call it a Saturn and Sean would call it an Opel.

Sean Falco : You... are fucking crazy! You know that... right?

Cale Erendreich : No... no... no. Because crazy people get caught.

• Connections Referenced in Midnight Screenings: Bad Samaritan (2018)
• Soundtracks We Like to Party Written by Jarrel Young , Waqaaz Hashmi (as Waqaas Hashmi) & John Sztrikacs Performed by Young Wolf Hatchlings Courtesy of FameCity Group Inc By arrangement with Cutting Edge Group

User reviews 334

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• Aug 17, 2018
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• May 4, 2018 (United States)
• United States
• Tội Ác Trong Căn Nhà
• Portland, Oregon, USA
• Electric Entertainment
• Global Pictures Media
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• May 6, 2018

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• Runtime 1 hour 50 minutes

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Review: Tech-smart thriller ‘Bad Samaritan’ mines modern-day paranoia for chills

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“Geostorm” director Dean Devlin helms the outrageous horror/thriller “Bad Samaritan,” starring David Tennant, with a humdinger of a script by Brandon Boyce that takes the popular parable and reverse engineers the story from there. This is an audaciously wacky film, and the filmmakers manage to get a few things just right.

Irish actor Robert Sheehan co-stars as Sean, a plucky amateur photographer who moonlights as a restaurant valet, making even more money committing petty theft, thanks to the keys and GPS systems patrons so willingly hand over. One night, he and his friend Derek (Carlito Olivero) think they’ve hit the jackpot when they park the sports car of wealthy jerk Cale (Tennant). At their new mark’s home, Sean discovers a woman, Katie (Kerry Condon), bridled and chained to a chair (perfectly in line with the house’s ostentatious horse decor).

Here’s where the good/bad Samaritan duality comes into play. Sean may be a thief, but he’s got a titanium moral compass. He tries to save Katie with a set of bolt cutters, but he’s foiled by Cale’s mastery of his technologically advanced smart house. Sean reports the incident to the police, the FBI, anyone he thinks might listen, even while he’s being stalked, threatened and violated by his persecutor, Cale, who embodies the bad Samaritan side of the equation.

The movie is just so crazy, ripping along at a nonstop pace, that you don’t realize until halfway through that it’s actually quite competently made. The filmmaking itself is suspenseful, classic horror filmmaking, with plenty of jump scares and ominous camera movements. But where the film succeeds most is in its realistic use of technology.

Billionaire Cale may have a smart house he’s weaponized via a few apps on his phone, surveillance cameras and lights, but Sean’s got an iPhone, and he knows how to use it. Part of what makes “Bad Samaritan” zip along so well is Sean’s constant prattling into his phone, conveniently tucked into a front pocket, usually to Derek as they pull heists. It gives the scenes, even when Sean is alone, dynamism and dialogue. And although Cale might have the money and the more advanced gear, Sean is quick on his feet, snapping FaceTime screenshots or using his camera as a periscope. It works because we understand how it works, and it feels natural.

The use of technology also drives the scares in this film. “Girl-in-a-dungeon” films are a dime a dozen, a trope that would be tired and exploitative if this horrific occurrence didn’t also regularly pop up in the news. The fetishistic horse business is merely a weird aesthetic choice that’s explained away with a bit of perfunctory psychobabble.

But valets using GPS to rob houses? Miniature magnetic trackers? A psycho who steals your password and sends nude photos of your girlfriend to all of her Facebook friends? That’s the stuff that really chills to the bone. “Bad Samaritan” understands technology and the way that it’s woven into our everyday lives as extensions of our bodies, weapons that can be used for or against us. At the end of the day, what we come to understand is that the only thing that can stop a bad Samaritan with a smartphone is a good Samaritan with a smartphone.

-------------

‘Bad Samaritan’

Rating: R, for violence, language throughout, some drug use and brief nudity

Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

Playing: In general release

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Bad Samaritan Review

30 Mar 2018

Bad Samaritan

After a quarter century as writer and/or producer partner for Roland Emmerich’s bombastic blockbusters, including Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow , Dean Devlin’s directorial debut, last year’s Geostorm , became Hollywood’s equivalent of an extreme weather event, buffeted by reshoots, delays, the ignominy of being replaced. Thankfully, he’s bounced back with an engaging, well-acted and crisply directed thriller anchored by two highly watchable performances.

Parking valets Sean ( Misfits ’ Sheehan, who’ll soon be seen as Tom in Mortal Engines ) and Derek (Carlito Olivero) have a seedy little racket going: while their customers dine out at a Portland restaurant, they drive their valet-parked cars to their homes (sat nav helpfully providing directions) and rob them, returning the cars to their unwitting owners before dessert is served. Breaking into the home of rich douchebag Cale (Tennant), Sean stumbles upon a grisly scene: a woman (Condon, the voice in Tony Stark’s suit) chained in a filthy dungeon, next to what looks suspiciously like a fully prepped kill room. Unable to free her right away, Sean hatches a plan to rescue her, unaware that Cale, who’s both intelligent and unhinged, knows all about his intruder, and is about to start turning the screws on him and his loved ones.

It’s a mouth-watering premise, and Sheehan is terrific as the bungling burglar whose life comes crashing around his ears, his unsuitability as a hero making him more sympathetic and relatable. Tennant, for his part, attacks the role of Cale with even more sadistic relish than he managed as Kilgrave in Jessica Jones — although his Ameerrrican accent still needs work. Both are well served by a tricksy, twisty script, and Devlin manages to keep all the moving parts working smoothly, proving that good actors and a decent script are the only special effects he needs. His only misstep is arguably Joseph LoDuca’s overblown score, which feels more suited to a Devlin/Emmerich blockbuster, and has a tendency to drown entire scenes in bombast.

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Bad samaritan, common sense media reviewers.

Interesting characters, situations in violent thriller.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Conjures up a very interesting "what would yo

Main character is a burglar who gives in to a mome

Young woman imprisoned, locked to a chair, gagged;

A young woman briefly shows her breast. Kissing. S

Very strong language throughout, including many us

Victoria's Secret and Maserati mentioned. Huge

Two young men smoke pot in one scene. Adults drink

Parents need to know that Bad Samaritan is a violent thriller about a burglar (Robert Sheehan) who tries to rescue a woman who's been kidnapped by a psychopath (David Tennant). There's a brief scene of a man beating up a woman, as well as scenes that show a woman held prisoner, with bruises, cuts, and…

Positive Messages

Conjures up a very interesting "what would you do?" situation in which a person must decide whether to risk his own relative security to help someone who's in more danger. Movie doesn't make the decision easy, presents the issues in fascinating shades of gray that should make good discussion.

Positive Role Models

Main character is a burglar who gives in to a moment of cowardice, but otherwise, afterward, he's shown energetically trying to do the right thing and trying to repair his mistakes. He's shown to be kind to women (unlike the movie's villain). Some diversity in supporting cast.

Violence & Scariness

Young woman imprisoned, locked to a chair, gagged; she's covered in bruises, cuts, welts. Another woman brutally mugged and thrown down stairs. A woman is fitted with an electrical zapping neck band. Guns and shooting. Characters shot and killed, with bloody wounds and pools of blood shown. Beatings with baseball bat, shovel, axe handle. Lots of dead bodies in a mass grave. Sounds of horse-whipping, screaming. Brief fighting/punching. Character nearly hit by moving car; dodges it.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A young woman briefly shows her breast. Kissing. Sex talk. A naked woman is covered by a towel and then drops the towel; side of her breast is shown briefly. Some sensual apparel/lingerie.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Very strong language throughout, including many uses of "f--k" and "s--t," plus "pr--k," "t-tties," "a--hole," "ass," "bitch," "goddamn," "piss," "boobs," "arsehole," "ho," and "Jesus" and "Christ" (as exclamations).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Victoria's Secret and Maserati mentioned. Huge Red Bull poster.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Two young men smoke pot in one scene. Adults drink beer at home.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Bad Samaritan is a violent thriller about a burglar ( Robert Sheehan ) who tries to rescue a woman who's been kidnapped by a psychopath ( David Tennant ). There's a brief scene of a man beating up a woman, as well as scenes that show a woman held prisoner, with bruises, cuts, and welts. Viewers will see plenty of blood: Characters use guns, and some are shot and killed. Dead bodies fill up a mass grave, and characters are beaten with baseball bats, axe handles, and shovels. An unsettling flashback uses sounds to indicate a boy killing a horse. In addition to the violence, a woman's naked breast is shown, and there's kissing and some sex talk. And language is strong throughout, with frequent use of both "f--k" and "s--t." Young men smoke pot, and adults drink beer. It's not exactly original, but it's well-made and gets by on fine characters and performances. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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What's the Story?

In BAD SAMARITAN, Sean Falco ( Robert Sheehan ) and his pal Derek (Carlito Olivero) run a small-time burglary scheme, posing as valet parkers and using GPS and garage door openers in the cars to gain access to homes. In the house of one particularly nasty customer, Cale Erendreich ( David Tennant ), Sean is horrified to discover a girl ( Kerry Condon ) who's been brutally beaten and locked to a chair. He tries to rescue her, but when Erendreich returns, Sean panics and leaves. Tormented by this decision, he makes several attempts to rescue the girl -- i.e., calling the police -- but no one believes him, and the sadistically clever Erendreich is very good at allaying suspicion. Worse, Erendreich begins tormenting Sean; Sean's girlfriend, Riley (Jacqueline Byers); and his family, making fake posts on social media and causing other havoc. When Riley is attacked, Sean realizes he must end this, one way or another.

Is It Any Good?

The idea behind this thriller isn't terribly fresh or original, but it works well enough thanks to Sheehan's relatable, believable, flawed hero and Tennant's terrifying psychopath. Director Dean Devlin , previously a screenwriter on Independence Day and the director of Geostorm , scales back from gargantuan, cosmic destruction in Bad Samaritan in favor of creating a realistic situation with its own history and nuances. The places and relationships in Bad Samaritan feel genuine. Despite Sean's career as a burglar and his panicked hesitation to help a person in jeopardy, he earns our trust back with his feverish attempts to right his wrong, as well as his background as a talented photographer who's wary of "selling out."

Tennant's performance is reminiscent of his work as the nasty Kilgrave on Jessica Jones ; he brings a disconcerting level of class, education, and breeding to the vicious Erendreich -- he just makes your skin crawl. Written by Brandon Boyce ( Apt Pupil , Wicker Park ) in the vein of many 1990s thrillers, Bad Samaritan does occasionally make an aggravating mistake: Erendreich is too all-knowing, as if he's able to read minds or see everything at once. A great villain needs to have flaws, too, and most of the time, this one is just too perfect. Perhaps that could have been tightened up if Bad Samaritan hadn't been allowed to go on for 110 minutes -- but these quibbles ultimately don't dampen the movie's overall tense effect.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Bad Samaritan 's violence . Is it meant to be thrilling or shocking? How can you tell? What's the impact of media violence on kids?

How does the main character treat women, as opposed to the way the villain treats women? What do you think the movie is trying to say through that comparison?

How do you feel about Sean, given that he's a burglar and he succumbed to a moment of serious cowardice? Is he still relatable? Why?

Movie Details

• In theaters : May 4, 2018
• On DVD or streaming : August 14, 2018
• Cast : Robert Sheehan , Kerry Condon , David Tennant
• Director : Dean Devlin
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Electric Entertainment
• Genre : Thriller
• Run time : 110 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : violence, language throughout, some drug use and brief nudity
• Last updated : March 31, 2022

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Bad Samaritan – second-rate thriller beset by the stench of misogyny

David Tennant’s psychotic abductor is chanced upon by a small-time criminal in a film that leaves a truly nasty taste

W hat is David Tennant doing in this fantastically charmless and unpleasant film? Playing a serial-killer-slash-women-hating-abductor. There’s a young Irish guy in Portland, Oregon, called Sean (Robert Sheehan) running a car valet service with his buddy Derek (Carlito Olivero). But they’ve got a scam going – using a car’s satnav history they can figure out the owner’s address, giving them a couple of hours to burgle the house and get the car back before the luckless diner steps back out of the restaurant.

One night, a rich obnoxious type called Cale (Tennant) tosses them the keys to his Maserati, and Sean is horrified to discover this creep has a young woman (Kerry Condon) chained up in his cellar. Sean abandons the burglary and blunders out with a muddled idea of helping her, calling the cops. He’s been a bad guy in the past but now he’ll be the good Samaritan. But psychopathic Cale is on to him.

There is something insidiously unsavoury about this movie – in how it treats women in general, but specifically Sean’s girlfriend, Riley (Jacqueline Byers), who is almost laughably irrelevant to the action. Her main function is to be brutally assaulted by the villain, taken to hospital and then utterly forgotten. Perhaps it might have been better to have made Sean a recently dumped singleton, which could have given his rescue effort a kind of gallant-romantic impetus. But no. He’s out to save a mostly mute, tied-up woman while his sweetheart has been put on life support and then ignored. Given the nasty taste in the mouth that the film leaves, it seems almost besides the point to worry about plot holes.

• David Tennant

Most viewed

Bad Samaritan (United States, 2018)

For roughly two-thirds of its running length, Bad Samaritan shows potential as a nicely twisty thriller replete with Hitchcockian elements. Making full use of current-day technology (without slipping over the line into science fiction), Bad Samaritan includes GPS tracking, smart houses, smart cars, cellphones, and hacked social media accounts. By showing how a killer can cause devastation virtually as well as physically, the film enters territory that hasn’t yet become overfamiliar. Unfortunately, starting with what I’ll call “the big bang,” Bad Samaritan ’s credibility overreaches and the string of ensuing thriller clichés result in a lackluster conclusion. This is yet another chapter in “When Smart Movies Turn Dumb.”

Bad Samaritan opens with a conceit that may cause viewers to think twice about using valet parking. Sean (Robert Sheehan) and his buddy Derek (Carlito Olivero) work outside an upscale Italian restaurant parking cars. Except, instead of dutifully stowing and fetching, the friends use the vehicles as gateways to easy thefts. By accessing a home address via the navigation system, they can drive to the owner’s house, use the garage door opener in the car, and commit the robbery – all while the family is enjoying their dinner. When Sean uses this scam with the Maserati of the arrogant, unfriendly Cale Erendreich (David Tennant), he thinks he has struck the mother lode. However, when entering a locked office, Sean discovers not only Cale’s computer but a young woman (Kerry Condon) who has been badly beaten and chained up using bondage gear that makes Christian Grey’s stuff look like kindergarten toys. Before he’s able to release the woman, Sean is forced to flee to return the car. Haunted by what he left behind, he places an anonymous call to the police, but Cale has already taken steps to prevent discovery. After that, the creepy sociopath uncovers his intruder’s identity and begins a systematic program to destroy Sean’s life and that of everyone close to him.

Bad Samaritan wasn’t accorded the widest distribution or the best exposure so the distributor (Electric Entertainment) is probably positioning it primarily for the home video market. With lowered expectations, at least insofar as the ending is concerned, this should play well on TVs and handheld devices. Devlin has skill when it comes to atmosphere (the way he films Portland, Oregon creates a unique setting in place of the generic location where many contemporary movies transpire), generates sustained tension, and jolts the audience with the occasional jump-scare. Bad Samaritan ’s Achilles Heel is common to many thrillers – it deserves a better resolution than the one it has.

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• Rear Window (1954)
• Sleuth (1969)
• Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
• Neon Demon, The (2016)
• Left Behind (2014)
• Jade (1995)
• Red Riding: 1980 (2010)
• Red Riding: 1974 (2010)
• Red Riding: 1983 (2010)
• Season of the Witch (2011)
• Mortal Instruments, The: City of Bones (2013)
• Song of Sway Lake, The (2018)
• How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
• Pirates! Band of Misfits, The (2012)
• Fright Night (2011)
• Mary Queen of Scots (2018)
• (There are no more worst movies of David Tennant)
• Banshees of Inisherin, The (2022)
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• (There are no more better movies of Kerry Condon)
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• DVD & Streaming

Bad Samaritan

• Drama , Horror

Content Caution

In Theaters

• May 4, 2018
• Robert Sheehan as Sean Falco; David Tennant as Cale Erendeich; Kerry Condon as Katie; Jacqueline Byers as Riley Seabrook; Carlito Olivero as Derek Sandoval

Home Release Date

• August 14, 2018
• Dean Devlin

Distributor

• Electric Entertainment

Movie Review

Man, society can really harsh your mellow.

Sean knows all about the whole American bougie lifestyle. He sees it in his girlfriend—a business major, of all things. He sees it in his stepfather, who keeps encouraging him to get a real job and stuff. He sees it in all the well-heeled diners whose cars he parks. Sure, those BMWs and Range Rovers are nice and all, but you have to sell your soul to The Man to pay for ’em. That’s not Sean’s scene.

No, man, Sean’s an artist , a photographer who can digitally filter shots with the best of them. Granted, the only person who really appreciates his talent right now is Riley, his beautiful muse. But what real artist doesn’t suffer for his craft at first? He’s not going to sell out, bow to society’s rigid dictates, just to make a buck.

Still, bucks are important—at least for now, while America clings to its capitalist myths and all. He’s got rent to pay. Food to buy. Pot to smoke. He and his best friend, Derek, earn a little cash from their valet business, parking cars while their clients eat at one of Portland’s swanky Italian restaurants. But they make most of their cabbage the old-fashioned way: They steal it. While the valets’ customers are pigging out on their parmigiana or lasagna or whatever, Derek and Sean take their cars, go to their houses and swipe whatever they think their diners’ won’t immediately miss: watches, rings, phones, grocery coupons, that sort of thing.

It’s not legal, obviously, but Sean and Derek don’t feel too bad about their side game. After all, anyone who owns a Mercedes or Hummer deserves to get robbed, they reason.

Then this guy in a Maserati drives up—obviously a real jerk. He hands Sean the car keys as he throws some f-word-laden shade at him: Yeah, this guy is practically begging to be robbed. Sean hops in the car, checks the Maserati’s on-dash list of destinations and finds the jerk’s house, just three minutes away. He drives over and hits the jackpot almost immediately—a freshly-mailed Black Card, just waiting to be activated. Sean flops on the jerk’s bed and does exactly that, using the jerk’s phone.

Then he spies something: a door with a lock that looks like it belongs in Fort Knox. He rifles through the jerk’s keys—he keeps a dozen on his keyring—finds the right one and opens the door.

A woman sits, bound in chains and leather. Gagged. Obviously terrified. Obviously doomed … unless Sean can find a way to free her.

Oh, and also (Derek notifies him from the restaurant three minutes away), the jerk is done with dinner and is ready for his car, thanks ever so much.

But Sean can’t just leave the girl there, can he?

The woman’s chains hold tight: The only key hangs ’round the jerk’s neck. So Sean sprints to the garage, finds some bolt cutters and discovers the jerk’s operation/dismemberment room along the way. Thoroughly freaked now, Sean gallops back upstairs … and sees a sliver of light glowing from underneath the office door. Seems that the jerk has a smart home. And while he’s waiting for the valet to retrieve his Maserati, he’s remotely checking on his bound “guest.”

“I’m sorry,” Sean whispers to the closed door. With bolt cutters still in hand, he dashes down to the garage, hops in the Maserati and peels back to the restaurant, leaving the woman behind.

Positive Elements

Sean’s early decisions in Bad Samaritan leave a lot to be desired, which he later admits. “I balked,” he says, adding that it was the worst decision of his life. But to Sean’s credit, he does his best to make up for that really bad decision. He contacts the police, the FBI and—when those avenues seem to come up empty—he tries to rectify the situation himself.

All of those steps involve quite a bit of risk, incidentally. He goes to the police, even though he knows he’ll likely be thrown in the clink himself for robbing the guy’s house. And obviously, it’s never exactly wise to pursue a pathological killer on one’s own initiative. Getting involved at all puts some other people in peril, too, but he knows it’s the right thing—the only moral thing, really—to do. And in that respect, he’s correct.

Sean’s stepfather has a nice moment, too. While Sean doesn’t have much affinity for the man, he belatedly realizes that the guy always tried to teach Sean to do the “right thing.” And when Sean tells his stepdad that the right thing means risking his own life, the stepfather balks himself. “I have to protect my family,” he says. “That includes you.”

Spiritual Elements

The title, obviously, riffs off perhaps Jesus’ best-known parable. And we see a cross hanging on a wall. Outside of those Christian allusions, spiritual references here are … dubious.

Riley knocks on Sean’s door and jokingly tells Sean that she wants to talk to him “about the Lord.” When Sean says that’s not really his thing, she says, “How ’bout I jump your bones?”

Sexual Content

We partly see the ensuing scene: The two kiss and make out a bit. There’s some breast nudity and an explicit picture of Riley snapped with a smartphone that lands on social media (which we see a couple of times), leading to a great deal of angst.

The movie suggests that the jerk—whose real name seems to be Cale Erendeich—makes a habit of keeping women chained and submissive. His current captive, named Katie, drops her towel in front of him at one point (revealing her bare and whip-scarred back to the camera). Cale angrily tells her to get dressed and go to bed.

We hear screams coming from his house at one juncture, just as police (called in by Sean) come a-calling. The police talk with a bathrobe-wearing Cale who, we discover, has another female companion, one who’s wearing a short trench coat and fishnet stockings. The insinuation is that the two were engaged in some sort of loud consensual sexual activity when the police came by: Cale and his paramour kiss before she leaves.

Derek wants to keep a phone stolen from an elderly victim because it might contain pictures of the woman’s breasts. We hear a reference to a “dirty limerick.”

Violent Content

Cale obviously beat Katie before chaining her up in his office: Bruise marks cover her body, and (as mentioned) scars slash her back. He puts an electrified leather collar on her—one that’ll shock her if she screams. (She does, and it does.)

We see plenty of evidence suggesting what Cale eventually plans to do with Katie: His in-house operating room is filled with knives, power tools and stray spots of blood. He owns a cabin outside town, too, where a covered pit is lined with the bodies of his prey. He pours a bunch of lye into the pit in preparation to dissolve his next victims. We see dead faces and skeletal remains in the pit’s dirt walls.

In flashback, we see Cale’s brutal beginnings. As an adolescent, he whips a horse mercilessly as someone screams in the background that he’ll kill the animal if he continues. Then we see the young Cale point a gun, aim it at the camera and pull the trigger. (The FBI later says he was 14 at the time, and that he killed both the horse and its twentysomething trainer.)

People are beaten with baseball bats, axe handles and shovels, often leaving their recipients very bruised and bloody. (One guy’s eye is swollen shut from the repeated blows to his face, and a few folks are knocked cold.) One woman has her head repeatedly slammed into a brick wall and is then thrown off a ledge. She winds up in a hospital.

Two people are shot in the head. One dies instantly from the wound: We see blood and gore nearby, the bullet hole in the temple and blood pooling around the cranium. Another shooting victim survives, apparently no worse for wear. We hear of an apparent murder-suicide that claimed the lives of three people.

Derek gets into a melee with rival valets. A dog chases and menaces a would-be burglar. We hear that Sean’s mom, a nurse, was suspended for allegedly assaulting a child. (The accusations are untrue.) Derek worries that if he’s sent to prison, his family’s history will get him killed there.

Crude or Profane Language

About 80 f-words and more than 25 s-words. We also hear “a–,” “b–ch,” “b–tard,” “h—“, “p-ss” and “t-tty.” Jesus and God’s names are misused about 10 times each, with the latter thrice paired with “d–n.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

Sean and Derek smoke marijuana, and Sean expresses distain for the traditional working world because his employers would make him take drug tests. Cale and others drink wine and beer.

Other Negative Elements

Obviously, Sean and Derek rob people—something most folks would frown upon, no matter what sort of car the victims may drive. (Sean gives a stolen ring to his mother for her birthday.) We also learn that Sean’s accumulated a pretty extensive list of misdemeanors in his past, too. He eventually repents of it all, it should be noted: “I’m not [going to] so much as steal a pack of gum for the rest of my life,” he says. But he does lie to police about Derek’s involvement in the matter to protect Derek from potential jail time.

Cale lies often and frames several people in Sean’s life as punishment for his interference: His father-in-law gets fired for stealing office equipment, and we’ve already talked about Sean’s mother.

Bad Samaritan subtly feints in the direction of being a cautionary tale—one targeted at Millennials by a storyteller who tells kids most afternoons to get off his lawn.

Sean, aimless and irresponsible, discovers the error of his misspent youth; realizes the importance of responsibility; and develops a new appreciation for his gruff, bourgeoisie stepfather. For Baby Boomers and Gen Xers who have to work for a living and have told the youngsters to cut their hair and get a job, this might feel, on some level, like finger-pointing validation. “See, this is what can happen to you if you don’t go to school and spend all your money on drugs,” they might say. “You could lose everything you love and get nearly beaten to death by a psychopath with a shovel!”

But obviously, the movie’s positives, such as they are, can only stretch so far. Bad Samaritan is a bad film—one that if we came across on the side of the road, we might do well to walk on by.

The movie has plenty of violence and sexual content to consider. Because of the killer’s own strange predilections, it feels even more objectionable than it technically is. And even if you’re more of the sort of reader who’ll excuse all sorts of bad content for a good story, consider this: Bad Samaritan has the supposedly brilliant killer hunting for would-be victims in a forest filled with freshly fallen snow—staring intently to the left, the right, and straight ahead without ever glancing at the ground. You know, to check for footprints in the snow .

Sometimes, a movie is worth shelling out some hard-earned cash for. But in this case, this is money best saved.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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‘bad samaritan’: film review.

No good deed, or viewer, goes unpunished in Dean Devlin’s ridiculous serial killer thriller 'Bad Samaritan.'

By Keith Uhlich

Keith Uhlich

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How, indeed, do you follow up  Geostorm ? If you’re Dean Devlin , you take one of the lesser-known castmembers of that disastrous 2017 disaster movie (from which Devlin was removed during reshoots ), abscond to Portland, Oregon — “my home away from home” per his press notes director’s statement — with a dreckish screenplay by Brandon Boyce ( Apt Pupil ) and make a low-budget serial killer thriller so ludicrous and imbecilic that it’s almost charming. Almost.

Irish actor Robert Sheehan plays Sean Falco, a restaurant valet to most people’s eyes and a petty thief in actuality. Whenever a clearly well-to-do customer drives up, he and his professional partner, Derek Sandoval ( Carlito Olivero ), put on their small-time-crooks caps. One of them stands guard as their target eats dinner while the other hops in the patron’s vehicle, locates their home address through GPS, and robs the abode of easy-to-carry valuables. 

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Release date: May 03, 2018

It’s a living! But when douchenozzle extraordinaire Cale Erendreich ( David Tennant ) revs up in a flashy Maserati, Sean and Derek see a potentially more lucrative gig. Perhaps one to retire on. Small hitch: As Sean is searching Cale’s house, he discovers a woman, Katie (Kerry Condon), bound, gagged and bloodied. Suddenly, this bush-league criminal’s moral code kicks in; of course an abducted person’s life is worth more than stolen gold knick-knacks. Yet getting her free proves to be tougher than it seems, especially after Cale discovers that Sean is onto his cutthroat activities, of which this is not an isolated case. 

Obstacles are legion, be it the high-tech surveillance in Cale’s building that’s controlled by remote app, or the fact that Sean’s lawless pursuits severely lessen his credibility with local authorities. But the biggest obstruction might be Cale himself with his bug-eyed stare of death, his uncanny ability to be seemingly everywhere at once and his infantile psycho-tantrums, which are rooted (as a hilarious, twice-repeated flashback reveals) in a childhood trauma involving an untamed horse.

Tennant is awful, by which I mean wonderful, by which I mean truly terrible, yet in a legitimately magnificent way … I think. This is a  you-can’t-kill-THAT-performance!  par excellence, beginning at peak nutball and staying breathlessly atop the trash heap. There’s a scene in which Cale sneaks into Sean’s apartment while he’s showering and aims a gun at his unaware prey. Tennant is all skulky glower — he could be Hannibal Lecter’s distant cousin — until he suddenly defuses the tension by emphatically  not  shooting his weapon. “Poom !” he says, mock-firing a bullet while dismissively arcing his arm like a snooty girl in ballet class. He can’t take any of this seriously, and he’s having a ball of a time doing it.

There are worse things than watching a former Doctor Who slumming it with such relish. (At his shoutiest , Tennant seems like he’s been possessed by that long-running sci-fi series’ maniacal big bad, Davros .) The rest of the cast can barely keep up with his insanity, though that doesn’t prevent Sheehan from turning on the little-hipster-lost charm, or Condon from valiantly attempting to lend shades to her woman in perpetual peril. Sadly, none of the performers’ efforts put over the cliched machinations in Boyce’s screenplay, the stupidest of which might be nicknamed “Chekhov’s bolt cutter.” 

Should you find yourself in front of  Bad Samaritan  (and that could only ever be by force or out of sheer masochism) ,  just sit back and revel in the verdant Portland scenery or marvel at the ill-fitting orchestral score by Joseph Loduca , who apparently thinks he’s composing for a Devlin super-production past like  Stargate   or  Independence Day — both lost Da Vincis in comparison to this dross.   Get to the end and you might even find yourself pining for  Godzilla  ’98. Perish that  thought.

Production company-distributor: Electric Entertainment Cast:  David Tennant, Robert Sheehan, Carlito Olivero , Kerry Condon, Jacqueline Byers Director:  Dean Devlin Writer: Brandon Boyce Producers:  Dean Devlin, Rachel Olschan-Wilson , Marc Roskin Executive producers: Brandon Lambdin , Carsten H.W. Lorenz Director of photography: David Connell Editor: Brian Gonosey Music: Joseph Loduca

Rated R, 107 minutes

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‘Bad Samaritan’ Review: Not Even David Tennant Can Save This Trash

By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

Confession: I’ll see anything with David Tennant in it. Bad Samaritan, however, barely qualifies as “anything.” Mostly, it’s a collection of spare suspense parts that someone ransacked at the movie dump and is trying to resell as fresh product. Good luck with that. 

As compensation, there’s Tennant, the Scottish actor who is the 10th   (and arguably the best-ever) Doctor Who and a villain for the ages as Kilgrave on Jessica Jones. He’s clearly relishing the role of supercreep Cale Erendreich, a trust-fund snob who likes getting his way. We hate Cale from the minute he drives his Maserati up to a restaurant in Portland, Oregon, like he owns the damn place. That’s why Sean (Irish actor Robert Sheehan), an amateur photographer, sees Cale as a mark who deserves what he gets. The shutterbug and his partner Derek (Carlito Olivero) are running a perfect valet-stand hustle. They take your car, use the GPS to drive it back to where you live, rob you blind and then get the vehicle back before you finish dessert.

Screenwriter Brandon Boyce knows how to sink in a plot hook – but the man does not know how to deliver the fireworks he promises. Neither does director Dean Devlin (he of the loathsome flop Geostorm ), who thinks cribbing from Hitchcock is enough. Spoiler: It’s not. Hitchcock knew how to keep tension simmering while layering in a moral subtext that gave audiences something to chew on later. Bad Samaritan is all surface and as shallow as a drained swimming pool. It’s Tennant who raises the game by giving us a villain to reckon with, a dude who can operate just about anything inside his luxury home from his smart phone or laptop … even a time bomb. No sooner does Sean open the door to Cale’s home than he finds a surprise in the locked room upstairs. There’s a young woman (Kerry Condon) bridled like a mare – our antihero just loves horses – and her popping eyes suggest she’s begging for to be rescued. Judging by the bloody tools on display, it’s all part of a torture-porn fantasy that Cale’s been playing for years.

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What should Sean do? Against the better wishes of his partner, the scam artist decides to play good samaritan and call the police. And wouldn’t you guess it, the cops find nothing. Cale, of course, got there first – and now the twisted mister wants revenge on Sean and all he holds dear. 

The movie keeps its head above water as long as Devlin focuses on his star’s spirited way with mirth and menace. The scene where Cale demands that his female victim bathe according to his own depraved ritual of soaps and lotions has a Silence of the Lambs vibe that still works despite being stolen goods. But the plot lines go haywire when Cale and Sean head to a cyber standoff that you won’t believe for a second. And at what story meeting did the filmmakers decide you don’t need motivation to persuade us to give a damn about the characters? Bad Samaritan starts with bang, quickly dissolves into a muddle and finally disintegrates in the ashes of its own borrowed inspiration. Tennant deserves better. So do audiences.

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BAD SAMARITAN

"heroism marred by excessive foul language".

What You Need To Know:

Miscellaneous Immorality: Lying, kidnapping, stealing, and smug villain falls into a rage from time to time.

More Detail:

BAD SAMARITAN is an intense thriller about a young thief who finds a woman who’s been kidnapped by a psychotic but devious and clever serial killer and tries to rescue her. BAD SAMARITAN has some exciting, suspenseful twists and turns, but they’re spoiled by 125 or more obscenities and profanities that undercut the movie’s entertainment value, moral acceptability and heroic derring-do.

The movie opens with a young photographer in Portland named Sean having a tryst with his girlfriend at his place. Afterwards, Sean gives his mother a nice-looking ring for her birthday. Sean has apparently stolen this riong and other jewelery.

Later that night, Sean goes to his job parking cars at an upscale Italian restaurant with his friend, Derek. Sure enough, the two young men are using the cars to go to the homes of customers so they can rob their houses. That evening, a rude man rolls up in a fancy car. Sean takes the car to the man’s house while Derek watches the guy in the restaurant to make sure he doesn’t want to leave soon.

At the man’s house, Derek finds an expensive credit card in the man’s mail that the man obviously hasn’t seen. He uses the guy’s phone to call it in, but the card requires a computer confirmation. So, Sean unlocks what appears to be the man’s office, only to find that the man has a woman tied up in a chair. Sean tries to free the woman, but he can’t unlock the largest chain holding her down. At the same time, Derek phones Sean to tell him the man wants to get his car and leave the restaurant. So, Sean has to leave the woman chained up and later calls the police. However, by the time the police get there that night, the man has hidden all the evidence of his crime, including the woman. So, the police leave while Sean watches from his car.

Sean keeps trying to get the police to do something more, but the kidnapper turns the tables on Sean. Things turn worse when the man finds out Sean’s identity and tries to make Sean, Sean’s girlfriend and the lives of Sean’s mother and stepfather a living Hell. The man also kills Derek and tries to frame him for the murder. Sean tries to fight back by investigating the kidnapper and trying to discover what he did with the woman. Meanwhile, the movie reveals that the man has taken the woman to a cell he’s fixed up for her in a cabin the man owns in the woods.

Can Sean find the woman and expose the kidnapper before the man kills her, or kills Sean?

BAD SAMARITAN is clearly made on a low budget by mega-blockbuster Director Dean Devlin of INDEPENDENCE DAY and STARGATE. Despite this, the movie has some good twists and turns, and an exciting denouement. Also, David Tennant of the BBC’s DR. WHO and BROADCHURCH turns in a creepy, nuanced performance as the psychotic, devious kidnapper and serial killer. The ending also has one of the best, funniest climactic lines ever written for a thriller about a serial killer.

What makes BAD SAMARITAN morally interesting is that the movie’s antihero, the young thief, is racked with guilt about leaving the woman behind. In fact, he’s mortified with himself for making such a horrible decision. As a result, he’s willing to do anything he can to rescue her. The question is, of course, whether he’s smart enough to outwit the demented killer.

Sadly, BAD SAMARITAN is filled with lots of strong foul language. This not only makes the movie less entertaining. It also dilutes the movie’s moral points. Because of this, BAD SAMARITAN probably won’t attract the audience it needs to succeed financially.

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