Bad Samaritan is a 2018 American horror-thriller film directed by Dean Devlin and written by Brandon Boyce. The film stars David Tennant and Robert Sheehan, with Carlito Olivero, Kerry Condon, and Jacqueline Byers in supporting roles. Sheehan portrays the title character, a valet who burglarizes the houses of the drivers he services, only to discover one of his rich customers is a serial killer. It was released in the United States on May 4, 2018, and received mixed reviews from critics.
Plot
While working as valets at a restaurant, Sean Falco and Derek Sandoval secretly use the cars entrusted to them by customers to burglarize their homes. On one night, however, Sean finds more than he bargained for when he breaks into the house of wealthy patron Cale Erendreich and discovers a woman named Katie being held captive. Unable to free Katie, Sean abandons her, but notifies the police of his discovery. When the police are unable to find any evidence of Katie's abduction, Sean contacts the FBI and files a missing persons report for her. Cale, meanwhile, brings Katie to a secluded cabin and becomes aware of Sean's knowledge of her abduction. Motivated by a desire to break people down, Cale begins working to destroy Sean's life, including having Sean, Derek, and Sean's parents fired from their jobs. He also savagely beats Riley Seabrook, Sean's girlfriend, after ruining their relationship by leaking a topless photo of her. Cale then kills Derek and his family in their home and stages their deaths as a murder-suicide, although Sean is able to get a picture of Cale, which he sends to the FBI. Using the GPS in Cale's car, Sean is able to find the cabin where Katie is being held captive and heads off to save her after surviving Cale's attempt to kill him with a bomb. A team of FBI agents also travel to the cabin after deducing that Cale is responsible for a series of disappearances and that the property is in the name of Cale's family, but are unable to enter the private property without a warrant. Sean finds Katie, only to be knocked out by Cale, who reveals that he intends to kill Katie and frame Sean for her murder, along with the deaths of his previous victims. Katie, however, survives Cale's attempt at killing her and frees Sean, with Cale in pursuit. Chasing Sean and Katie through the woods, Cale is ultimately overpowered by Sean and knocked unconscious. The sound of Cale's gun is also heard by the FBI team, who are able to use the gunshot's noise as probable cause to enter the property. After finding Sean and Katie, the team enters the cabin, where they discover Cale chained up like his victims.
Cast
David Tennant as Cale Erendreich, a wealthy serial killer
Robert Sheehan as Sean Falco, a restaurant valet and house burglar
Kerry Condon as Katie Hopgood, a woman held captive in Cale's home
Carlito Olivero as Derek Sandoval, Sean's fellow valet and partner in the burglaries
Jacqueline Byers as Riley Seabrook, Sean's girlfriend
Tracey Heggins as Olivia Fuller, an FBI agent investigating a series of disappearances
On September 16, 2013, it was announced that Dean Devlin's Electric Entertainment had bought the thriller script No Good Deed, written by Brandon Boyce, which Marc Roskin would make his directorial debut on, and which was set to be produced by Devlin, Roskin, and Rachel Olschan. On August 25, 2016, it was reported that Devlin would direct the film instead, and that David Tennant had been cast as a man whose home is burgled by the car valets. On September 22, 2016, Robert Sheehan was cast to star, as one of the valets, and on November 29, 2016, Carlito Olivero joined to play the other valet. Later, more cast was announced, including Kerry Condon, Jacqueline Byers, and Lisa Brenner. Principal photography on the film began early 2017 in Portland, Oregon. Electric Entertainment released the first official trailer for the film on February 7, 2018.
Reception
Box office
In the United States and Canada, Bad Samaritan was released alongside Tully and Overboard, and was projected to gross around $2 million from 2,007 theaters in its opening weekend. It ended up debuting to $1.8 million, an average of $848 per theater, marking the eighth-worst opening for a wide release ever.
Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 54% based on 71 reviews, and an average rating of 5.49/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Bad Samaritan delivers a handful of genre thrills — and a stellar central performance by David Tennant — that help offset iffy direction and a disappointingly mundane story." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 42 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B–" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 52% overall positive score and a 20% "definite recommend". Varietys Peter Debruge gave the film a moderately positive review, saying, "producer-turned-director Dean Devlin... 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."
