Bad Samaritan is a 2018 American horror thriller film directed by Dean Devlin from a screenplay by Brandon Boyce; it stars David Tennant, Robert Sheehan, Kerry Condon, Jacqueline Byers, Carlito Olivero, and Lisa Brenner.
A poor restaurant valet uses the cars entrusted to him by the restaurant clientele to break into their homes.
One night, he finds more than he bargained for when breaking into one house only to discover a woman imprisoned there. Frightened of going to jail, he abandons her and calls the police, only to find himself in a game of cat-and-mouse with the psychotic home owner…
Reviews:
“I can really only give this one a mild endorsement to the rabid legion of David Tennant fans, even knowing full well it’s not even close to his best work. Yes, he does what he can for as long as he can, but in the end, the script deficiencies, gorging plot-holes, asinine character moves, and lack of legitimate hard-R horror movie violence, only serves to reinforce Bad Samaritan’s wrongdoing namesake.” Jake Dee, Arrow in the Head
“Bad Samaritan is not exactly high art, but it is compulsively watchable in a lurid, one-darned-thing-after-another kind of way. One thing is for sure: David Tennant came to play. He preens like a peacock and absolutely gorges on the scenery as the ultra-sinister and uber-elitist Erendreich.” Joe Bendel, J.B. Spins
“ …Bad Samaritan benefits heavily from a narrative that’s riddled with appealing attributes, as scripter Brandon Boyce delivers a mystery-fueled opening stretch that gives way to a fairly compelling midsection – although the lamentable (and ongoing) emphasis on far-from-engrossing elements ultimately does wreak havoc on the film’s momentum…” David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
“These filmmakers keep on stacking bad ideas on top of each other, like a rickety house of cards, until bombs, literal skeletons, and even baseball-bat-wielding British men—with a weirdly adenoidal North Dakota accent?—are leaping out of closets, premature graves, and convection ovens.” Simon Abrams, RogerEbert.com
“From his awesome introduction, Tennant has almost a sixth sense in his performance with the ebb and flow of Bad Samaritan; he starts out realistic and sharp and ends up hammy and idiotic, as does the film. If there were one sole reason to view this, it would be for Tennant.” David Duprey, That Moment In
Cast and characters:
- David Tennant as Cale Erendreich – Doctor Who; Fright Night; The Quatermass Experiment
- Robert Sheehan as Sean Falco
- Kerry Condon as Katie
- Jacqueline Byers as Riley Seabrook
- Carlito Olivero as Derek Sandoval
- Lisa Brenner as Helen Leyton
Production:
Principal photography on the film began early 2017 in Portland, Oregon.
Release:
Bad Samaritan was released on 3 May 2018 in Singapore, with a North American release slated for the next day.
Film Facts:
The film’s working title was One Good Deed
