No Good Deed, film review: Sadistic and nonsensical

The film self-consciously invokes memories of thrillers like Cape Fear and The Desperate Hours, but has none of their guile

Elba stars as unstable escaped convict Colin Evans in 2014 thriller No Good Deed (Rex Features)

It is dismaying to see the brilliant Idris Elba and Sam Miller, his director from TV’s Luther, working on low-grade exploitation fare like this.

Elba plays a general all-round psychopath who escapes prison after being denied parole and eventually turns up on a stormy night at the door of young mum Terri Granger (Taraji P Henson). Slowly, we discover just why he is there. The film, sadistic and nonsensical by turns, self-consciously invokes memories of thrillers like Cape Fear and The Desperate Hours, but has none of their guile.