A solid revenge thriller that reminds us: don’t fuck with rural folk.

Looking like a cross between Robert Wyatt and Mike Leigh in gumboots and a cable-knit sweater, sad-eyed Nigel O’Neill stars as Donal, a farmer on the wrong side of middle age, still living with his mum and taking abuse from the young folk at the local pub. When he finds Ma at home with her head stove in, Donal bests the incompetent thugs waiting to frame him up, eventually cutting a bloody path to the top of a vicious syndicate and learning a few things about human trafficking and the ever-lingering ghosts of the IRA—and his own family—along the way. It’s hardly a masterpiece, but Bad Day finds a nice place somewhere between your virtual amygdala and your heart. The underrated Susan Lynch in complicated-psycho mode is a big bonus.