“The Bad Shepherd” is a 2025 film directed by Geo Santini, featuring the likes of Christos Kalabogias as Paul, Scotty Tovar as John, Justin Taite as Leonard, Brett Zimmerman as Travis, and more. The film follows the story of four friends on a hunting trip whose life changes when they run over a wounded woman carrying a bag full of money.
The Bad Shepherd (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
What Did John and His Friends Find on the Road?
“The Bad Shepherd” opens with a distressed woman driving through a remote wilderness when her car suddenly blows a tire. Unable to fix it, she decides to continue her journey on foot. However, just minutes after walking, she is accidentally hit by a passing car. The four men inside the car, Paul, Joh, Leonard, and Travis rush out to help. But it’s too late as the woman has already died. Near her body, they find a pistol and a duffel bag filled with cash. Paul insists they should call the police and stay out of it. However, John suggests they bury the body and split the money instead. Paul, still unsure, warns that the money could belong to a drug cartel. If that’s the case, they might come looking for it. He argues that calling the cops is the safest option.
However, John isn’t willing to let the money go. He believes the police are corrupt and would just keep the cash for themselves instead of turning it over to the treasury. A few minutes later, a cop pulls up and asks about a woman carrying a duffel bag. When he requests to check their trunk, John panics, pulls a gun, and shoots the officer. With the cop dead, Paul tells the others to erase the dashcam footage and head to the cabin, where they can safely count and split the money. As they leave the road, a man in a suit arrives, inspecting the woman’s car for clues. His calm, methodical approach suggests he’s a tracker who is either following the woman or the money.
Who is Sidney & What Does He Want?
Even though Paul initially agreed to keep the money, the situation has now spiraled out of control with the death of a cop, making him uneasy. Things get even more complicated when Paul borrows Travis’s phone to call his wife and daughter only to suspect that his wife might be having an affair with Travis, who is also married. Before he can confront him, Sidney, the man in the suit, arrives at their cabin. He demands that they return what belongs to him. The man makes it clear that it’s in their best interest to listen.
John pulls a gun on Sidney and forces him inside the cabin, while Leonard and Paul head into the woods to check for any uninvited guests who might be lurking nearby. John assumes that since he’s the one holding the gun, he’s in control—but Sidney’s calm demeanor suggests otherwise. Before showing up at the cabin, Sidney did his homework. He knows everything about John and his friends, i.e., who they are, where they work, and how they make a living. In his own words, ‘he never walks into a situation he can’t walk out of.’
How Sidney Tries to Turn Everyone Against Each Other?
In the woods, Leonard and Paul come across a local and take him hostage, assuming he’s one of Sidney’s backups but John insists they can’t let the man go or else he might call the cops and cost them the money. John, unwilling to do the dirty work himself, orders Leonard to shoot the hostage. When Leonard hesitates, John threatens to kill him instead, leaving Leonard no choice but to pull the trigger.
Sidney, who has been observing everything, sees an opportunity to use their growing distrust to his advantage. He reveals that he knows about California, the time John killed a woman who tried to frame him for rape and disposed of the body by chopping it up with a saw. John tries to defend himself and claims it was a mistake, but the damage is done and doubt starts to creep into everyone’s mind. Sidney then drives the wedge deeper, pointing out that John is greedy and cannot be trusted. “What’s to stop him from killing them all and keeping the money for himself?” Sidney says.
While John is knocked out and left alone in a room with Sidney, the others debate whether they can still trust him. Seizing the moment, Sidney works to turn John against the rest of the group. When John regains consciousness, he goes for the money but is shot down by Leonard. The bullet hits him in the shoulder, and John decides to play dead.
The Bad Shepherd (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Who is Sidney in Reality, and What’s His Real Agenda?
While alone with Travis, Sidney tries to manipulate him, claiming that Paul isn’t someone to be trusted. He later uses the same tactic on Leonard, asking him to hand over the duffel bag, so no harm will come to them. Meanwhile, John finds Paul and holds him at gunpoint, and demands he leads him to the money. But Paul tricks him, leading him straight into a bear trap and leaving him to die. When Paul returns, Travis, fearing that Sidney might reveal something incriminating about him, shoots Sidney.
With Sidney out of the way, Leonard and Travis pressure Paul to take them to the money. That’s when Travis says that Amber, Paul’s daughter, is actually his. Heartbroken, Paul agrees to hand over the bag, cutting ties with Travis for good. Unbeknownst to them, John has managed to free himself and follows them discreetly, leading to a gunfight. We also see that Sidney is still alive, despite being shot in the head. This is when Sidney finally reveals who he is. Sidney never outright says it, but his words strongly suggest that he is Satan, the Devil, also known as “The Bad Shepherd.” This explains how he knew so much about their pasts including Paul’s wife cheating on him, and John’s crime in California, things no one could have known.
The money was never the real prize. It was just bait, a tool Sidney used to watch men turn on each other. The woman at the beginning of the film was just another victim of this twisted game, and when the duffel bag landed in John and his friends’ hands, Sidney got four new players to manipulate. As for their fate? Everyone dies—except Paul but we all know it’s only a matter of time. Eventually, the bag of money will end up in someone else’s hands, and Satan will have a new game to play.
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