Wan's second directorial film of 2007 was the vigilante action drama film "Death Sentence", a film adapted from the 1975 novel of the same name by Brian Garfield that was written as the sequel to "Death Wish". The film's protagonist starred Kevin Bacon as a father seeking revenge for his murdered son, who was killed by a local gang. Whannell played a minor character as one of the gang members. Wan described the film as "a raw and gritty, 70s styled revenge thriller ... It's my arthouse movie with guns." The films grossed $17 million against a production budget of $20 million. Similar to Wan's previous film, it received negative reviews. Author Garfield later stated, "I think that, except for its ludicrous violence toward the end, the "Death Sentence" movie does depict its character's decline and the stupidity of vengeful vigilantism," adding, "As a story it made the point I wanted it to make."