I love the fact that women are directing horror films more
and more often. Past films have shown that they are as in touch with the genre
as any male director out there. Films like PET SEMETARY and SLUMBER PARTY
MASSACRE are direct proof of that. Unfortunately as with male directors there
are sometimes efforts that fail as well. LUCKY is one of those.
Screenwriter/star Brea Grant plays May, a self-help author who’s in a bit of a slump. Waiting to hear from her publisher about the next book they want her to write she leaves her agents office with a box of books in hand for the next signing. In the parking garage she hears a soft scream, looks around seeing nothing and goes about heading home.
That night she begins to talk to her husband Ted (Dhruv Uday Singh) about getting married but he changes the subject. In bed that night she hears something and looks out the window to see a masked man looking up. She wakes Ted and he tells her it’s just the man who comes there every night to murder her. Stunned at this response she goes with him to find out what’s going on but no one is there.
The next morning they argue about what transpired and Ted tells her he’s leaving until she decides to calm down. That night, home alone, the stranger reappears. May wounds him and calls the police but when they arrive he’s nowhere to be found. They file a report and leave.
Each passing day the same situation repeats itself. The stranger shows, May kills him, the body disappears and she calls the police. She talks to her friends and Ted’s sister about what’s happening. Ted remains away. But still the stranger returns with the violence between him and May increasing.
The movie sounds like a violent version of GROUNDHOG DAY but not exactly identical moments being played out, just the nightly attack and the seemingly non-existent help from the police. At one point things take a surreal turn as the detective, officer, social worker and more join in together to sing a song about questioning May. It doesn’t help things or the movie.
As the movie developed I found my interest slipping with each new attack and the strange behavior of the characters surrounding May. Thoughts ranged from is she insane and we’re seeing this through her eyes? Or could it be that she’s in purgatory, forced to relive the same terror night after night? Perhaps this is her husband trying to drive her insane? By the end of the film no answer is presented.
Perhaps that is what made me dislike this movie so much. I’m one who wants a solid pay out to what I’ve just watched. I want a beginning, middle and end to the films I watch. I loathe movies that leave things up in the air and this movie does that. If I’m willing to invest 83 minutes into watching a movie I want there to be a reason to do so. For me this movie didn’t deliver the goods.
On top of that while the see through mask the killer wears
is creepy enough we get no background on why he’s doing what he’s doing. Is he
a fan? A stalker? An escaped lunatic? Who knows? And when his mask is finally
removed the last piece of the puzzle is given to us only for it to be a new
puzzle piece that doesn’t fit into the puzzle we were working on.
I usually don’t slam a movie too hard. This one does look well shot, the soundtrack is good and Grant delivers a good performance. I don’t know if the fault here lies in her script or the direction of Natasha Kermani but somewhere along the line they made a film that’s not entertaining and leaves you not wishing there were more but just wishing it were over.
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