Lucky is available to stream now on Shudder in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
Synopsis
Putting a fresh spin on the home invasion subgenre, Lucky stars Brea Grant (After Midnight, Heroes) who also penned the script directed by Kermani, whose previous credits include the festival darling Imitation Girl. The surreal feminist thriller follows a self-help book author who suddenly finds herself stalked by an elusive and dangerous man and becomes caught in a struggle to regain control over her life.
Review
Shudder’s latest original film, Lucky, presents an immersive mystery which challenges a number of audience perceptions. Foremost, it’s a feminist thriller which questions the treatment of women in general and those who have been unfaithful. But Lucky also challenges our perceptions of those people who we see as the most together.
May, played by Brea Grant who also wrote the piece, is a successful self-help author. We find her post the success of her first book. Working with her agent to secure a deal for a follow up and touring book stores to meet with adoring fans. She’s married. Has a beautiful home. She’s the picture of togetherness.
But every night her home is invaded by the same mystery stranger. Weird right? That’s not even the start of it!
Lucky puts a brilliant spin on the time-loop genre. Rather than May suffering the same fate in a never-ending cycle, it’s the repeated incident which forms the loop. The days progress as normal, life carries on around May, but every night the stranger is waiting to attack. Even when she injures or kills him he disappears only to return the next day. Adding to the confusion nobody around May seems to disturbed by the intruder.
The film quick begins to peel back the facade around May. Her husband, Ted, is distant and cold with her. There’s a disconnect between them which feels much wider than it appears psychically. He also speaks so matter-of-factly about the intruder which on amps up the intrigue around Grant’s story. Likewise, the authorities don’t seem too fussed either. In its early stages Lucky points in what feels like a purposeful misdirection. As if those around her are all in on some kind of conspiracy. Put simply, I felt I understood what I was getting in to. I was wrong.
Though Lucky employs some excellent horror mechanics, it is really rooted in emotional drama. Throughout the first and second act it picks apart Brea’s personal relationships with family and friends. Underpinning it with its looming threat. All the while the level of confusion is dialled up by using each day to further ignite Brea’s paranoia.
In its third act Lucky leans in much more to the horror after almost fully deconstructing its lead character. Separated from her loved ones, Brea enters in to a more straightforward cat-and-mouse game with her stalker. It follows the usual steps: he attacks, she survives and gives chase. But immediately Lucky throws us a perfect, game-changing curveball. When Brea confronts the killer at a parking garage she finds herself surrounded by other women. Women who are all being chased by a similar attacker, each attacker focussing on a singular target.
The story circles back around to an earlier conversation between Brea and a therapist. A scene where Brea opened up and laid bare all of her flaws. With a lesser actor Brea might feel less amiable. But Grant portrays her with a delicacy which feels honest and vulnerable. As she galvanises herself to take on her attacker it also feels authentic to Brea galvanising her inner strength.
At its climax Lucky pulls one more punch. It leaves the audience with questions aplenty but all in the best ways. It’s a film which leaves enough of the table to have us questioning our on perceptions.
Verdict
Lucky is an adeptly self-aware time-loop thriller with a sharp message about societal attitudes towards women.
Directed by Iranian-American filmmaker Natasha Kermani and penned by Brea Grant, Lucky also stars Dhruv Uday Singh and Kausar Mohammed and is produced by Patrick Ewald, Chelsea Davenport and lensed by Julia Swain.
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