[Frightening Ass Film Fest Review] “Lucky” is an allegorical character study on the daily threats that face the modern woman

[Frightening Ass Film Fest Review] “Lucky” is an allegorical character study on the daily threats that face the modern woman.

By The Great Muji

“Lucky”, directed by Natasha Kermani, is a movie about the trauma that women deal with, or more accurately are expected to deal with, every day. Written by and starring Brea Grant, “Lucky” uses the typical horror of a slasher movie to tell the story of many real-life horrors that all too many women face.

Grant stars as May, who is having troubles in both her personal and professional life. May is a self-help author whose latest book is not selling as well as expected. At home she is dealing with relationship issues. Her husband Ted(Dhruv Uday Singh) is not very emotionally supportive. On top of these issues, a man breaks into her house and attempts to kill her. This would seem like a real cause for alarm, right? Sadly for May it seems like she’s the only one worried about these nightly attacks.

The nightly attacks set the tone for what May will face for the rest of the movie. After the first attack Ted tells her that it happens every single night and its just something she has to deal with. When she makes a big deal about it Ted just packs a bag and leaves her all alone. The police tell her not to worry, that the man is probably already gone and wont come back. When he does they assure her they are doing what they can and suggest she gets some mace and work on her relationship with her missing husband if she wants to be safe. Her friends tell her that she is brave. But no one offers any real help. 

Brea Grant gives a great performance. It’s the kind of performance that demands she continues to get more leading roles. She’s able to portray a very strong, independent female who is also flawed. Her character May is very capable. She is able to continuously not only fight off her attacker but also injure him night after night. The killer then supernaturally disappears and soon starts to come back not only during the day but away from her house as well.

The movie looks great and is well acted all around. The score fits the film pretty well.  I must admit I’m not in love with the third act. Throughout, the film plays a bit with reality and It really takes some of the absurdity from the first part of the film up a level and ends with a bit of an unsatisfying conclusion. But that’s ok. For a movie that is probably not meant for me(or maybe it is meant exactly for me?) I enjoyed enough of it. I also believe that the subject matter is important enough that it’s a movie that should be seen.