The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Show reviews
    • Interviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Cannes
      • Sundance London
      • Venice
      • London
  • Music
    • Live music
    • Album reviews
    • Interviews
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
    • Fringe
    • Vault Festival
    • Interviews
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Interviews
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join the team
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

Culture Cinema & Tv Movie reviews

Lucky

Lucky | Movie review
1st March 2021
Jacob Kennedy
Avatar
Jacob Kennedy
1 March 2021

Movie and show review

Jacob Kennedy

Lucky

★★★★★

Release date

4th March 2021

Platform

Shudder

There have been a few really great sub-90 minute films recently: Mark Jenkin’s Bait was 89 minutes, as was Dick Johnson is Dead, and Rose Glass’s debut horror St Maud was 85. At 83 minutes, Nathasha Kermani’s second feature, Lucky, is another one to add to the list. Genre films should never stray too far past the hour and a half mark, and this one sits unashamedly in that category.

It follows May, a self-help author in a (kind of) happy marriage, who wakes up one night to a masked man trying to break into her house and kill her – it couldn’t be more classic slasher. What happens next is truly unexpected, and moves Lucky into the post-Scream world of films that play with the conventions of horror to do something different and interesting, often, as is the case here, with political undertones. 

When the moment comes it is both funny and exciting in its unexpectedness, and at only 10 minutes in, it’s a sign of the film’s dedication to keeping things moving at a real pace. Maybe Lucky osmosed some of the qualities of its production – it was shot over just 15 days with very limited pre-production. Nothing feels like it lacks preparation though. Natasha Kermani’s precise direction means the result always feels in control, leading viewers exactly where it wants to go. And those are some fascinating places: it sets subtle, everyday misogyny alongside brutal and violent acts, and forces its audience to think about how they interlink. There is another bold, surreal step into a third act that calls to mind the work of Jordan Peele.

A lot of the credit has to go to Brea Grant, who writes and stars, and does an equally excellent job on both counts. The rest of the cast are also great; a lot of them are comedians and it shows – the film is creepily, unsettlingly funny. This feels like the result of harmonious collaboration (interviews with Kermani and Grant suggest so too). 

It’s a shame that the movie follows so closely on the heels of the bigger budget The Invisible Man as it means that it feels less fresh than it would otherwise have done 18 months ago. But Lucky nevertheless holds its own as a creepy, funny, thought-provoking, satisfying horror. And the best thing about it: you could almost watch it over your lunch break.

★★★★★

Jacob Kennedy

Lucky is released digitally on demand via Shudder on 4th March 2021.

Watch the trailer for Lucky here:

Related Itemshorrorreview

More in Movie reviews

Wonka

★★★★★
Guy Lambert
Read More

Your Christmas or Mine 2

★★★★★
Umar Ali
Read More

Earth Mama

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Candy Cane Lane

★★★★★
Guy Lambert
Read More

Geni

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Eileen

★★★★★
Selina Sondermann
Read More

Wish

★★★★★
Guy Lambert
Read More

Girl

★★★★★
Umar Ali
Read More

Maestro

★★★★★
Filippo L'Astorina, the Editor
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Movie and show review

Jacob Kennedy

Lucky

★★★★★

Release date

4th March 2021

Platform

Shudder

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Candy Cane Lane
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Your Christmas or Mine 2
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • The Homecoming at the Young Vic
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Sophie Ellis-Bextor at Hammersmith Apollo
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Nutcracker at the Turbine Theatre
    Theatre
  • The Nutcracker at the Turbine Theatre
    Theatre
  • Sophie Ellis-Bextor at Hammersmith Apollo
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Homecoming at the Young Vic
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Your Christmas or Mine 2
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Wonka
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • The Homecoming at the Young Vic
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Sophie Ellis-Bextor at Hammersmith Apollo
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Nutcracker at the Turbine Theatre
    Theatre
  • Wonka
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Your Christmas or Mine 2
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
The Upcoming
  • Contact us
  • Join the team
  • Subscribe to the mailing list
  • Support us
  • Writing for The Upcoming

Copyright © 2011-2023 FL Media