Lucky Bastard, 2014.
Directed by Robert Nathan.
Starring Don McManus, Jay Paulson, Betsy Rue, Chris Wylde and Catherine Annette.
SYNOPSIS:
When the adult website LUCKY BASTARD runs a contest giving the winner a night with a hot porn star, the outcome turns from fantasy to horror in a deadly nightmare no one could possibly have expected.
In recent years the success of films like Paranormal Activity and Cloverfield have seen a marked increase in ‘found footage’ films. It’s almost become an easy option for film-makers too, allowing a very quick, cheap shoot where anything that feels a little sloppy, and not quite on the mark with the performers, can pass as naturalistic. There have been so many found footage films in recent years that it has almost become an epidemic. Rarely has a sub-genre become so popular among film-makers of all levels, from aspiring to established. Are audiences getting tired of them? Well, I for one am, but generally it would seem that they’re not.
So Lucky Bastard arrives offering what found footage fans should rightly expect, lots of amateur camera work, mixed with surveillance footage. Does it offer anything a little different with it? Yes and no. Lucky Bastard opens with a woman seemingly being raped in a snuff porn video. As it transpires it’s all staged by professional porn actors performing just your run of the mill ‘rape porn.’ Mike, the head honcho of the company, played by Don McManus (who Seinfeld fans may remember as Jerry’s running nemesis, Duncan) comes up with a new idea to help boost his viewers. It’s the “lucky bastard” concept, whereby a fan chosen at random gets to perform with porn starlet, Ashley Saint (Betsy Rue). Unfortunately for the crew and cast, the man they choose ends up being mentally disturbed and goes on a rampage.
The porn element is a little bit out of the ordinary but not really pushed enough. The fact that it’s not genuinely explicit (or a real porn production) makes proceedings feel a little faker than it should. This is exploitative but perhaps they might have pushed proceedings further to at least gain a bit of notoriety. As it is, it’ll probably go by largely unnoticed. At least the film doesn’t take itself too seriously with plenty of light hearted moments and ably performed by the cast, lead by established actors like McManus, Rue and Jay Paulson as the bad guy. Unfortunately there’s little development in any of the characters that isn’t incredibly formulaic.
Much like a lot of these films, it takes too long to get to the nitty gritty of people getting picked off one by one. Director Robert Nathan who co-wrote the script with Lukas Kendall, seems happy to let the build up and exposition take up most of the film. Unfortunately, as is the want of many of these films, much of the build up is perfunctory. To the films detriment too, the more staple aspects of a film like this, ie the horror/stalker elements (which at the end of the day will be the major selling point), are lacklustre with little imagination.
Overall, despite a solid cast and an attempt to offer something a little different to the standard ghost/creature story most associated with found footage movies, Lucky Bastard fails to fully utilize it’s one difference fully, and its failure to at least deliver on the minimum requirements of the horror part make this difficult to recommend to genre fans. There have been worse films in the genre, but also many better.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Tom Jolliffe
