This week in the crypt we take a look at Lucky, the new Shudder Original from director Natasha Kermani (Imitation Girl) and writer/actress Brea Grant (The Stylist).

You can catch Lucky starting March 4th on Shudder.

Lucky follows the story of May (Brea Grant), a self help author who is forced to relive certain aspects of her life.

At the beginning of this surreal tale, May is told by her boss (Leith M. Burke) there probably won’t be another book after this one. From there we see her home life with her husband Ted (Dhruv Uday Singh).

During the middle of the night May awakens to notice a man (Hunter C. Smith), she wakes Ted who nonchalantly states that’s the man who tries to kill us every night. This sets the tone of the film.

Clocking in at 80 minutes Lucky has a feel of several films ranging from Home Alone to Groundhog Day/Happy Death Day to The Strangers. The reason I say that is it is not your typical home invasion/protect your home film and it’s not your typical repetitive film as the only thing that’s the same is the man trying to kill May, she’s not living the same day just a certain part of it.

Also this movie is much more cerebral than your typical slasher and home invasion movie. We see a strong female lead in May as Ted is absent most of the film. We also see how she tries to empower other women in her life. Throughout the film we notice things we may not have at first like Sarah (Kausar Mohammed) and Edie (Yasmine Al-Bustami) tones and characters somewhat change as the story moves along.

At first glance I had written Lucky off when I first saw it in October as the finale to the Shudderfest event. After a rewatch for this review I can definitely chalk that up to screen fatigue and overall it just not feeling like a film to conclude a Halloween event.

With that being said, this film does what many have tried and may not have conveyed is the underlying social message of how women are labeled crazy or lucky or not believed. I don’t want to go into that too much as it is open to interpretation and don’t want to spoil much of the film.

Also the different take on the home invasion genre. It’s a fresh take on a subgenre that grew stale. While most films are trying to be the next Purge or The Strangers, Lucky stands on it’s own.

What worked for me is the story, Brea Grant had crafted a smart psychological thriller that has horror elements while working several subgenres into it. The acting, viewers are treated to a diverse cast with some cameos (Kristina Klebe, Nikea Gamby-Turner, Larry Cedar, and Jesse Merlin) that genre fans will recognize.

Where it fell short for me was the film felt uneven at times. Also, the living the same event over may have been too repetitive, I also see why the repetitiveness was needed once the film came to it’s conclusion.

This is a film that will split mainstream horror fans, but will definitely appeal to those looking for something more cerebral than blood and death scenes.

“And remember, if you feel a chill, that’s not the cold…you’re in the crypt!”