I love the fact that women are directing horror films more and more often. Past films have shown that they are as in touch with the genre as any male director out there. Films like PET SEMETARY and SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE are direct proof of that. Unfortunately as with male directors there are sometimes efforts that fail as well. LUCKY is one of those.

Screenwriter/star Brea Grant plays May, a self-help author who's in a bit of a slump. Waiting to hear from her publisher about the next book they want her to write she leaves her agents office with a box of books in hand for the next signing. In the parking garage she hears a soft scream, looks around seeing nothing and goes about heading home.

That night she begins to talk to her husband Ted (Dhruv Uday Singh) about getting married but he changes the subject. In bed that night she hears something and looks out the window to see a masked man looking up. She wakes Ted and he tells her it's just the man who comes there every night to murder her. Stunned at this response she goes with him to find out what's going on but no one is there.

The next morning they argue about what transpired and Ted tells her he's leaving until she decides to calm down. That night, home alone, the stranger reappears. May wounds him and calls the police but when they arrive he's nowhere to be found. They file a report and leave.

Each passing day the same situation repeats itself. The stranger shows, May kills him, the body disappears and she calls the police. She talks to her friends and Ted's sister about what's happening. Ted remains away. But still the stranger returns with the violence between him and May increasing.

The movie sounds like a violent version of GROUNDHOG DAY but not exactly identical moments being played out, just the nightly attack and the seemingly non-existent help from the police. At one point things take a surreal turn as the detective, officer, social worker and more join in together to sing a song about questioning May. It doesn't help things or the movie.

As the movie developed I found my interest slipping with each new attack and the strange behavior of the characters surrounding May. Thoughts ranged from is she insane and we're seeing this through her eyes? Or could it be that she's in purgatory, forced to relive the same terror night after night? Perhaps this is her husband trying to drive her insane? By the end of the film no answer is presented.

Perhaps that is what made me dislike this movie so much. I'm one who wants a solid pay out to what I've just watched. I want a beginning, middle and end to the films I watch. I loathe movies that leave things up in the air and this movie does that. If I'm willing to invest 83 minutes into watching a movie I want there to be a reason to do so. For me this movie didn't deliver the goods.

On top of that while the see through mask the killer wears is creepy enough we get no background on why he's doing what he's doing. Is he a fan? A stalker? An escaped lunatic? Who knows? And when his mask is finally removed the last piece of the puzzle is given to us only for it to be a new puzzle piece that doesn't fit into the puzzle we were working on.

I usually don't slam a movie too hard. This one does look well shot, the soundtrack is good and Grant delivers a good performance. I don't know if the fault here lies in her script or the direction of Natasha Kermani but somewhere along the line they made a film that's not entertaining and leaves you not wishing there were more but just wishing it were over.

1. Poor or non-existent forensics reduced the credibility of the story.

2. Like a poor teacher the storyline does not direct the audience into thinking about the issue of fear, but instead has us asking what's going on. The focus was on knives, hammers, blood on floor, bodies gone.

3. Bodies disappearing opens many interpretations some of which are nonsensical which added to the confusion. Was she hallucinating; a metaphor; ghosts/spirits?

4. The poor response to securing the home & ways of protecting one's self gives us another female victim character as helpless & lacking intelligence.

5. Even the DVDs special feature of production staff audio commentary overlay said nothing about the story itself, but only camera angles, lighting, etc.

May (Brea Grant) writes self help books. Her latest one is "Go It Alone" which most likely is connected to the theme of the film which I have no idea what it is. May is suddenly living in an alternative universe where every night a man tries to kill her. She manages to buy a bunch of stuff for protection, none of which are cameras, alarms, guns or big dog. After she incapacitates the man, he disappears and it starts all over again.

The film doesn't offer any closure as was not designed to be real science fiction, but a statement of some sort of not always going it alone? Police never gather any of the criminals blood.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.