Lucky Bastard (2014)

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This low budget thriller is hampered by its own subgenre, as "found footage" takes another casualty.

Mike (Don McManus) runs the porn website "Lucky Bastard," where he dabbles in fake sexual assault scenes for his subscribers. He decides to do his infamous "regular guy gets to sleep with a porn star on camera" scene with a hesitant Ashley (Betsy Rue). The logistics are in motion, his crew is set, and "nice" David (Jay Paulson) is chosen. David begins messing up right away, offending cast and crew with his naivete and nerves. Mike tries to make it work and salvage his production fee until David snaps.

The germ of an excellent thriller is here. There's a sense of foreboding as the opening footage is of first responders finding bodies at the house the video was to be shot at- a convenient reality show setting with a bunch of cameras spread around the rented home and grounds. The film has Wonderland/Manson murders vibes, and most of the camera angles seem natural. The dialogue seems to be scripted, so there are no awkward improvised dialogue scenes, although the stabs at characterization are sometimes shallow. The editing and sound are fantastic. This isn't a "porno" by definition, but it deserves its (NC-17) rating; this is the kind of film the rating was invented for.

If the film had been a scripted look at a porno set descend into murderous chaos, it might have worked. There is no real suspense, but seeing the victims begging for their lives instead of wandering around alone and experiencing a jump scare or two is almost refreshing. I've seen some of the cast in other projects (Rue was hilarious as a spoiled pop star in an episode of "iCarly" years ago), and they all do well here. Around Ashley's third walk-off of a set, I started checking the running time. I can't stand "confessing villains" in films, but even a little more about David would have helped. The characters must hold back because this is all being shot for online use, an omnipresent camera would have given the viewer more emotion, insight, and empathy. Finally, we have yet another "in-house editing" team of law enforcement officers tackling putting the hours of footage together, which makes no sense at all. If you watch the Wonderland Murders police walk-through video from the 1980s, it's really boring despite the gruesome footage. The LAPD doesn't edit the video together to make it run quicker. Start asking yourself in the found footage cinematic universe, why would any law enforcement entity be doing this in the first place, much less releasing the footage that has nothing to do with the crimes itself?

I had heard about "Lucky Bastard" for a while, and it proved to be the disappointment I was expecting.

Stats:
(2014) 94 min. (*) out of five stars
-Directed by Robert Nathan
-Written by Lukas Kendall and Robert Nathan
-Cast: Don McManus, Jay Paulson, Betsy Rue, Catherine Annette, Lee Kholafai, Lanny Joon, Clint Brink, Deborah Zoe, Angela Shin, Krystall Ellsworth, Mark Heenehan, Marissa Labog, Chase Woolner
(NC-17)-contains physical violence, gun violence, sexual violence, some gore, strong profanity, very strong nudity, very strong sexual content, very strong sexual references, strong adult situations, tobacco use