Lucky Girl (2016) Review

Lucky Girl is a horror short, written, directed and edited by Demeter Lóránt – a one man film making machine.

The film starts with little introduction as a heavily built man arrives in a van to transport three badly injured women that appear to have been involved in a car accident.

As he beats the only conscious survivor with a club, his evil intentions are made clear and the girl wakes to find herself being transported in the back of a filthy van to a remote lock-up filled with torturous tools.

As her sadistic captor carries out brutal acts on the women, the one conscious ‘lucky’ girl must find a way to escape before she too is unable to put up any form of resistance.
What follows is a gritty, lingering short film that will keep you gripped to the last.

As has been made clear by my recent reviews, independent horror can be a mixed bag.
I’m always more confident that I’m going to enjoy something when it’s a short length feature, mainly because it’ so very difficult for anyone – no matter how talented – to make a full length film work on a tiny budget.

Helping to prove this hypothesis, Lucky Girl delivers because it manages to keep things simple.

By focusing on the raw acts and paying attention to shot composition and how to pull things together in the final edit, Lóránt doesn’t get bogged down by back story and explanation.

And whereas some might struggle to play the role of scribe, director and editing workhorse, it’s clear that in this case that by using his vision and an seemingly substantial amount of experience Demeter makes it look easy. This will probably make other aspiring film makers feel a little envious and others, inspired.

Bleak setting is the perfect canvas for this dark tale and the high contrast grading only helps to emphasise the film’s sinister tones.

Although the actors are limited to performing actions without dialogue (for the most part) the roles are well cast and Géza Benko and Nikolett Dékány do well in their roles as brutish antagonist and determined protagonist.

Lucky Girl is a film full of promise. It may meander a little too far into the realms of ‘torture porn’ for some, but it would be a crime if it doesn’t serve as a stepping stone for Demeter Lóránt towards big budget, full length films.

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