Sometimes, "found footage" films feel like the writers/directors were just trying to cash in on a craze and make a film that doesn't necessarily require a script in order to get a big return or just get a film out there…and sometimes they're even worse."Lucky Bastard" is a thriller with no thrills and a horror with no scares. The actors looked lost on who exactly their characters are suppose to be and just, instead, settle for cheesy acting, it seems like the director had no idea about yelling "cut" or having the editor trim scenes, and the entire concept of bringing in tension was entirely foreign to the production. The entire film is just one long and terrifyingly bad example of how to not make a thriller. Every scene lasts way too long and the actors look like they are trying, and failing miserably, at improvising every scene. Then, as if the production was literally trying to make an awful film, they only include the moments that are, on paper, meant to be the thrilling part near the end of the film. The film wastes an entire hour without establishing anything but the most basic of its premises and completely forgetting to seed the ground in order for terror to sprout."Lucky Bastard" only had one thing in its favor…it cured my insomnia.Hello! My name is Rev. Ron and if you feel like reading more of my rants, ramblings, geek references, bad jokes, and other movie reviews (like a more in-depth look at "Lucky Bastard" and other films that actually remember to include the frightening stuff) you can visit my blog at revronmovies.blogspot.com. If you hate me now because my opinion on this film differed from yours, you don't need to visit.

Smarmy, burnt out middle-aged porn king Mike (Don McManus) runs his own adult film empire in L.A. that specialize in things like live streaming rape-fantasy scenarios. One of their other sites - "Lucky Bastard" - offers subscribers a chance to come in and film a sex scene with one of their actresses. Site favorite Ashley Saint (Betsy Rue), a single mother of two who's not lived a charmed life and adopted a tough exterior as a result, decides to do the job for 1500 bucks. They screen a bunch of applicants who send in submission videos and finally settle on an awkward, geeky redhead named David G. (Jay Paulson), who claims to be well-educated and an army vet. Once David is picked up for the shoot, his odd behavior and constantly- changing stories raise some red flags for the perceptive porn queen, who's faced a dangerous stalker in the past and knows David fits the m.o., but her suspicions are all but ignored by everyone else. They - along with a few cameramen (David Wylde, Lanny Joon) - then go to a rented Hollywood hills mansion filled with surveillance cameras for the shoot and then things take a violent turn.After David finds himself unable to perform for the cameras (well, he actually "performs" a little too quickly if you catch my drift) and is exposed as a virgin, he's humiliated and mocked by the crew, Ashley refuses to "act" with him a second time and Mike kicks him out of the mansion. They'll all soon regret their cruel treatment of the already- unhinged amateur when he comes back armed and ready to kill in order to retrieve the embarrassing footage he did shoot. Also getting caught up in the crossfire are Casey (Catherine Annette), Mike's much-younger porn starlet girlfriend who's fighting a losing battle trying to prove she's more than just a piece of ass, as well as a bitchy real estate agent (Deborah Zoe) who apparently rents properties by the hour and the porn stud (Lee Kholafai) called in to replace David.If you're sick of found footage movies and mockumentaries set in dreary abandoned asylums and dark haunted houses, this at least marks a change of pace to that played-out formula. Aside from some crime scene footage at the beginning telling the eventual fates of some of the characters, it's filmed entirely during the day in bright, sunny California. Unlike most other films of this type, there's fairly strong acting (especially from Rue and McManus) and a decent (though dialogue-heavy) screenplay. If you've ever seen any behind- the-scenes footage on adult film sets or documentaries about the people who make and act in these kinds of films, you'll realize just how well- researched this is. The characters in this one are believable personalities that are true to life and each are fairly well-defined and fleshed out. The thriller / horror elements and violent backlash of the psycho toward the end are, unfortunately, far less taut and disturbing than I think the filmmakers intended, mostly due to the shooting format. I'm not really sure the "found footage" route was the right way to go for this kind of material.There's clearly a message being conveyed here, so at least this has a focused point of view and something to say. There's an opening text that tells us "For too long the adult entertainment industry has pushed the boundaries not only of obscenity but common sense. Those who play with fire... eventually get burned." That in itself sets this up as message movie meant to expose the dangers of the porn industry. Fair enough. The film does develop a sort of victim / victimizer parallel between the money-centered porn veterans who are completely resigned to what they do and the fresh faces in the industry who are treated as being disposable with no regard whatsoever for their feelings. Again, this seems somewhat true to the industry based on what I've heard from many - though not all - of the people who have worked in the industry.One thing that did take me by surprise was that this was directed and co-written by an extremely successful TV producer with five Emmy nominations to his name and not an ambitious amateur like I initially thought. The producer was prolific B movie / soft corn porn king Jim Wynorski, and this is certainly more thoughtful than the brainless T&A films he's typically associated with. Because of full frontal male and female nudity, lots of raunchy dialogue and two simulated sex scenes (which are about on par with what you'll see late night on Cinemax these days), this earned itself an NC- 17 rating. That unintended irony there is that this rating is likely to draw in a crowd of viewers who might not like - or will even be offended by - what this has to say.

Robert Nathan's Lucky Bastard fought strict censor restrictions in order to keep its NC-17 rating, effectively making it the first NC-17 found footage film ever made. Wisely so, because an R-rated Lucky Bastard would've been far more inferior than the NC-17 version we got as the final cut. Despite the film being exercised in the genre I run hot and cold with, Lucky Bastard finds incredible ways to be a gripping and suspenseful outing on a genre I wouldn't completely give up on just yet.Just last night, I watched Earth to Echo, a new found-footage adventure for young children that serves as this generation's E.T.. Not only am I fully confident in saying that this is the first and only time the mention of that film and Lucky Bastard will appear in the same review, but I am also saying that through these two films, I have found a reinvigorated sense of what the found footage genre can be if direction and approach are placed in the forefront of the film over gimmicky ideas and momentarily substantial little quirks. Both films have the ability to leave lasting impressions on viewers, especially Lucky Bastard in its often dirty and deeply disturbing nature.Following lowlit shots of a crime scene, the film opens where a young, attractive woman named Casey (Catherine Annette) is being interview for a potential porn video by two men. Shortly after the interview, we see her being viciously raped until another porn star named Ashley Saint (Betsy Rue) walks into the home before becoming overpowered by both of the men. However, a flub by one of the men causes for the staged porn shoot to cut, which is then when we see how this entire setup works. These "rape porn" videos are shot by a loyal cameraman and managed by the cocky and sleazy producer Mike (Don McManus), who is also dating Casey, but of course not exclusively.Following the shoot, Mike approaches Ashley about the idea of doing a shoot for his "Lucky Bastard" website, a site where a random and ambitious fan and subscriber of the series is picked to have sex with a porn star. After much convincing, being that some of Ashley's rules in the industry are no anal sex and no amateurs, she finally agrees, recognizing that she has two young children and several bills that need to be paid. The applicant they settle on is "Dave G." (Jay Paulson), a shy and squirrelly soul, who is clearly nervous about his first time being on camera and shaken when in the presence of the beautiful Ashley. Little else about the film can be said without leading into grave spoiler territory accept that Dave's behavior eventually begins to take a toll on the cast and crew of the "Lucky Bastard" shoot, leading to some incredibly unforeseen consequences.Lucky Bastard defines the rich elements of unpredictability in a film, so much so that just when you think screenwriters Lukas Kendall and Nathan are writing themselves into a corner, they miraculously find a way out and are able to construct another intricate and tense setup just as gripping as the first. Nathan fearlessly orchestrates this idea to the fullest extent, not only bringing to life the smuttiness of the porn industry, but also emphasizing that we (you know who you are) are the people that keep this industry in business. Because we crave and view strange and off-kilter pornography like this is why guys like these are in the business. Should we feel ashamed or should we keep on buying lotion and watching? In reviewers' rants about why Lucky Bastard somehow suffers from a lack of originality, let's hope they don't forget to recognize the great performances at hand here that come from more than Betsy Rue as the porn star, who clearly isn't a helpless, damsel in distress. The performance of the hour comes from Don McManus, who delivers the role of a sleazeball porn producer to such extreme effect, whether he's using his slickness to propel a scene forward, anger to scold and demean, or fear to convince and persuade. McManus shows the extreme diversity of an actor's emotional leverage in one, ninety minute project to the degree that some have a hard time conveying in over a decade in the business. Then there's Paulson, who we can't forget, plays the role of the innocuous and sweet man who doesn't know any better to a vindictive soul with similar leverage and effect to McManus. The unexpectedly refined and winning performances are what keeps Lucky Bastard engaging throughout.However, what keeps the film riveting, never boring, and a rousing great time is just the episodic structure of scenes you didn't expect or predict flowing so well together to create an intense and gripping final product. There is such a cluster of clever ideas and a barrage of different camera angles that work to make the film a consistently exciting great time. Few first time directors can make such an ambitious, gifted product, but Nathan - whose credits include working on the original staffs for shows like ER and Law & Order - uses incredible realism and quietly-vocalized questions to his advantage, creating a tense and well-structured piece of cinema from a genre I previously thought was long gone dead.Starring: Don McManus, Jay Paulson, Betsy Rue, Chris Wylde, Catherine Annette, Lee Kholafai, and Lanny Joon. Directed by: Robert Nathan.

Lucky Bastard is a "found footage" thriller about a porn website run by Mike (Don McManus) that invites fans to have sex with porn stars. Dave (Jay Paulson) is an eager young fan given a chance to have sex with the fabulous Ashley Saint (Betsy Rue). But everyone gets more than they bargained for in the seemingly mild-mannered Dave... with gruesome results.I am not a fan of the found footage subgenre in horror (if this can be called horror). Since its modern birth with "Blair Witch Project", few of those entries in this category have been better than average. This, I must say, might be the exception. Not only were the cameras not overly irritating, but it actually made sense for the plot of the film to have so many filming at once.The film starts with a rather graphic sex scene by non-porn standards (perhaps not surprising for a film of this subject matter) involving actress Catherine Annette. Now, this scene notwithstanding, Annette is an actress to watch -- she has excellent screen presence and steals scenes, even eclipsing star Betsy Rue (with all due respect to Rue, who more than holds her own). The nudity is a bit extreme, earning the film an NC-17. But, again, this is about porn so that may be expected.Don McManus is awesome, very funny and I love the beard. He is a veteran actor, though perhaps not well known. He is not going to become much more well known from this film, but he should -- he has a great personality, a great look about him, and he is the one character in this movie I really found myself identifying with (whatever that might say about me).In the background is producer Jim Wynorski, whose involvement is not entirely clear to me. I can frankly say this is the best thing with Wynorski's name on it that I have seen in over a decade, probably longer. Also worth notice is editor Tony Randel, a "Hellraiser" veteran. People rarely notice editors, but Randel is worth every penny.Although the plot of this film is rather simple, it was brilliantly scripted. Every camera is accounted for, scenes are made to flesh out characters without dragging on too much. Everyone came to the set ready to act, and this was expertly executed. Well worth a watch.