Sadly, (but not surprisingly) it would appear that most people reviewing this movie do not actually understand it, or didn't watch the whole thing.
As others have stated, there's a lot more to it than the standard exploitation revenge flick. But getting the basics out of the way first, it's well acted, the cinematography is nice, the music actually fits the tone of the film, and it manages to set itself apart from other films in the revenge horror genre. Unfortunately people really seem to be missing the latter, so, spoilers ahead...
Lu is simply a representation of some deep and, until now, hidden part of Shae's personality. The way a shy person may need to dig deep within in order to speak up about something or to someone. Not a split personality necessarily, although I can see why people may get that impression, but think of Lu more like the devil and angel on your shoulder. Lu is the strong confident outgoing independent take no s**t girl that Shae sometimes wishes she could be. So not surprisingly, it's when Shae has a string of bad events occur that Lu pops up.
Believing her older boyfriend to be separated from his wife, Shae is told he wants to patch things up with his wife on top of that, then reveals a daughter that he previously kept from Shae. The following day she actually sees him out with his family which hits her even harder. That night at work is when we the audience first meet Lu.
Depressed, Shae decides to step out of her comfort zone and go out clubbing (with Lu), presumably behaving in a manner that is not the norm for her as she tests the waters of being this new more confident and outgoing version of herself. Unfortunately, and through no fault of her own (or Lu's), the night ends up taking an even more tragic turn. Add to that another bad experience with the ex, and Lu reemerges when Shae needs the strength to go to the police station (which I *think* is the last actual real world event up until the end when we pick up on Shae in the bath).
From then on Shae relies on Lu, her inner bad girl, to get her through her current trauma by playing out a revenge fantasy. Fantasy being the operative word. The "duo's" actions throughout the movie are Shae, in a traumatized and depressed state, imagining what she'd like to do to the men who have hurt her. She does take joy in some of the events, while others she feels less comfortable with so Lu takes the lead. Scenes where the two are in opposition of each other are Shae wrestling with her emotions; the timid version of herself wishing she was stronger, but at the same time not wanting to lose herself completely or cutting herself off emotionally. Shae doesn't believe "all men" are the enemy, but the angry, bitter, and traumatized version of her, Lu, clearly does and that scares Shae just as much. The whole point of the movie is that Shae is wrestling with these emotions, imagining both the revenge fantasies that she enjoys, but also the dark and out of control road that could lead her down where she begins to distrust all men and harm the innocent people around her. Ultimately she must find a balance between the old version of herself and the stronger woman she sometimes wants to be in order to deal with her trauma and begin picking up the pieces.
Now, where the translation of all of this may be hazy is that even if the viewer does understand that Lu isn't real, it still may come across as a split personality scenario similar to Fight Club, leaving the viewer to believe that everything did actually happen. However, the film clearly shows the viewer all of the clean "crime scenes" at the end, proving that none of the revenge scenes actually took place. Likely these are all fantasies Shae had while at the police station or once she got home. I suppose that the director could have gone the extra step and given a clean cut between reality and fantasy, but until I started reading through previous reviews here I didn't really think it was necessary.
As others have stated, there's a lot more to it than the standard exploitation revenge flick. But getting the basics out of the way first, it's well acted, the cinematography is nice, the music actually fits the tone of the film, and it manages to set itself apart from other films in the revenge horror genre. Unfortunately people really seem to be missing the latter, so, spoilers ahead...
Lu is simply a representation of some deep and, until now, hidden part of Shae's personality. The way a shy person may need to dig deep within in order to speak up about something or to someone. Not a split personality necessarily, although I can see why people may get that impression, but think of Lu more like the devil and angel on your shoulder. Lu is the strong confident outgoing independent take no s**t girl that Shae sometimes wishes she could be. So not surprisingly, it's when Shae has a string of bad events occur that Lu pops up.
Believing her older boyfriend to be separated from his wife, Shae is told he wants to patch things up with his wife on top of that, then reveals a daughter that he previously kept from Shae. The following day she actually sees him out with his family which hits her even harder. That night at work is when we the audience first meet Lu.
Depressed, Shae decides to step out of her comfort zone and go out clubbing (with Lu), presumably behaving in a manner that is not the norm for her as she tests the waters of being this new more confident and outgoing version of herself. Unfortunately, and through no fault of her own (or Lu's), the night ends up taking an even more tragic turn. Add to that another bad experience with the ex, and Lu reemerges when Shae needs the strength to go to the police station (which I *think* is the last actual real world event up until the end when we pick up on Shae in the bath).
From then on Shae relies on Lu, her inner bad girl, to get her through her current trauma by playing out a revenge fantasy. Fantasy being the operative word. The "duo's" actions throughout the movie are Shae, in a traumatized and depressed state, imagining what she'd like to do to the men who have hurt her. She does take joy in some of the events, while others she feels less comfortable with so Lu takes the lead. Scenes where the two are in opposition of each other are Shae wrestling with her emotions; the timid version of herself wishing she was stronger, but at the same time not wanting to lose herself completely or cutting herself off emotionally. Shae doesn't believe "all men" are the enemy, but the angry, bitter, and traumatized version of her, Lu, clearly does and that scares Shae just as much. The whole point of the movie is that Shae is wrestling with these emotions, imagining both the revenge fantasies that she enjoys, but also the dark and out of control road that could lead her down where she begins to distrust all men and harm the innocent people around her. Ultimately she must find a balance between the old version of herself and the stronger woman she sometimes wants to be in order to deal with her trauma and begin picking up the pieces.
Now, where the translation of all of this may be hazy is that even if the viewer does understand that Lu isn't real, it still may come across as a split personality scenario similar to Fight Club, leaving the viewer to believe that everything did actually happen. However, the film clearly shows the viewer all of the clean "crime scenes" at the end, proving that none of the revenge scenes actually took place. Likely these are all fantasies Shae had while at the police station or once she got home. I suppose that the director could have gone the extra step and given a clean cut between reality and fantasy, but until I started reading through previous reviews here I didn't really think it was necessary.