Lo (2009)

Powerful

Lack of good storyline.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Lo (2009) was directed by Travis Bets, who also wrote it. Spoiler Alert, I will be talking about this movie. What is it about? It's a demon love story. Justin, played by Ward Roberts, has a crush on April, played by Sarah Lassez, One day she was carried off by demons, and now Justin will go to hell itself to get her back. Using Aprils book, Justin summons up the demon, "Lo" played a la "beatlejuice", by Jeramiah Berkett in order to have the demon search through hell to retrieve her. A demon once summoned must obey it's master. So yes, there is a story here, One might tend to question that while viewing. I remember my college days, hanging out with the actors in the drama department, a crazy group, they would improve situations, playing along as they went on. This movie has a "anything could happen" feel to it. than makes it eccentric. We get bargain basement Fellini. A particularly weird demon, Jeez, is played by Devin Barry is prone to break out into a rock anthem at the drop of a hat, I could see a connection between Lo, and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (2004) both gave us lead characters most could not identify with. Both films deal with lovers who were separated, both are presented in a offbeat format."Lo" takes the format of a, "Theater of the mind" experience as Justin's thoughts are revealed. Complete with stage and props. The movie aims at low comedy, pun intended. It turns out our poor boy Justin was duped, and April is not who he thought she was, but no matter. Love conquers everything. Hopefully you will overlook the Production values; Low budget, dare I say amateur, college film class 101. Yet there is also much imagination found here for those with a tolerance for nonsense such as this.Seven out of Ten "I'm fine with this, pass the joint" Stars.

Lo is essentially a love story. At it's base it is a romantic tragedy about a young loner, Justin who loses the woman he loves when she is taken away by a demon. He responds by summoning a demon of his own to help find out how to win his lady back from hell. The movie is driven completely by dialogue, the main character is isolated by a spell circle that protects him from the wretched things inhabiting hell. The demon he summons, who the film is name for, is a crippled demon with a dark sense of humor and prone to violent angry outbursts. The conversation between the two is what drives the entire film. It flows much like a play, the effects and the way things move forward are very theatrical. I could easily imagine seeing this on a stage. But I think that works very well for the film. The way the conversation plays out is similar to Faust which the characters reference more than once during the film. Overall I enjoyed the film very much. I knew very little about it so I had no preset expectations, but I think that helped me appreciate the content. It is well written and surprisingly intriguing. Lo is a breath of fresh air that teeters between horror, comedy, and romance. If you where looking for something different, this is it.

I really liked this movie, but I could not stop thinking OMG XANDER AND ANYA from Buffy. The campy demon music reminds me of "Once More With Feeling". IMHO Justin kind of looked like Xander...and yes I am the coolest person ever.....And the talking hand reminded me of Vampire Hunter D. ANYWAY...I did also really enjoy the low-budget, small production stage feel. Smaller budget movies sometimes blow their load on a couple crappy special effects gimmicks and it diminishes the rest of the movie. It was a quirky, funny, bittersweet and satisfying movie. I will definitely be watching it again.

Lo is more than just good. It's a masterpiece. There's something so strange and satisfying about this smart and clever little film.The plot is simple. Boy meets girl. girl gets kidnapped by demon. Guy teams up with different demon to get girl back.Sounds basic, but it works and the narrative is surprisingly rather complex and undeniably entertaining.This is a movie that will (or at least should) go down as a cult classic like Donnie Darko or the Rocky Horror picture show. It just goes to show that movies don't need massive budgets to be good. Just a good script...and $40.