'Lo': Your Perfect Horror Romcom for Valentine's
There are very few films that manage to weave together horror and romance without making it either too cheesy or completely unlovable. Well, here is a rare piece of cinema that does the job. Although it won't scare the tempted fans, it certainly would cheer them with some delightfully monstrous characters and uncompromisingly brilliant dialogue lines. At the same time, it manages to remain essentially a love story. Always mocked and never apprehended by demons, is love indeed the only thing these otherwise omnipotent evil creatures can never bend?
If demons were real, they would probably be as portrayed in this movie: supercilious, unbound, impudent. Not deprived of sense of humour too. After all, they would need it to endure millenias of existence. They would also be, as depicted, eager to kill and destroy with pleasure, given a slightest opportunity. This thoughtful portrayal, in our opinion, is one of the biggest merits of the movie, but by far not all that makes ‘Lo’ such a great film. So if you wondered why, of all films out there, should you watch an 80-minute-long low-budget from 2009, the answer is this: it is because this isn’t a typical template horror movie. It’s rather the opposite, an independent artwork, with its own atmosphere and rules by which it abides.
The story is simple: the protagonist’s beloved girlfriend is taken by a demon, so he ventures to summon one and make him bring her back. Essentially, the entire action happens in the darkness of his room, where Justin (the protagonist) sits in a circle and tries to make the demon do what he wants while struggling to keep his sanity. The latter appeared to be harder than we could imagine -- (a little spoiler here) so at the point when he is yelling at his own hand, you will be laughing out loud.
The effects and costumes aren’t there to stun you. They are there to help you grasp the atmosphere of fakeness and mockery of these entities - and our own worlds too. They are, however, convincing enough to pull out a film that accentuates the storylineand the dialogues. In fact, they rather add to the film's charm and captivation. Its symbols aren’t to be logically explained. The faces on the sides of a theatre scene, the weird mouse nickering at the protagonist, the swastika-banded demon Jeeez with his exaggerated accent. These things seem to be present rather to escalate the bizarreness of the whole show.
It’s hilarious. It’s mind-twisting. And it’s a perfect choice for you and partner's horror Valentine’s.
However, if you find that 80 minutes of horror fun isn't quenching your thirst for thrill, try also the Black Box TV guys - they'll help you finish off the evening with some scary interactive stories.