Look, I absolutely can talk about Batman nonstop for weeks on end, but for both our sakes I’d rather not. I still have several movies I own that I want to talk about, so that means the occasional break in the three or four weeks I’m going to be focusing on this particular superhero. So instead of something related like The Shadow, we have Lo.
Lo is a little movie about a man, Justin, who summons a demon, Lo, to get his girlfriend, April, back from Hell. Through dialogue, a musical number, and flashbacks framed like a stage play, we see how Justin and April met, how weird she was, how she made up her name on the spot, and oops she was actually a demon the whole time! The other demons try to get Justin to fuck off, but he persists. Even when the gash in his hand starts talking to him. It’s a little quirky. In the end he’s reunited with April, but… hm. I really enjoy this movie, so I’m not going to spoil the ending.
This is an adorably low budget horror comedy. It’s not the smallest cast I’ve seen (I’ll get to you one day, Honeymoon), but it’s just a handful of characters and some extras that don’t really have their faces shown. The main set is… basically non-existent: just a ritual circle surrounded by blackness. Sure, there are a couple adjacent sets, but they’re for the musical number and the staged flashbacks. But what it lacks in production value it makes up for with heart. This movie is funny! It’s a little creepy! The demon costumes are all practical effects and generally look pretty good! And it gets downright sad at the end!
Maybe it’s some spillover from reviewing 4 big budget Batman movies of varying quality in a row, but lately I’ve been wondering questions like, “Why do I enjoy–not just like, but actively enjoy–the things that I do?” Why does a movie like Lo stick with me enough that I hunt down a DVD copy (which is a bit difficult when most search engines don’t work well with only two letters) when others–often with more production value–are forgotten quickly? I think it’s because I felt something. Lo drew me in with its quirky humor and told a story with a few characters I ended up learning and caring about. I felt something watching this, and I realize that’s not going to be the case for everyone, but I do recommend Lo a lot because of it.
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