by: AthenaY
Posted on 03.16.10 in All Horror Films > Comedy > Supernatural
Release Date: 2009

This quirky, dark little gem takes a stereotypical romantic plot-line (boy-meets-girl/boy-loses-girl/boy-goes-through-hell-to-win-her-back) to extraordinarily literal extremes.  It’s part occult study, part love story, with a good helping of twisted humor thrown in the mix.

As the curtain rises, fresh-faced Justin (Ward Roberts) is in the midst of preparing to summon a demon.  His beloved April (Sarah Lassez) has been mysteriously and violently accosted by a sinister hell-beast and he’s desperate to retrieve her from the depths of Hades.  She’s a strange, pretty girl with an obsession for the occult.  As a token of love, she’d given him a rare, ancient tome along with the strict warning to burn it should anything happen to her.  Justin does not heed her warning.  Using a spell from its pages, he raises a demon to find April for him.

The demonic creature is called Lo.  Lo (voiced by Jeremiah Birkett) is a sarcastic, hungry demon who does not appreciate being at Justin’s beck and call.  It soon becomes a battle of wills between the two– Justin adamant on rescuing April, and Lo, hell-bent on changing his mind. With the help of several motley creatures, a demonic joker in a Nazi uniform, an eerily calm waiter and even an undead lounge act, Lo replays key moments from Justin and April’s courtship as a reminder that not everything was as peachy as Justin liked to think.

By no means is Lo a traditional horror movie.  Some rather creepy creatures inhabit the screen, but there’s very little in the way of blood and violence.  The acting is a bit campy at times and the story a little corny.  But it works.  Watching Lo made me nostalgic for the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” series– and this is a positive thing.  The off-the-wall humor of Lo adds a light, weirdly fanciful feel to what otherwise would be a melodramatic, predictable plot.  For those with a significant other interested in horror movies, this is an excellent date movie.

• ★★★★★

  Acting:

• ★★★★★

  Blood:

• ★★★★★

  Violence:

• ★★★★★

  Partying:

• ★★★★★

  Language:

• ★★★★★

  Humor:

• ★★★★★

  Predictable:

• ★★★★★

  Girls:

• ★★★★★

  Gore:

• ★★★★★

  Sexuality:

• ★★★★★

  Torture:

• ★★★★★

  Overall:

Definitely a fun movie. It might disappoint those into serious, gory films, but I enjoyed the slightly more lighthearted dark humor. Oh, and apparently there's a "Long Wait" on Netflix for it. I watched the online streaming version though and that worked well. Enjoy!

This sounds like a pretty cool concept and I'll probably check it out. I also watched Dead End a couple of weeks ago and loved it - great story, some humour and interesting characters. Reminded me of a long Twilight Zone episode.

I'm so glad you reviewed this! I've been unsure about whether or not to watch it, but it sounds like the kind of thing I would enjoy.