LFO is a dark comedy/drama/Sci-Fi about a man who realizes that he can hypnotise with sound. He starts experimenting on his neighbors, where the abuse of power takes over and, eventually, severe consequences for mankind are at stake.
Patrik Karlson Izabella Jo Tschig Per Löfberg Ahnna Rasch Lukas Loughran Erik Börén Björn Löfberg Egner Agneta Nordin Daniel Engman Kjetil Mørk Fabian Maugeais Thomas Chaanhing Adam Elk Josh Record Pierre Malmqvist Anna-Sara Kennedy Cecilia Nordlund Peter Wirén Thomas Lunderquist Thomas Romlöv Tua Broderick Torben Stampe Caroline Drab Kenneth Wahlberg
USA
USA
An audio technician's found a frequency that can manipulate the will of others, a wildly outlandish premise, yet conveyed with chilly wit and subdued minimalism. Karlson is the perfect megalomaniac, his nebbish isolation palpable, the electro-glitchy score an ideal companion to his lunacy.
A unique Swedish Sci-Fi flick from writer/director Antonio Tublén about a sick and twisted man whom is corrupted by recently acquired power and inevitably develops delusions of grandeur and replaces god!
It always bugs the heck out of me when I really like a film to the point I become its biggest cheerleader and root for its success and it falls just short of greatness!
With that being said it's clever as all get out and is an amazing piece of cinema considering its huge budget constraints!
Black comedy that sees a sound engineer discover that he can hypnotise people with the use of certain sounds. He gets to work hypnotising his neighbours, before realising that this power can go to bigger and better uses! This film really ticks a lot of boxes. It's well made, it's funny and it has some bigger points to make, particularly about narcissim and megalomania! The scenario is great; very unique and it begs the audience to wonder what they would do in the same situation! The scenarios presented get all the more outlandish as the film progresses, making the whole thing more ridiculous and absurd. The entire film takes place in the lead character's house, but somehow it feels like…
Thanks to Child of Chaos Kei for the suggestion
Wow was this right up my alley. This in a lot of ways reminds me of Lucky. You have a down on his luck loser who discovers a strange force that helps him with his problems. In this case a hypnotic brown note, in Lucky a psychic dog that writes cartoons for him. In both they end up in over their head. Also, mysogony.
Also there is this dark comedic element underlying this movie. In his frustration Robert tells his neighbor Simon to "just lie down and die." So he lays down and stops breathing. Or Simon sitting there while Robert rapes his wife.
Yea, he uses his hypnotic power…
Ever wanted to watch a man manipulate people via sound to have sex with him and play the parts of his dead wife and son? Then OH BOY do I have the film for you.
A dark comedy in which a depressed audio scientist, insomniac since his wife and son died in a car crash, discovers a particular combination of electronic sounds that sends the listener into a deep, relaxing trance. Ten minutes under its spell is as good as a full night's sleep, and his invention could change the world. But he finds that people in the trance are also very passive and extremely suggestible, so he keeps his innovation secret and instead exploits it for his own gratification.
What this reminded me of was Nicholson Baker's perversely erotic short novel The Fermata, in which a man can pause the whole world at will, a superpower that he uses mainly to sexually assault women…
LFO is a fun and very fascinating little Swedish oddity in part from the gang at Spectrevision, it’s darkly amusing and has a very off kilter sense of humour. When Robert our main character falls ass backwards into scientifically possible hypnotism, it’s pretty bent because he’s such a loser who suddenly gets given too much power.
With his control he becomes fixated on playing God with the lives of his neighbours, and it gets pretty messed up in a pathetic manner. The majority of the movie is just how his god complex begins to spiral out of control.
The movie does eventually fizzle out in a kind of non ending. The entirety of the movie takes place in about four…
A darkly satirical sci-fi comedy about a pathetic man who discovers a frequency that induces mind control. At least I think LFO is meant to be comedic, since the premise is presented with a touch of subtle absurdity.
However our protagonist’s pathetic inadequacies and narcissistic pettiness quickly evolves into an uncomfortable fucked-up “experiment”, as he uses his technology to humiliate, rape, mind-wipe, control his neighbors and beyond. Starts off small - clean my windows, find me attractive - before escalating to megalomaniacal pranks, God Complex delusions, and forcing people to role-play for his amusement and therapy. The ending fizzles out even as it swings for the fences in a big way, but the gross and twisted journey of this sci-fi gem will get under your skin.
Between stuff like this, Daniel Isn’t Real, Mandy, and more, SpectreVision has become a low-key goldmine for unique off-beat genre films.
It all makes sense now. The only way LFO inexplicably gained popularity in the late 90s was by hypnotizing people through their songs.
100 Essential Films That Deserve More Attention #26
Imagine if you discovered a way to hypnotise people to obey your every command. Would you use this ability to help others or to take advantage of them? This is the ethical quandary explored in Swedish sci-fi comedy LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator) when Robert (Patrik Karlsson), a man experimenting with sound waves in his home made basement laboratory, uncovers a method of hypnotising and controlling others by exposing them to a certain frequency. Initially, Robert tries to manipulate his own thoughts with simple and harmless tests such as reducing his habit of snacking on unhealthy foods. Once proven successful, he sees the perfect guinea pigs in the guise of his new neighbours,…
76/100
LFO is a darkly comedic science fiction movie that shows the consequences of using hypnotism through the power of low frequency oscillations.
I just know that I'd use it to see everyone naked.
YIKES.
I feel like this belongs to the same sort of sub-genre as Creep and The Gift, in that it's all about a creepy dude being creepy, but fuck me this was horrifying. And somehow funny, too?
Absurd and ridiculous and eerie, it needs a massive trigger warning on the box (suicide; rape) but if you're feeling up to it, it's kind of brilliant.
(Other movies it reminded me of: Berberian Sound Studio; Sleep Tight. Actually Sleep Tight is the best comparison, I think. But I liked this more than any of those movies.)
