Swedish Thriller LFO Delivers Low Key, High Concept Sci-Fi

Dark Sky Films delivers a Swedish treat that explores all the dark corners of the average put-upon man. In LFO (which stands for low frequency oscillations), sound engineer Robert Nord (Patrik Karlson) is a socially inept Walter Mitty personality who discovers a combination of sound frequencies that serve to immediately bypass and shut down the brain's sensory receptors. It not only puts the body into a state of complete relaxation, but it opens the mind to accept commands. In short, LFO's conceit is the ultimate in mind-control fantasy, put into the hands of a man with no immediate long-range plans on how to use it.

Robert begins to use the technology on his new neighbors, Linn (Izabella Jo Tschig) and Simon (Per Lofberg), initially to take advantage of Linn sexually, then later to use the couple as a replacement for his wife and son, Clara (Ahnna Rasch) and Sebastian (Bjorn Lofberg Egner), whom he killed. As his designs get more complex, he finds himself having to get more creative to cover gaps in logic, to keep the new supplanted reality "real" to them. And when the police start to close in on the murder, he has to expand his range even further, until he finally settles on the ultimate mind-control experiment.

LFO is in Swedish with English subtitles, so American audiences will struggle to keep up with the plot if they look away from the dialogue for a brief time. However, the story is well worth the investment, and is completely unpredictable. The climactic scenes are the last thing you would expect from this somewhat sleepy drama, with an ending that will make you want to watch it again.

The bonus features on this DVD include a behind the scenes featurette, with Director Antonio Tublen and Patrik Karlson discussing the character, plot, and setting, as well as the original trailer for the film.

Previews on this disc for other Dark Sky Films presentations include "Willow Creek" and the remastered, original version of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre."