The Horror Show
Limbo
by Mark Young
The battle of good and evil over our eternal souls is a story as old as religion itself. From the story of Job in the bible to tales of Faustian deals in modern works, the story still rings true. Does evil conquer good or do you get a redemption? Limbo tells this story.
Jimmy (Lew Temple) is a two bit criminal that has awoke in a dingy civil service office. Sitting across from him in an ill fitting suit is Balthazar (Lucian Charles Collier). Of course Jimmy is confused and Balthazar isn't really explaining anything. Suddenly, a woman claiming to be from some other bureaucratic office Jimmy has never heard of shows up to represent Jimmy. Cassiel (Scottie Thompson) explains that Jimmy is in Limbo and they're having a trial to figure out if Jimmy is worthy of redemption or if it's off to Hell for all of eternity.
I really love these types of stories if they're done well. This one wasn't done well. It was going so great until they introduced the hooker with a heart of gold trope. She was a quirky girl who reads poetry that tries to befriend Jimmy. She has an abusive pimp boyfriend and is such a tragic character, blah blah blah. It's so overused. Jimmy has no redeeming qualities and to bring in an obvious “saving grace” character just made me groan. The parts with her in it were the slowest points of the movie. I literally opened TikTok and started watching some videos before I remembered I was watching a movie.
Limbo isn't all bad, though. The parts about Jimmy's past were good. The little touches to Limbo were pretty cool. It reminded me a bit of Brazil but like an off brand Brazil. My absolute favorite part was Phil the stenographer, played by well-known character actor Richard Riehle. His joke about the three nuns had me rolling! He was a super likable character! I'd watch a movie just about him!
All in all, it was an okay film. I think I hate movies that are just ok more than bad movies. Sometimes I can get a laugh out of the bad ones. This didn't really make a great impression on me. That is this film's biggest sin, mediocrity.
HMS was provided a screener of this film in exchange for honest review. Limbo premieres August 4 on DVD and Digital from Uncork’d Entertainment.
Robin Thompson, HMS
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