Kerstin Upmeyer

I enjoy a slow burn horror as much as the next person. I also don’t have a problem with indie films that work at being “artsy,” if they do a good job of it. Little Joe unfortunately didn’t. From the awful droning, discordant soundtrack bursting with overly shrill buzzing, flutes, and drums in attempts to heighten tension (something I’ve seen used in movies of the stripe before) to the endless focusing on a various shot, pan, or object that goes on a good 10 to 30 seconds longer than it needed to, everything feels overblown and pretentious. It’s trying to hard. It pulls you completely out of the story repeatedly. The awkwardness and discomfort of the entire movie is sadly not because of excellent acting, and tension inducing scenes. The movie is just awkward and incredibly slow. The ending leaves you wondering If there was actually supposed to be more of a plot and they just got so exhausted by how slow and boring the movie was that they decided to end it early. No M Knight twist to at least throw a little something exciting into the endless slow plodding.