Lyco is a nice mix of naturalistic dialogue, colorful visuals, martial arts and 70's grindhouse cinema. It's got an interesting John Carpenter style to it as well, particularly the soundtrack and the sparse visual style. Even a lot of the editing looks like it was cut specifically with John Carpenter in mind.
The characters are better than you expect in this type of movie. The actors are very good (some of them, that is) particularly Franklin Correa, Jorge Valentine and Miguilina Olivares. Jorge Valentine is particularly hilarious in this film and lights up the screen everytime he's on. Writer/director Correa writes very natural dialogue that feels very real and the actors use a naturalistic approach that works really well. They keep the supernatural stuff very low key and subtle, which works well with the films realistic tone.
Speaking of the supernatural stuff, There are some great scenes involving voodoo rituals and hot girls that I wont spoil, but Correa employs a Jesus Franco approach to these scenes. Sparse edits, wide shots, long takes, giving the audience's eyeballs a lot to soak in as villian Lyco (Macquell James) performs his "ritual of pain and pleasure" on attractive, scantily clad girls. The films first ten minutes is one of the best openings I've seen for a low budget horror film in a while, driven by low-key lighting, pounding African drums and bound victim Nikki Silva's energetic writhing (which manages to capture the agony of death, the peak of orgasm and full on demonic possession, sometimes all at the same time).
There are also some great martial arts scenes, peppered with blood and gore. There's a great fight scene in the woods between Terance Epps and one of Lyco's henchmen that blew me away. Correa himself, dives into the action, and employs a nice hand-to-hand combat style. The movie has some very scary moments as well, some stuff you wont see coming.
Overall, an entertaining movie, with memorable characters, sexy girls, great fight scenes and a few good solid scares.
