Das Grauen um Ludlow

This is a movie about a dying community with a curse on it. Back in Colonial times some guy who played the piano got his hands chopped off. Because of that, his supernatural being is going to make all town members pay for it. His old piano (harpsichord) is sent to the town on their bicentennial celebration. The people who play it go into hysterical contortions like those folks in reefer madness. Also, bad things begin to happen. Spirits are set free. They are dressed in cheap Thanksgiving costumes. But they are deadly. Also, lots of people like to show up in their underwear before being accosted by these Pilgrim bullies. There's a few pirates around too. There is some gore in it but the rules are never precisely clear and we need to figure them out as we go. There is a bouncing piano. Not exactly Citizen Kane.

Using the TV previously, I forgot I had the volume turned up, a little higher than usual. Bang straight away, it made me jump, as hitting play; a creepy sounding organ score started playing over the opening credits. And that's where it ends. Bill Rebane's clunky, second-string supernatural horror falls more on mean-spirited and strange with a jaunty dream-like quality, than anything overly chilling. Even trying to make sense of the choppy story, is far from Rebane's mind.

Well having an antique piano, that when it's played, unleashes a demonic force seeking revenge against the towns cursed descendants. And these superstitious folks, along with a head tilting dog, are quite a disinterested looking bunch too. Meaning there are going to be a few silly, gaudy shocks. Malevolent ghosts start showing up, ladies clothes get torn off their bodies, limbs are cut off, objects begin floating around, small-time pyrotechnics ignite, every now and again a green glowing demonic hand pops out of nowhere and a grand white piano that bleeds blood, begins playing by itself and even at one stage laughing while elevating. Those moments with their cheap effects, limited sets are weirdly fun.

It's just in between those hokey, exaggerated set-pieces, it can look flat. Ignoring the picturesque locations and concentrating on stodgy background exposition of a priest and freelance journalist simply going around in circles trying to uncover and convince everyone of what's happening in the town is a result of its past. Even small community dramas, the cliché kind, play apart.

I was really looking forward to watching this because the VHS box art looks SO 80's. Sadly it was rather dull and I ended up almost falling asleep.

It looked promising to start with - it has excellent creepy music, and there's a rather good scene with some demons near the start. After this everything gets confusing, dull and tedious. If there had been more demons and gore, it might have been interesting. Sadly everything is just a jumble. There were a few OK scenes scattered throughout the film, but none were good enough for me to remember in detail.

Unless you're a collector, avoid this - you'd be far better off watching something like Demons or even Demon Wind.

The town of Ludlow marks its bicentennial with a barn dance, the highlight of which is the unveiling of an antique piano, a gift bequeathed by Ephram Ludlow, the town's founding father. Unfortunately for the townsfolk (all 47 of them), the instrument turns out to be a modern day Trojan horse, for when the keys are played, Ephram's spirit is unleashed from within, free to wreak revenge on the descendants of those who persecuted him centuries before.

Slow moving, badly acted, with dingy cinematography and an unappealing lead actor, there's very little to get excited about with this uninspired supernatural shocker from director Bill Rebane. A few unintentional laughs can be had at the expense of the poorly handled ghost/demon scenes, there's one pair of bare breasts (albeit on a supposed minor), and a couple of moments of unconvincing gore (including a crap but fun decapitation), but for the most part this is a real test of endurance, one that I had to view over the course of several evenings because I kept falling asleep.

I just got done watching this movie and as it was barely watchable I did get a few laughs out of it. The storyline is very similar of Carpenters "The Fog" except these ghosts come out of a white piano to exact their revenge on the town of Ludlow and there was very little fog. Most of the movie is a big yawn but several death scenes were hilarious. For instance, the first scene a half naked girl gets her intestines ripped out but it is just kind of a flash to her stomach and it looks really fake. There was a really funny scene where two girls throw rocks at this old lady and hit her square in the face. And there was a great decapitation scene that had me on the floor. Over all, this was a bad movie but it did have its moments (even if they weren't meant to be funny). I give this movie a 4/10.