The Demons of Ludlow

On its 200th birthday a town is given a piano as a gift. Unfotunately its haunted by the spirit of sorcerer killed by some of the town's founders.

You've seen it all before and better. Actually you've also seen it shorter on any number of old TV anthology shows. And to be honest the script is not all that bad (even if it is full of plot holes and contradictions). The problem with this film is that anytime the ghosts of the past show up to torment and kill someone this film goes from just okay thriller to jaw droppingly awful. You will not believe how bad the scenes with the ghost are. They are so badly filmed, costumed and played out as to resemble nothing so much as the worst grammar school production of a Thanksgiving pageant that you can imagine. Its really bad.

This is a movie to avoid since its not good in a bad sort of way, its just bad.

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.

Nonsense about an old, haunted piano being brought to the small town of Ludlow, population: 47, and it causes all sorts of murder and mayhem there. The plot is obviously rather thin.

A surprising, although slightly silly, killing in a barn is a highlight. Snowy photography is well done, film has the look and feel of a small town in the middle of winter, to great effect, but interior photography is unmemorable; the special effects are variable: sink catches fire (already done in Boogeyman, three years earlier) and a girl is attacked by a roll of toilet paper? Did I see that correctly? An overlong, dumbass sequence with a girl trimming her doll's hair and being attacked by people in white wigs and dressed like it's the 1700s was seemingly trying to be so-bad-it's-good, but ended up just trying this viewer's patience.

The first half hour was pretty good, and there is a bit of atmosphere throughout, but it's a downhill after that first third.

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.