The Demons of Ludlow (1983)

Director:

Bill Rebane

Writers:

William Arthur (writer)
Alan Ross (additional dialogue)

Genre:

Horror | Music | Mystery

Tagline:

Can you escape the curse of Ludlow? [video cover]

Plot:

A murderous demon lurks inside an antique piano in a picturesque coastal town. |

Plot Keywords:

Piano | Demon | Ghost | Occult | Warlock

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Paul von Hausen	...	Preacher
Stephanie Cushna	...	Debra
Carol Perry	...	Ann Schultz
C. Dave Davis	...	Mayor
Debra Dulman	...	Sybil
Patricia J. Statz	...	Emily
Angailica	...	Ludlow's daughter
Mary Walden	...	Eleanore / Demon
Michael Accardo	...	Andy
William Dexter	...	Doc
Don Arthur	...	Ludlow
Deanna Haas	...	Demon
Genevieve Brown	...	Demon
James E. Chamberlain	...	Demon (as James E.Chamberlain III)
Paul Bernard	...	Demon

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated | Iceland:16 | UK:18 | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Wisconsin, USA

Company:

Ram Productions

I might be bonkers but I dig this film

I was pretty stoked to see this, having heard nothing but bad things about the film and the work of Bill Rebane in general. I'd heard of him before, with film books calling him one of the worst directors ever, and putting him in the same class as Ed Wood and Ray Dennis Steckler. This kind of talk always seems like more of a challenge to me than a deterrent so I sat down to The Demons Of Ludlow hoping it could be as lovably bizarre and cheerfully crummy as the likes of Plan 9 From Outer Space et al. Happily it more than met my expectations for low budget silliness, but weirdly, I also thought it kinda worked as a spooky film at times. I'm not claiming that its actually a good film, but I found it fairly gripping and somewhat eerie. The mystery of the cursed piano and the phantoms menacing the town kept me intrigued and the music was suitably ominous and unnerving. I can't recall any other films featuring cursed piano's so it scores on originality too. The acting isn't great, but to be honest I really don't care about the acting in films like this. The effects are as cheesy as they come and I freakin' loved them. Glowing hands, objects moving of their own volition, (possibly on strings), that sort of thing and its all so cheap and silly I couldn't help but love it. There was little of the red stuff on show, which was kind of a shame, but I guess the budget may not have gone that far. For me, the weirdness and unpredictability made up for it. People have said this is very like The Fog, but I ain't sure I trust that, because I'm fairly certain The Fog wasn't this weird. Anyways, if bad films, or weird films or micro budget regional horror films are your thing then this odd little item is worth a look. I think the people that run this into the ground on this site maybe take it a mite too seriously, it ain't no classic but if you have the time on your hands and like me have an almost limitless fondness for obscure horror and b pictures you could do a lot worse.