The Demons of Ludlow (1983) User Reviews

Bill Rebane's master-work

[Red-Barracuda · 5/10 · 24 January 2011]

I think The Demons of Ludlow may very well be director Bill Rebane's masterpiece. Anyone familiar with Bill's output will be well aware that this is a very relative statement, seeing as this is the man partially responsible for Monster a-Go Go and fully responsible for The Cold. Yep, Rebane well and truly operates in the Z-Grade sphere of the film industry. So all things considered, I was pleasantly surprised with The Demons of Ludlow. Not that it is by any means a good film – it's shoddy – but it has some moments that actually could be described as being effective. And overall it does sort of have a strange charm of sorts.

The story is about a cursed piano that harbours an evil entity that unleashes all manner of nasty events onto the inhabitants of a tiny town called Ludlow. It seems that this is all tied in with nefarious events that occurred hundreds of years ago, and its all part of a deadly revenge…

Like you should expect, production values are basic as hell. But the film does have a sense of place at least; the snowy remote community is fairly believable, while it also manages to incorporate some period costumes and even utilizes some raw but not entirely awful special-effects – so the movie does at least have some ambition. Of course it would be wrong not to acknowledge that The Demons of Ludlow has a fair few flaws too. It's quite haphazardly put together and is verging on being senseless a lot of the time, while the low budget does show in more or less every frame. Pacing, too, isn't always its strong point but it does at least provide a lot of varied events to keep us entertained, many of which seem to involve acts of violence. The best singular scene has to be when the disturbed young girl happens upon the demons at the table in the dining room. This sequence was even verging on actually being quite scary. Although it would be remiss to not add that many of the horror set-pieces are in actual fact pretty hilarious – the little girl ghost lobbing rocks at the old woman's coupon being a very good example.

All-in-all though, this has to be considered a success, seeing as it's a Bill Rebane film. Not for everyone to be fair, but if you don't mind dipping your toes into Z-Grade waters then you might have quite a good time with this.

Well...

[CMRKeyboadist · 4/10 · 10 April 2006]

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.

Beware the haunted, bleeding piano on wires!

[BA_Harrison · 3/10 · 5 February 2014]

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.

Stinker

[dbborroughs · 2/10 · 19 April 2006]

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.

"Don't say I didn't warn you. As I don't want your blood on my hands".

[lost-in-limbo · 5/10 · 24 June 2018]

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.

Good premise, bad writing

[dirk275 · 2/10 · 23 April 2009]

Okay, I must say the plot is so hard to follow that I may get a few facts wrong so forgive me. Ludlow is a cursed coastal town due to the townspeople cutting off a man's hands in the 1860s. To celebrate the towns 200th anniversary a harpsichord is given as a gift. Evidently it is the same harpsichord that was in town the night Vincent Ludlow was tried. His spirit and those of some others haunt the instrument so when it's played strange things happen. Ludlow's spirit is out for revenge and is killing the descendants of those who wronged him. It's a lot like The Fog but not as good.

The cast includes a reporter named Debra who is in town for some reason I couldn't find and by her own admission even she can't figure out why she is investigating Ludlows past. The other main character is a preacher named Chris who loses his hands at the end of the movie.

This would be fine except there's so many subplots that go nowhere. They never establish that Debra is a reporter so you just sort of figure it out. The fact that the descendants are being targeted by Ludlow is not even said until late in the film although it is known by the preacher and the mayor the whole time.

The movie does some things right. It is sufficiently creepy. The opening music is good. The filming gives you a good sense of isolation from the outside world. That being said, the writing is so poor that the plot never comes together so the end makes you just shrug your shoulders and say "whatever". I know budget constraints can make effects look cheesy but this one's problems go beyond that. I don't think that Halloween was all that expensive to make but since it is well put together you put aside the green leaves in October. Demons of Ludlow's shortcomings can't be overlooked.

In some odd way I do like this movie. 70's and 80's cheese always appeals to me. I also live in Wisconsin so Bill Rebane's films hit home. If you like low budget horror than this one's for you but be warned, it's bad.

Rather dull

[Tikkin · 3/10 · 21 October 2006]

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.

I think I've seen this before...

[BloodTheTelepathicDog · 4/10 · 11 June 2008]

Take John Carpenter's "The Fog" and remove the part about pirates reclaiming their buried treasure and substitute that with a musician reclaiming his hands, and you have Demons of Ludlow - just a much tackier version, mind you.

Bill Rebane, a director with the same loathsome reputation as Ulli Lommel, directs this ripoff of "The Fog" with uneven results. I have seen worse films but Demons of Ludlow is far from a classic. However, when comparing this film to Rebane's "The Cold" - this is a masterpiece. This film centers on a New England community celebrating its 200th anniversary. A gift from the town founder's descendant is presented at the festival - a white piano. However, when the piano arrives to Ludlow, people start disappearing or dying in gruesome fashion.

VIOLENCE: $$$ (There is a sprinkling of violence throughout the film but keep in mind, this was made in the early 1980's and the effects are poor by today's standards. We have a decapitation, hanging, gunplay and some levitating objects).

NUDITY: $ (Demons eat dinner at a cantankerous shrew's house and become fixated with her mentally unstable daughter Patricia Statz. They tear off her nightgown and give the viewer a brief flash of nakedness. Also Debra Dulman, who has a perfect body, spends the entire movie in various stages of undress).

STORY: $$ (The story isn't bad but is a blatant ripoff of "The Fog." Having people die whenever someone tickles the piano's ivories was a neat little plot tidbit. The main plot line is to see if nosy reporter Stephanie Cushna can find out anything about Ludlow's past and why these strange events are taking place).

ACTING: $$ (Nothing great here. I assure you, when you pop this sucker into your VCR you will not see a single recognizable face. Most of the actors have gone on to real jobs or at least discarded the movie making business. Stephanie Cushna does the best job here, as does Von Huesen as the woeful preacher).

Where can I get one of those hats?

[Hitchcoc · 3/10 · 16 January 2007]

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.

Oh no...Not Bill Rebane!

[Coventry · 2/10 · 24 September 2006]

Damned, talk about bad luck! The brief plot description on the DVD-cover sounded remotely interesting and I actually put my hopes up to see some delightfully cheesy 80's gore. Then you discover that the film is directed by Bill Rebane and suddenly all your expectations vanish! No offense Bill, but you're a ham director and it looks like you deliberately ruin all the scripts that end up in your hands. "The Demons of Ludlow" shamelessly rips off John Carpenter's "The Fog", with the plot about a snowy little town that celebrates its two hundredth anniversary. But the history pages of Ludlow are written in innocent blood and vengeful spirits return to present day to kill the descendants of the town's founding fathers. See, pretty much identical to Carpenter's classic. I don't have a problem with imitations (loads of great horror films borrow ideas from others), but the elaboration here is really weak and pathetic. For example: the titular demons live inside an antique piano (?), they can perfectly fire off shotguns, they take over the plastic bodies of a little girl's dolls and, when they eventually killed everybody they hated, they do a little bit of ballroom dancing!?! Most sequences are just incredibly boring, with tedious dialogs and atrocious acting performances, and the supposedly horrific moments only evoke feelings of pity. Ever seen a bleeding piano float in the air while cheesy laughter can be heard? Didn't think so... Personally, I couldn't wait to see all the characters die painful deaths and I was secretly hoping that the possessed piano would eventually crash-land on director Rebane. Insufferable 80's crap, avoid at all costs.

Erm...am I going to Hell because I like this?

[radioactive_ape2001 · 9/10 · 23 March 2006]

My uncle used to have this copied on a tape with Fear No Evil and I often used to treat myself to a scary double bill back when I was a young 'un (around 12 years old I think I first saw this). I recently managed to pick it up on DVD on the Mill Creek 50 Chilling Classics collection, and while the transfer leaves a lot to be desired it does appear to be uncut and is certainly longer than the versions i'd previously watched. I think there's a very good chance that i'm the only person on this planet that thinks of this film as a minor masterpiece. There are some genuinely frightening scenes in the film (the bizarre multi-coloured hand that kills the teens, that evil laughter, the group of demons that kill Emily, the intrusion of the old woman in her bed) and the gore is certainly no worse than countless slasher films from the same era. The obscurity of this film means that very few people will ever get to see it and judge it fairly. It obviously cannot be compared to classics such as The Exorcist, TCM, Suspiria and The Evil Dead but as far as obscure minor horror pieces go, you could do a lot worse. The idea in itself is a fairly original one, of a bunch of warlocks coming back to life to destroy a town and reclaim Ludlow's severed hands while taking refuge in a giant white piano and coming out every now and again to murder the grandchildren of the people who killed them! I don't think some people (or all the reviewers here) actually comprehend how low budget this film was and when you consider how ambitious it is, you can't help but respect the makers of the film. Acting-wise there is nobody particular of note with barely any of the cast members starring in anything else! They do their jobs admirably and while there's no Oscar winner material from anyone, no-one falters. Just give the film a chance and maybe you'll enjoy the film as much as I do. In fact...i'm gonna watch it again right now!...

Surprisingly solid little film

[mlevans · 7/10 · 22 November 2009]

Although the first one/third is a little slow, 'The Demons of Ludlow' winds up being a surprisingly decent little B horror flick.

The premise is very good, with a 200-year-old New England town in which the history has mysteriously disappeared and those who know about it refuse to talk. A pair of apparent siblings, supposedly on some sort of journalistic assignment are in town, checking into its history, when a historic piano, belonging to the town's founder, is returned to the town by the founders' ancestors. As soon as the apparently generous gift is received, locals begin dying grizzly deaths.

There are a few plot holes and one gets a bit tired of the preacher's alcoholic wife constantly calling, "Chris, is that YOU?" The DVD I have (part of a collection of 50 B thrillers) is a bit dark and in a few cases it is hard to tell one female from another – not to mention one figure running through the snow in the distance from another. Plus, about the second and third/eighths of the film seems to bog down a little, and the colonial ghosts somehow all resemble pirates. Still, it manages to capture a creepy mood that works pretty well. For a 26-year-old low-budget film, it has some pretty good special effects and the unknown cast does decent enough work. Overall, it's one of the better ones I've found so far on this super collection of B and C horror flicks. If you like B horror, this is well worth watching.

A Branch On The Ludlow Family Tree

[bkoganbing · 2/10 · 29 April 2011]

The town of Ludlow which has managed to make it to its bicentennial though its barely scraping by with 34 actual residents gets a mysterious old white piano as a gift from the descendant of the guy it was named after. But another ancestor on that family tree was killed many years ago for being a warlock. And you thought things like that had died out in New England centuries before.

Anyway the warlock's spirit lives in the piano and the guy who donated it is playing one horrific cosmic joke on the town. The old warlock is out for revenge and any time somebody plays an obbligato on the piano something evil happens, a gruesome kind of death. Not like Ludlow can afford to lose too many more people.

The Demons Of Ludlow started as a good idea, but went bad with telling with a poor script and acting that's not terribly convincing. I'd pass this one by folks.

It has a few (VERY few) moments

[preppy-3 · 2/10 · 4 September 2017]

It's about a small Massachusetts town called Ludlow (population 41). It seems ages ago an evil warlock terrorized the town. He was executed and (somehow) his evil spirit was put in a white piano that was sent away. It comes back ages later and the evil warlock sends out demons to kill the descendants of the people who murdered him. The plot is kind of vague but so is the movie.

A no-budget mess. The plot is OK and has a somewhat eerie atmosphere but atrocious acting (Paul von Hauson is beyond belief) and dime store special effects destroy this one. The gore scenes are plentiful but simply laughable. They're so obviously faked you can't take them seriously. It's kind of sad because there is some good acting (Stephanie Cushna was excellent) and it was short (only 84 minutes). The direction isn't too bad either. Still this can safely be skipped. Unrated but it would definitely get an R for all the gore.

The Harmonium from Hades?

[coliver · 1/10 · 16 September 2001]

I saw this film based on the fact that it was billed as being lost. It was that way for a reason. The Demons of Ludlow just lumbers from one plot point to the next. I'm sure that everyone on this film tried their best, but it is just a confusing morass of time periods and storyline that threatened to put me to sleep.

Not worth the effort..

[anxietyresister · 1/10 · 22 November 2005]

An isolated village imports an ancient organ from England as a valuable historical artifact, but it turns out to have mysterious powers that involve raising the dead. As the residents are bumped off one by one by nasty ghosties, a young writer who has just returned from a long trip away decides to get to the bottom of this supernatural dilemma. But as her friends are dropping round her like flies, will she be in time?

There is not much to say about this generic flick, apart from it has been done much better before. There is lots of pointless talk, some very mild scares, a few bloody bits and plenty of annoying organ music in the background all the way through. You also have to question why it got an 18 certificate.. the recent Harry Potter movie had more thrills and chills. Didn't it strike anyone involved in the making of it that the world didn't need another below-par horror film, and the money would be better spent giving it to charity?? Apparently not.. 1/10

Attack! Of the piano?

[Zeegrade · 3/10 · 22 December 2009]

Talk about having your priorities out of order! Chris the town preacher who sports a man perm is married to Sybil, a drunk hottie who appears on screen either in sexy lingerie, drinking, or both. How many more signs does a cat need that this lady needs some serious husband on wife attention? Does she have to signal him in with airstrip landing lights for crying out loud? Instead Chris becomes infatuated with a piano. Yes a freaking piano. Anyway, this piano that sounds like an organ is returned to the village of Ludlow by the descendants of Efrem Ludlow one of the town's original founders. Turns out Efrem really angered everyone by constantly playing the thing so they did what any respectable music hating citizen would do. They cut off his hands. Fast forward two hundred years and the spirit of Efrem emerges from the piano/harpsichord/organ/kazoo and takes revenge on the town descendants who did this to him. Pretty steep a curse for a pair of hands if you ask me. Soon the townies are being dispatched by demon hands or invisible spirits or ghosts that resemble late eighteenth century citizens that are either cannibals or pack some serious heat. Yeah this movie is all over the place. Chris is aided by Debra a former resident who is a reporter though in what capacity I have no idea. They discover that this curse never ends and that a list is composed of the families that were complicit in Efrem's banishment. Sure enough Chris and Debra both have family ties to the cursed townspeople which makes them targeted to be killed. This could be stopped immediately by simply moving out of town. Perhaps Westchester that everyone keeps crowing about.

A return to form for Bill Rebane after I was pleasantly surprised by The Alpha Incident. A cursed piano? Sorry, not frightening. Who exactly cursed the town? If it was Efrem then why did various ghosts appear to help him? How come some are capable of ripping apart flesh like when Emily was "strangled" and yet others use firearms to kill? What was the purpose of the mutant arm? Who is responsible for the worst funeral spread ever at about the forty-second minute mark? Biscuits with ham slices? No open bar? Come on! Lastly and most confusing of all, why didn't Chris get some of that drunk tail Sybil was tossing his way? Was he gay? A eunuch? A ghost? At least he gets what he deserves by having HIS hands cut off. HA! Serves you right holy man.

Awful. Even for Rebane.

[FilmFatale · 1/10 · 23 September 2008]

Really, really terrible, even for Rebane. I don't think I've ever seen a sink burst into flame in any genre of film, for starters. In keeping with Rebane's "style" in this movie, this review will mostly be full of rambling comments. Ludlow is apparently in New England, but it looks like Wisconsin and the accents are Wisconsin-y. Characters are ripped apart by demons but later found intact and the cause of death is ruled as strangulation. The reporter girl has flashbacks of things that haven't happened yet. Vampires??? Bill, 49 minutes in and you introduce vampires??? I think it's trying to be a mystery that gradually unfurls, but it's so badly done stuff just jerks along from one plot point to another. One hour and 19 minutes into the movie, the Three Musketeers show up to have a swordfight and kill a character. "Efrem Ludlow's ghost is in the piano...he wants his hands!" The laughing, floating piano that explodes about ten times without damage is a riot though. The shocking revelation of the stumps hardly looks like the actor playing Efrem is wearing socks over his hands, huh? Hell, I don't even know what happened at the end.

You may think this is a "so bad it's good" movie. Don't think that. It's so awful it made me angry. Avoid.

Slow-Moving The Fog Rip-Off

[ryan-10075 · 4/10 · 6 October 2019]

Well, its the bicentennial celebration for a wee, little dot on the map called Ludlow. During this celebration the slippery mayor (C. Dave Davis) reveals a piano that was given to the town. Problem number one is the piano sounds a lot like a synthesizer and problem number two the piano is possessed by some spirits who wants to bring vengeance for past wrong doings.

Now, this movie actually has better acting than what I was expecting it to have. Just don't expect Peter Cushing to show up or something. I didn't recognize any of the actors and likely they didn't enjoy great long careers in acting. I have noticed from reviews I have read on here that they did not like the acting. To me it wasn't a big detractor. Likely, because there were some bigger problems going on with this movie. Like it being pretty slow-moving, along with some bad and dark lighting it ain't worth your time searching for this low-budget slop. If you are into ghost stories about haunted towns maybe you should check out John Carpenter's THE FOG as while I am not a fan of that movie it works much better and generally it is a well thought of early 80s horror flick. This movie pretty much takes a lot from the Carpenter film.

The piano that belched

[Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki · 4/10 · 1 August 2013]

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.

Great low budget ghost flick

[Bezenby · 8/10 · 26 April 2013]

I know it's not saying much, but so far this is my favourite Bill Rebane film (out of the four or five I've watched). It's low budget, sure, but Rebane fills Demons of Ludlow with loads of weirdness and a few creepy scenes, adds in a dollop of Wisconsin cheese, and just goes for the scares.

It's a very Stephen King like plot too. A New England town receives a gift of an antique piano from the relatives of its founding father, and immediately things begin to get weird. Objects move of there own accord, a ghost girl appears randomly everywhere, and people from the past are seemingly stepping back into the present. It's up to a visiting journalist (and once resident) and the local priest to sort things out.

Although the budget is extremely low, Rebane's no fool. He throws in as many scares as possible, what with the moving objects, ghost demons, surreal, crying and laughing toys, a demonic hand pulling folks into another dimension, and even a bit of good for good measure (a decapitation and amputation). It got a sense of that playfulness of his other films, but it's more like an outright horror. I was hooked from start to finish.

I've heard Blood Harvest is his best film, but haven't had a sniff of that. Other Rebane films are the ultra-cheesy (and great!) Giant Spider Invasion, the weird but fun The Cold (aka The Game), the so-so but still watchable Twister's Revenge. I've also got a copy of The Alpha Incident, but it refuses to work.

Nice one - I'm a fan of your work Bill.

Haunted pianos just aren't scary!

[chaypher · 6/10 · 21 March 2014]

A brother and sister return to their hometown after years of being away to research their family. They discover that all descendants of an evil ancient relative are cursed to die at the hands of vengeful spirits which haunt an old piano, passed down through the generations.

Although it begins slowly, there are a few genuinely creepy moments throughout an the town actually has an eerie quality to it. Despite these though the film descends into silliness at all levels; unintentional laughs aplenty here. The ghosts themselves look like costume-party goers who have just had their party cancelled at the last minute!

This rather shoddy film (about a haunted piano of all things!) probably won't appeal to everyone. However, if you can get past it's terrible lighting, ropey special effects, poor acting and shaky script enough to see this through, you just might find a little brainless entertainment value from it.

A Few Good Moments But Way Too Boring to Work

[Michael_Elliott · 15 April 2017]

The Demons of Ludlow (1983)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

The town of Ludlow is celebrating their bicentennial but things don't go as planned. The town has restored a piano that has been in the town since the beginning but they don't realize that it's actually haunted and soon the vengeful spirit of a pirate is killing people in the town.

THE DEMONS OF LUDLOW comes from director Bill Rebane who is best remembered for his notorious THE GIANT SPIDER INVASION. This film here isn't a very good one but at the same time I must say that on a technical level it might be the best I've seen from the director. It's certainly not as entertaining as his BLOOD HARVEST but there are some decent things here for fans of the genre.

I think the film has a couple effective moments including the ending when the ghosts actually appear and start to come out for their fun. Another effective scene has a woman in bed when she comes under attack by one of the ghosts and her daughter. The film needed a lot more scenes like this one as it really could have been a classic. There's also some minor gore that you'd expect from a horror film of this period. Also, if you've seen Ulli Lommel's THE DEVONSVILLE TERROR you'll notice many of the same actors and setting.

However, the biggest problem with this picture is that it's deadly dull at times. The majority of the running time has a couple people doing an investigation so we've got a lot of scenes where they're just sitting around talking and I must admit that it was nearly impossible to stay awake during them. The story just isn't original or interesting enough to put up with all these dialogue scenes and it really drags the film out. It has elements of THE FOG and even a bit of THE SHINING but it just doesn't have the story to carry it.

Bad. Really Bad.

[ellenmorrison-12485 · 2/10 · 19 October 2021]

On the anniversary of Ludlow's founding, a mysterious piano is unveiled which causes strange things to happen every time it's played, sending the entire town into chaos.

Imagine a very low budget community theatre adaptation of John Carpenter's The Fog and you'll understand what kind of tone The Demons of Ludlow strikes. Some of the acting is decent, some is awful. Some of the effects convince, others will make you laugh. Some scenes move the plot forward, most feel like needless filler. It's never very entertaining or scary or even enjoyable on a "so bad, it's good" level.

The malevolent spirit of a warlock returns with his demonic armies to wreak havoc on a town during its Bicentennial festivities in this cheap knock off of The Fog

[mwilson1976 · 3/10 · 27 April 2020]

In this cheap knock off of John Carpenter's The Fog directed by Wisconsin 'B' movie wizard Bill Rebane (The Giant Spider Invasion), vengeful colonial ghosts led by the spirit of an executed warlock who resides in an antique piano return to wreak havoc on a small town during its bicentennial celebrations. The whole movie feels like bad community theatre production with poor sets and costumes sourced from a fancy dress supplier. There's some gore including a decapitation but it's all really poorly executed and you won't really care. The director served as associate producer on Ulli Lommel's much better The Devonsville Terror.