The Demons of Ludlow

Director - Bill Rebane (The Alpha Incident, Invasion from Inner Earth)

Starring - Paul Bentzen (The Devonsville Terror, The Godfather of Green Bay), Stephanie Cushna (Stingray, Hunter), and Carol Perry (The Game)

Release Date - 1983

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "Can you escape the curse of Ludlow?"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     When I started Weird Wisconsin I was really looking forward to The Demons of Ludlow.  This is one of the notoriously bad Bill Rebane flicks that I've seen others in the various horror groups bash for sometime now.  The artwork was fun for this one but I was really excited at digging into one of his mostly disliked films.  With that being said, when it was all said and done I actually enjoyed this one.  Sure, it was bad but I enjoyed it.

     The film follows the small town Ludlow who is cursed stemming back to when it was first founded during colonial times.  As the town celebrates their bicentennial the local preacher is hellbent on warning the people about the evil spirits that live in an old piano.

     The Demons of Ludlow felt like a made for television movie that gave me the same vibes as Mr. Boogedy.  It's cheap and cheesy as fuck but most of you know that this is the kind of movie that I really enjoy.  The aesthetics and horrible acting made for a fun experience that I truly enjoyed.  It's not going to be for everyone but if you like campy 80s horror then you wont find a campier 80s movie than The Demons of Ludlow.  The acting in this one was not as good as the previous films in the set.  The cast is very inconsistent.  They would deliver solider performances in some scenes while other scenes were very dull and lackluster.  When you mix that with the generic characters you get a film full of fairly forgettable scenes.  The story for this one is what really pulled me in.  If the cast was a little better or directed it would have been one hell of a film.  We get a haunted house style story with pilgrims (?) living in a piano who come back for revenge on the families that did them wrong.  This was very different and another reason I was continuously thinking about the film Mr. Boogedy.  I loved the story and the pacing was actually fairly well done.  Finally, the film has some bloody moments with some very cheap practical effects.  The effects in this one are nothing like the others films of the time.  They were very cheap and amateurish but they fit the film oddly enough.  Don't expect gore but you will get a fun decapitation.  Overall, The Demons of Ludlow is not as atmospheric as the previous two films but it had it's own charm.  It's shitty but a fun kind of shitty.  I recommend it.