The Demons of Ludlow (1983)

Directed by Bill Rebane [Other horror films: Monster a Go-Go (1965), Invasion from Inner Earth (1974), The Giant Spider Invasion (1975), The Alpha Incident (1978), The Capture of Bigfoot (1979), Rana: The Legend of Shadow Lake (1980), The Game (1984), Blood Harvest (1987)]

I’ve always had a soft spot for this rather low budget film. It’s a bit choppy at times, to be sure, but The Demons of Ludlow can be a decent amount of fun, and I rather like the story.

Taking place in a small town (and to specify, by small, I mean the population is a mere 47 people), the story revolves around a bicentennial celebration, town secrets long-thought forgotten, and a demon-possessed piano. It sounds wild, and it certainly can be once the action starts up.

And the action is fun, also. A couple who are enjoying each other’s company in a barn run amok of glowing green hands, and the same hands tear a hole through a woman’s ceiling later on and hang her. There are ghosts dressed as pilgrims that come around toward the end, and they wonderfully decapitate someone with a sword, and for another poor hombre, they cut both of his hands off.

Certainly the movie is a lower-budget production. If you’re familiar with director Bill Rebane (who, among other things, was behind The Cold, or The Game, The Giant Spider Invasion, and Blood Harvest), this may not come as a surprise. Related, the movie was filmed entirely in Wisconsin in the small, unincorporated community of Gleason. This northern Wisconsin community is also where films such as The Devonsville Terror, The Giant Spider Invasion, and Blood Harvest were made, and for good reason.

I love the small town feel of the movie. Only having a population of 47 people is just amazing, and I dig the vibe of the setting. In fact, it leads to a somewhat amusing line toward the end – the lead character (Stephanie Cushna) says to her work acquaintance (James R. Robinson) that it seems dead outside; that the town feels like a ghost town. I can’t imagine the night life of a community of only 47 souls ever seems overly excited, so every time I hear this line, it cracks me up. Also, being a northern Wisconsin community, there’s so much snow around town. It looks a dreadfully cold place to live.

And I have seen this movie more than a couple of times. This might only be my third viewing of the film, but given the generally negative reception the film has (when it has reaction at all – I tend to feel most people forget this movie exists), this goes a long way to show my differences of opinion with others. It reminds me of Drive-In Massacre, a film I rather adore, but is also somewhat of a terrible movie. I guess I’m odd that way.

As for the performances, I thought that Stephanie Cushna and Paul Bentzen (Invasion from Inner Earth and The Alpha Incident) were pretty good, especially once they got together near the end to work on figuring out the curse that Ludlow has fallen under. I also think that James R. Robinson should have a bit more to do with the finale, but he does good with what he has. Playing the mayor is C. Dave Davis, who does great with the small-town mayor aura, and playing a young woman with some mental health issues, I thought that Patricia J. Statz did fantastic. One a tragic note, this is the sole film Statz was in, and she later was killed on September 11th, 2001, as she was working at the Pentagon when the attack occurred.

Obviously, I probably enjoy The Demons of Ludlow a great deal more than is usual. I don’t know why this happens to be the case – even since I first saw it, I’ve always felt an odd affinity to it. It’s not a great movie – the finale is oddly rushed, and I’d have liked a bit more detail about exactly how things went wrong in Ludlow 200 years previous (the basis of the town’s curse), but even with those deficiencies, I’ve always enjoyed the vibe of this one.

It may just be me, and that’s fine, but I rather love The Demons of Ludlow, and I don’t think that will change anytime soon. I’ve seen it three times now, and still consistently have found it above average, and if it’s strange that I enjoy this far more then classic like Carrie and The Shining, so be it.

8/10