Quote:
Originally Posted by bizarre_eye@Cult Labs  The Demons of Ludlow (1983) 
Bill Rebane's The Demons of Ludlow charts the revenge of a murderous Demon who inhabits a piano which has been brought out of storage by the townspeople of Ludlow in order to celebrate their bicentenary.
Immediately, the film brought to mind Carpenter's The Fog, what with the idyllic, isolated village community and its curse - that is fulfilled in this case when the piano is played.
However, unlike The Fog it is pretty much devoid of atmosphere and suspense. Rebane even ignores taking advantage of the beautiful local scenery to get some great location shots, and instead opts for plenty of overlong indoor scenes.
Whilst the film is fairly competently made and the re-occurring 'demon hand' effect is a nice touch, the overlong, predictable and sometimes dull bulk of the film takes its toll on the overall viewing experience. You can't help but feel that the film in a trimmed down form may have worked better as a anthology segment or that with a few minor tweaks could have been quite a bit better than it is.
Originally posted here: Nightmare USA Films Discussion Thread |
Aww, shame you didn't go for this one. Maybe it's just me, but I have an inexplicable liking for DOL (on second thoughts, no, it really IS just me). I do feel it has some atmosphere and that cockeyed, disjointed quality that can raise some seventies / eighties dregs up a notch or two... and there are a couple of moments which seem quite perverse. Was hoping you might track down Rebane's 'The Cold' (aka 'The Game') as part of your Nightmare USA blitz, 'cos I've never seen it and I can't find it anywhere, not even on Y-Tube.