The Demons of Ludlow (1983)

The Demons of Ludlow (USA, 1983) 92 min color DIR-PROD: Bill Rebane. SCR: William Arthur. MUSIC: Ric Coken, Steven Kuether. DOP: “Ito” (aka – Bill Rebane). CAST: Paul Bentzen, Stephanie Cushna, Carol Perry, Debra Dulman.

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This tale of resurrection and revenge has a setting familiar to others in Bill Rebane’s movies: a snowy, godforsaken Wisconsin small town where its eccentric characters battle a monster. The novelty here, is that the monster comes in the form of a piano! On the bicentennial of the hamlet of Ludlow (population, 47), a harmonium is presented as a gift to inaugurate the celebration. However, Debra, an ambitious young Ludlow-born reporter (Stephanie Cushna, who is quite good in her only starring role), recognizes that the harmonium comes from a sordid period in the town’s history. This borough got its name from a pilgrim named Ludlow who was maimed and killed: his spirit is now planning revenge upon the descendants of his persecutors.

The Demons of Ludlow owes much of its inspiration to John Carpenter’s The Fog, from the bicentennial revenge plot, right down to a similar character of a preacher (played by Rebane regular, Paul Bentzen!) who knows that he must pay for the sins of his ancestors. To be certain, this film never achieves the level of suspense or atmosphere of Carpenter’s classic. However, like many of Rebane’s films it is memorable for its isolated snowy setting, and its unusual take on the ghostly revenge formula. Rather than pirates from beyond the grave, this scenario offers, well, scenes of pilgrim ghosts dancing in the town hall at night!

The film has more panache than Rebane’s usual fare, with its rapid editing, and attention to unusual sound design. There are more scenes of gore than one usually finds in his films (perhaps an effort to keep up with the times), but for the unusual ways in which people get killed, the film seems more odd than creepy, which is perhaps the price paid for attempting something different.

Although it is written by one William Arthur (his first of four screenplays for the director), it still has a distinctive Bill Rebane feel, with his economical storytelling (a simple voiceover above some exterior shots explains away a lot of the subplot), and in its slyly funny pokes at small town life. (I love how the residents who attend the bicentennial harmonium recital all appear like they’ve been dragged there, and make no effort to disguise their boredom. It’s no wonder one young couple sneaks out for some hanky panky during the ceremony… and the two unwittingly become the first victims.) With its tinny music and cartoon-like performances, once again this movie feels childlike, despite the adult material. Still, these small townsfolk aren’t the stereotypical country bumpkins: despite the “down home” middle American demeanour (replete with Pabst neon sign at the local watering hole), we are presented with a truly dysfunctional stock of characters- it’s no wonder the town is founded on bloodshed. The reverend’s wife Sybil (Debra Dulman) is a boozer (and a hottie); Mrs. Schultz the harmonium player (Carol Perry) has a mentally handicapped daughter Emily (Patricia J. Statz) who talks to dolls- in one interesting scene, a tear falls down the doll’s porcelain cheek.

The film is also memorable for its low-key special effects, such as the fire poker that attempts to hit the preacher on its own, and in the neat climax, where Debbie runs from house to house for help (only to encounter a ghoul at each front door), and then down the road to the edge of town, only to encounter a force field, as electrical bolts emit from her hands when she tries to breach it. (Once more the classic Rebane theme of isolation takes form.)

The Demons of Ludlow is not a lost classic, but it is certainly better than its unfairly bad reputation. It gets points for attempting to be different from the usual fare that was offered in horror cinema of the time. (TRIVIA NOTE: Cheri Caffaro, who played in the 70s series of Ginger movies, is an associate producer!) While many films of the period had an open ending for a sequel to follow, the ambiguous finale of this one is actually troubling: did good win over evil?

Good old Mill Creek Entertainment released this to DVD in one of their awesome 50-movie packs, Chilling Classics. It is now available on Blu-ray in Arrow’s awesome boxed set, Weird Wisconsin: The Bill Rebane Collection. This film is presented on the same disk as The Alpha Incident. As far as I know, this film is presented for the first time in a widescreen aspect ratio, with good colour to accentuate its unique atmosphere, enhanced by some moody lighting and gels.

The extras include Straight Shooter: Bill Rebane on The Demons of Ludlow (7:44), in which Rebane discusses the film’s production history. This was made on a brand new soundstage on Rebane’s filmmaking ranch. Interestingly enough, Ulli Lommel had used the same location to film his supernatural revenge thriller, the far inferior The Devonsville Terror; Rebane charges that Lommel had “borrowed” much of Ludlow‘s ideas.