Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of The Demons Of Ludlow; here's the breakdown of my ratings:
Story: 1.25 Direction: 0.75 Pace: 0.75 Acting: 0.75 Enjoyment: 0.75
TOTAL: 4.25 out of 10.00
I was hooked like a fish on a line when I read about the Haunted and Accursed piano. To make a story like this work, you require an inventive imagination and a tighter grip on reality. And I was pleased and pleasured by the tale, but I was deflated and let down by the direction and the cast.
I believe the story would make a decent novel. It would allow extra character-building and rationalisations. The writers bring us into the town of Ludlow on its Two-Hundredth Anniversary. They are proud to be as old as America itself, as not many townships, villages, or cities can boast the same. And it's a special day indeed: The town founder's family has shipped an expensive piano of marble and gold from England for the occasion. However, unbeknown to them, the beautiful ancient upright contains more than the usual strings and strikers. It holds a curse. One that will affect the remaining descendants of Ludlow, who exiled the Town-Founder to England. One of the reasons I liked the story so much was the deviousness of the daemons who work the curse. For example, one of the hexed is a mentally ill teenager with the mental acuity of a younger child. The daemons tap into her subconscious and toy with her until they can await their feast no longer and fall upon the ailing child. Later she returns to torment, torture, and kill her mother with the assistance of another ghost kid. These are psychologically vicious and malicious methods to kill a person - to use their dreams and loved ones against them. The characterisations are credible and convincing. I particularly liked the reporter who's returned to her hometown, which she left when she was nine, to report on the town's anniversary. She begins to notice that not all is right in Ludlow and her reporter's snout soon has her rooting about for clues to the mystery. Will they be able to lift or break the curse before it wipes the inhabitants of Ludlow off the map?
And now we come to the crux of the matter, the direction. For the most part, it's your average style - kinda like a Sunday Afternoon Theatre show. However, when we come to the spooky stuff and the effects, the picture starts displaying its putrid blemishes. Rewind to the toying Daemons and the cuckoo kid. This scene would have been great had the money stretched to make-up and costume, which look cheap and somehow incorrect for the period. But what makes it worse is the filming. The director adds a peculiar blurred vignette to the edges. And when the daemons attack, he shoots them slowly advancing as she screams. He keeps them perfectly centred on the screen and within the vignette. It gives the whole segment a feeling of rank cheapness. It's one of the worst scenes in the movie, and there are plenty - too many. However, the matricide segment is better captured...until the big green hand comes through the ceiling, that is! Again, better direction and more cash could have made this an epic scene to behold. Sadly, it once again turns into another vapid spectacle. As for the pacing of the picture, well, that is set to a dull amble.
The cast could have been better. Not all of the performers are terrible. None of them is Oscar-winning in their portrayals, though most are above average. It's when we get to those special effects moments. Rewind, for the last time to the Daemons and the girl. These cunning and conniving hellions should be regaling in their dominance and torment. However, they come across as simply bored. And when they're moving in on the girl to rip her apart, they ham it up to the extreme, in their nasty cheap costumes and make-up - their rotting teeth appear to be cardboard. The preacher and the reporter are the lead characters, and the actor and actress in those roles are more than passible. However, because of the poor direction, all the performances required more oomph and pizazz.
If you're a horror writer or a wannabe or a newbie, then The Demons of Ludlow could be for you as the story and its premise are the best elements of this impoverished picture. But if you're looking for entertainment and not reference, I'd say, stay away from The Demons Of Ludlow.
Stop tinkling on them ebonies and ivories and check out my Absolute Horror list to see where I ranked The Demons Of Ludlow.
Take Care & Stay Well.
Story: 1.25 Direction: 0.75 Pace: 0.75 Acting: 0.75 Enjoyment: 0.75
TOTAL: 4.25 out of 10.00
I was hooked like a fish on a line when I read about the Haunted and Accursed piano. To make a story like this work, you require an inventive imagination and a tighter grip on reality. And I was pleased and pleasured by the tale, but I was deflated and let down by the direction and the cast.
I believe the story would make a decent novel. It would allow extra character-building and rationalisations. The writers bring us into the town of Ludlow on its Two-Hundredth Anniversary. They are proud to be as old as America itself, as not many townships, villages, or cities can boast the same. And it's a special day indeed: The town founder's family has shipped an expensive piano of marble and gold from England for the occasion. However, unbeknown to them, the beautiful ancient upright contains more than the usual strings and strikers. It holds a curse. One that will affect the remaining descendants of Ludlow, who exiled the Town-Founder to England. One of the reasons I liked the story so much was the deviousness of the daemons who work the curse. For example, one of the hexed is a mentally ill teenager with the mental acuity of a younger child. The daemons tap into her subconscious and toy with her until they can await their feast no longer and fall upon the ailing child. Later she returns to torment, torture, and kill her mother with the assistance of another ghost kid. These are psychologically vicious and malicious methods to kill a person - to use their dreams and loved ones against them. The characterisations are credible and convincing. I particularly liked the reporter who's returned to her hometown, which she left when she was nine, to report on the town's anniversary. She begins to notice that not all is right in Ludlow and her reporter's snout soon has her rooting about for clues to the mystery. Will they be able to lift or break the curse before it wipes the inhabitants of Ludlow off the map?
And now we come to the crux of the matter, the direction. For the most part, it's your average style - kinda like a Sunday Afternoon Theatre show. However, when we come to the spooky stuff and the effects, the picture starts displaying its putrid blemishes. Rewind to the toying Daemons and the cuckoo kid. This scene would have been great had the money stretched to make-up and costume, which look cheap and somehow incorrect for the period. But what makes it worse is the filming. The director adds a peculiar blurred vignette to the edges. And when the daemons attack, he shoots them slowly advancing as she screams. He keeps them perfectly centred on the screen and within the vignette. It gives the whole segment a feeling of rank cheapness. It's one of the worst scenes in the movie, and there are plenty - too many. However, the matricide segment is better captured...until the big green hand comes through the ceiling, that is! Again, better direction and more cash could have made this an epic scene to behold. Sadly, it once again turns into another vapid spectacle. As for the pacing of the picture, well, that is set to a dull amble.
The cast could have been better. Not all of the performers are terrible. None of them is Oscar-winning in their portrayals, though most are above average. It's when we get to those special effects moments. Rewind, for the last time to the Daemons and the girl. These cunning and conniving hellions should be regaling in their dominance and torment. However, they come across as simply bored. And when they're moving in on the girl to rip her apart, they ham it up to the extreme, in their nasty cheap costumes and make-up - their rotting teeth appear to be cardboard. The preacher and the reporter are the lead characters, and the actor and actress in those roles are more than passible. However, because of the poor direction, all the performances required more oomph and pizazz.
If you're a horror writer or a wannabe or a newbie, then The Demons of Ludlow could be for you as the story and its premise are the best elements of this impoverished picture. But if you're looking for entertainment and not reference, I'd say, stay away from The Demons Of Ludlow.
Stop tinkling on them ebonies and ivories and check out my Absolute Horror list to see where I ranked The Demons Of Ludlow.
Take Care & Stay Well.