Bill Rebane

Probably best described as a staid, boring and ineffectual story about a haunted piano, - yes a haunted piano...! Written by William Arthur and directed by Bill Rebane, whose story takes place in the grim, depressing town of Ludlow, which is celebrating its bicentenary with a barn dance. As part of the festivities an old piano is wheeled in, apparently a gift from the English town of Ludlow, from whence American Ludow's originally inhabitants had left from two centuries previously. With the arrival of the piano strange ghostly things begin happening with town residents meeting sticky ends as the town-fathers mutter ominously about things that happened a long time ago. Preacher (Paul von Hausen) and out-of-town writer Debra (Stephanie Cushna) begin investigating and discover the secrets of the piano and the curse placed on Ludlow. "The Demons of Ludlow" is dreadfully cheap, low budget nonsense. The story is incredibly padded and makes little sense, with characters appearing then disappearing and pilgrim-era ghosts wandering in-and-out for no practical purpose. The production values are woeful, with laughable special effects - the glowing hands and the obvious furniture moved by wires being particularly bad (or laughably bad / good depending on your mood). The acting is also bad although I did enjoy preacher's wife Sybil's (Debra Dulman) strange drunken turn. Overall "The Demons of Ludlow" is cheap rubbish, but the sort of cheap rubbish that will have you watching all the way to its silly, cheap, rubbish ending.… (more)