The Piper is a 2023 American horror film about a young composer who is given the opportunity of a lifetime when she is tasked with finishing her late mentor’s concerto. But she soon discovers that playing the music summons deadly consequences, leading her to uncover the disturbing origins of the melody and the evil force it has awakened: the Pied Piper.
Written and directed by Icelandic filmmaker Erlingur Thoroddsen (Child Eater; Rift; Patient Seven segment: ‘Banishing’; Bumps in the Night).
Produced by Jeffrey Greenstein, Bernard Kira, Yariv Lerner, Tanner Mobley, Les Weldon and Jonathan Yunger. Executive produced by Boaz Davidson (director of X-Ray), Victor Hadida, Avi Lerner, Lonnie Ramati, Trevor Short and Nicole Swinford.
The Millennium Media production stars Julian Sands (The Ghosts of Monday; The Ghosts of Borley Rectory; Warlock III; Gothic), Charlotte Hope, Kate Nichols, Oliver Savell, Philipp Christopher, Alexis Rodney, Pippa Winslow, Aoibhe O’Flanagan, Salomé Chandler and Boyan Anev.
Release:
The Piper will be released on VOD on March 8, 2024.
Our review:
In the ’70s and ’80s “they” used to say that rock and metal was the Devil’s music. Little did “they” really know that the Devil’s music was a three-movement orchestra piece aimed at children.
The Piper is one of those movies that most people will want to like. It promotes itself as being different to the normal horror fare, yet it struggles to give the audience a satisfactory conclusion that makes the investment in the film worthwhile.
That doesn’t mean the movie ever stops trying, and that’s to be commended, because there are some genuinely spooky and chilling elements in the film, which is also let down but some truly dodgy scenes of CGI.
The main issue with the film is that while the premise feels exciting and certainly different when we see the evil spirit in the flesh, it’s a bit underwhelming.
And we don’t see much of it either. Which is probably a good thing as it’s not the most creative spirit you could imagine. It also appears to lack a satisfactory backstory, meaning its presence in the film is kind of perplexing. Yes, the music can summon an evil spirit – but who is this spirit and why should we care about it?
I did care about the characters though, more than I should have. The late Julian Sands as the conductor had me split though – his character is vile and borderline abusive, and Sands is perfectly cast. But then he gave off vibes of overacting, which took me from a movie feeling to a daytime soap opera feeling.
However, I thought when the movie tried to be a horror flick, especially in the first half, it did that quite well. While a bouncing ball might be a cliché, a few other scenes such as when the glass gets blown in the school bus and the scene of Colin’s kidnapping/disappearance are well done.
Unfortunately, those scenes are enough to save the film, especially when it built up this chilling ending with the Narnia-style door, and then just a bit of an anti-climax. The Piper is not a bad film, but it could almost certainly have been better.
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Other reviews:
“The Piper fails miserably as a horror film. It starts well but the further it progresses, the more downhill it goes and without brakes, without making the effort to create something new and original and remaining in the comfort of boring generic horror.” ★ Mundo Cine [translated from Spanish]
“In the first half hour you think you can develop a feeling for what kind of story filmmaker Erlingur Thoroddsen is telling, he doesn’t seem to fully know it himself, given the denouement. The characters behave increasingly less like normal people would in the situation, starting with them walking into pitch-dark rooms without ever trying to turn on the lights. The story about a melody that conjures up evil is not really new, but it is initially presented in an atmospheric and appealing way.” 3.5 out of 6, Treffpunkt Kritik [translated from German]
” …an extremely uneven movie that at its best becomes an exercise in style over substance, with cinematographer Daniel Katz (The Informer, House of Darkness) and composer Christopher Young (The Empty Man, The Exorcism of Emily Rose) helping to at least partially redeem the film’s thin script. Some late in the film practical gore doesn’t hurt either, and for once bad CGI helps by giving The Piper an even stranger appearance.” ★★½ Voices from the Balcony
YouTube reviews:
Trailer:
Filmed in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Alternate title:
Curse of the Piper
Notes:
Not to be confused with Piper aka The Piper (also 2023) which stars Elizabeth Hurley.
Related:
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