Ludella (2024)

-Written by Kyle Bain.

Missing for thirty years, and presumed dead, Ludella was a tragic story for a small town. Her father now deals with the trauma of losing his daughter, and a police officer reopens the case, making the situation even more troubling. What will soon be discovered will shock those in town–and things will never again be the same. 

A low-budget film, Ludella was clearly faced with some issues before it even got started, but with an interesting concept it was certainly possible for viewers to potentially overlook the shortcomings and struggles that come with a lack of budget. That’s how I anticipated I’d feel while watching Ludella, that those struggles would come through, but that a well-developed script would ultimately be the saving grace, shining through the cracks of the film. I found issues even with that, however. The script starts off strong, again, with a compelling narrative–but it sort of veers off toward something less interesting and underdeveloped. Aspects of the story just don’t make sense, characters develop at a strange rate, some pieces of the story don’t even make sense. At its core there is something compelling about Ludella, but there are so many issues with even the bones of the film that it becomes challenging to look past them. 

Furthermore, not one of the actors is capable of conveying emotion, of being anything other than downright frustrating. Emotion could have saved the film, given viewers something to latch onto after the script faltered time and time again–but that’s another strike against the film. Ludella is effectively void of emotion, developing no connection to viewers at any point.

As they say: location, location, location. To a degree Ludella is effective in this regard. The simple and familiar homes that are used as sets for this film are welcoming. I do wish that the sets could have been a bit more developed, possibly a bit more immersive, but I ultimately chalk this up to the lack of budget and Writer-Director Heather Bayles being forced to use what was available to her. I can’t really count this against the film, but I do wish there was more here, more to help develop a script that desperately needed it. 

Ludella is plagued with issues from start to finish, and I was hoping that something would come along that could potentially save it from failure. The locations used do work to a degree in that regard, but that still wasn’t enough to propel the film to anything beyond mediocre. I looked for something else, anything else–but nothing came. As a matter of fact, the final seconds of the film hinder the final product even more. Ludella’s closing song is out of place, being much more vibrant and energetic than anything that had come before it. The somber, heavy tones that are meant to permeate the film are suddenly attacked, destroyed by the song choice in the closing seconds. Part of me understands where Bayles is coming from here, trying to express ideas of freedom and success–but it’s overbearing here. 

The story is compelling, and if you’re able to look beyond the struggles of the actors, the developed suspense does have the potential to be quite intriguing. There are so many issues with Ludella, however, that it becomes almost impossible to, by the end of the film, accept its shortcomings and latch onto the positives. The bad far outweighs the good in this film, and, as I’ve mentioned before, budget certainly has a lot to do with that. However, even the bare bones of the film, anything beyond the most basic concept behind this film has issues. I had high hopes for Ludella with a potentially intriguing story–but the film just doesn’t work. 

Written & Directed by Heather Bayles. 

Starring James L. Edwards, Katie Wells, Brad Vincent, Heather Bayles, Olivia Poland, etc. 

4/10 = WORTH THE RISK, BUT YOU’VE BEEN WARNED