Piper Digital Review

3 star creepy supernatural new take on children’s classic.

Piper is a 2023 fantasy horror film written by Duncan Kennedy (Deep Blue Sea) and Anthony Waller (An American Werewolf in Paris) who also directs.

It enjoyed its world premier at FrightFest on 27th August 2023 and will be available on UK Digital Platforms from 18th November 2024, courtesy of 101 Films.

“Look, Amy. The Pied Piper. He who led the children away in 1284 in revenge for not getting paid after ridding the town of rats.”

Liz (Elizabeth Hurley – Then Came You, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery) is relocating from the United States to the small town of Hamelin in Germany along with her daughter Amy (Mia Jenkins – Mood, Hanna). She is to take up the position of history teacher at the Hamelin International School and Amy will study there as a pupil.

The Pied Piper story is still strongly believed in Hamelin and although the locals insist there are no rats, they still put down rat poison at night. There was also some controversy with the previous teacher, who murdered her own son. Strange things begin to happen at night, Amy keeps cutting her fingers and seeing insects everywhere, while Liz keeps seeing rats.

Amy meets and falls for charming local gypsy boy Luca (Jack Stewart – Outlander), who tells her that she needs help and takes her to his Auntie Aishe (Tara Fitzgerald – Legend, Brassed Off). It seems that Liz has drawn the attention of the Piper (Arben Bajraktaraj – Taken, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), a mysterious supernatural figure who takes revenge for the unpunished sins of the parents. A dark secret from her past has now placed Amy in grave danger.

“No rats in Hamelin, my a**.”

Piper is an enjoyable watch and an interesting take on a Medieval German folk tale. The acting is good and everyone is outrageously English, strange for a film set in Germany but entertaining nevertheless.

It’s quite a scary film in places and I love the idea of the age-old children’s tale turning out to be true. The special effects are really good too, especially the rats, and the Piper cuts a very sinister figure.

I’m not sure about the ending, it seemed a bit silly, but then again the whole point of fantasy horror is to suspend disbelief at the door. All in all, it’s a decent, creepy, look over your shoulder kind of film and well worth a watch.

“Everybody knows it. She strangled him with a cable and now she’s in the looney bin and you’ve got her job and I sleep in Matty’s bed.”

Piper is available now on UK Digital Platforms.