Entry 119: The Legacy (1978)

The Legacy (1978)

Dir: Richard Marquand

"It is a birthright of living death..."

 

Successful architect Katherine Ross (The Graduate, The Stepford Wives) receives a mysterious job offer from England, so she and beau Sam Elliott (Shakedown, Road House) jet across the pond.  No sooner do they arrive then American-as-shit Elliott is involved in collision with wealthy, mysterious Jason Mountolive (John Standing, The Elephant Man, Torture Garden) while out riding his Triumph.  Mountolive insists that Ross and Elliott stay at his palatial estate while the bike is fixed, and soon five other guests arrive, all of whom are wealthy and/or powerful individuals.  As Mountolive locks himself away in his room, the visitors begin mysteriously and brutally dying one-by-one.  It turns out, of course, that each of the individuals is in thrall to Mountolive, who is directly responsible for their life successes.  Mountolive, you see, is Satan's emissary on Earth, and the visitors are his five "seals," gathered to await the sixth seal so that Mountolive might choose one of them to pass his power on to.  Yeah, you guessed it; turns out that Ross' success as an architect has been secretly influenced by Mountolive, and she is the sixth seal chosen to inherit the power of the devil.  Will she attempt to escape, or embrace her legacy?  You probably won't care either way...

When asked about this film in an interview a couple years after it's release, Elliott said "Don't rush out to see it.  It's about fifteen years behind it's time."  I agree.  The Legacy might've made a passable 60's Hammer flick, or maybe even a decent early 70's TV movie, but as a major theatrical release in 1978, when Nick Roeg's Don't Look Now and Robin Hardy's The Wicker Man had already redefined British horror and Ridley Scott's Alien was just around the corner, it feels VERY old-fashioned.  The Legacy is, for the most part, a series of hoary haunted house cliches (a shower turns boiling hot, a fireplace becomes a crematorium, the only road always circles back to the mansion, etc.) grafted on to a then-popular satanic subplot.  Thank fucking god, then, for the VERY out-of-place Elliott, who livens up the stodgy proceedings with his mustache and southern drawl...In one unbelievable scene, Elliott attempts to escape the mansion by beating the shit out of the hired help, stealing a horse and LIGHTING A MAN ON GODDAMN FIRE!  Keep in mind that this happens about halfway through what is otherwise a very low-key, almost "stuffy" film.  Also, if you're into dudes, Elliott (during the brief "sex symbol" phase of his career) has a buttocks-bearing shower scene.  As for the rest of the cast, Ross is pretty but bland; she never really brings across the conflicted conscious that needs to be at the core of her character to make her interesting.  Most of the middle-aged British supporting cast is pretty interchangeable, but Charles Gray (Diamonds are Forever, The Rocky Horror Picture Show) and The Who's Roger Daltrey turn in memorably scenery-chewing performances as two of the guests.  Director Marquand (best known as the human puppet hired by George Lucas to direct Return of the Jedi for him) brings very little in the way of suspense, atmosphere or tension to the proceedings.  Unless you're a big Elliott fan, watch the previous year's The Sentinel, instead...It's VERY similar, but much trashier and a helluva lot more fun!