Whitsbrain

6/10

A half-dozen of the world's most powerful people are invited to stay at the mansion of Jason Mountolive, a dying but multi-millionaire recluse. Mountolive invites an interior decorator, Maggie (Katherine Ross), to attend as well, supposedly to work on his mansion. Her boyfriend Pete (Sam Elliott) tags along. This is one of those 1970's Horror flicks that feels a lot like "The Omen" or "The Changeling". It's got that kind of vibe to it. It's not as good as either of those movies but it does have its own special charms. The strength of "The Legacy" are its two stars, Katherine Ross and Sam Elliott. They play the kind of characters that you really pull for in challenging situations. Their characters also don't act like they are trapped in a Horror movie. They behave logically most of the time and act appropriately given the impact of their situations. The setting of the film is an incredibly cool English mansion. It's not a creepy location, but it's isolated and intimidating in its size. When Maggie and Pete attempt an escape from the mansion in a stolen car, there does seem to be a supernatural element to the place. It's not dwelled upon because the supernatural element is present in the form of Jason Mountolive. He and his family's "legacy" are the real horror. Another strength of this movie is its "kills". Say what you will about 70's Horror films, but the on-screen deaths are almost always creative. Don't read any further if you don't want to know about what happens to the guests of Mountolive. They are gory events given the time that this movie was released, but are tame by today's demented standards. "Creativity" seems like a sickening term to use, but ultimately why do people watch horror movies anyway? One of the guests dies by being burned to death by a log that simply rolls out of a fireplace. That in itself is slightly lame, but later, his charred remains are carried into the mansion's square and dumped from a garbage bag to be fed to the guard dogs. We seen the gross remains and the dogs devouring it. Another guest dies choking on a chicken bone, even though he doesn't eat any chicken. His subsequent suffocation while choking and the attempted tracheotomy are disturbing. Gaaaack...throat trauma. Another guest is killed by shards from a shattered mirror, while still another is drowned in a swimming pool momentarily covered in a transparent barrier at its surface. "The Legacy" doesn't exactly scare as much as it does shock. It doesn't resort to jump scares or gratuitous gore, instead it uses a heavy dose of dread to keep the viewer engaged. The ending is not what you'd expect, either. It was a welcome, thought-provoking conclusion.