Oozing with atmosphere and Sam Elliott’s moustache, The Legacy is a late 70s black magic / Satan loving experience that takes a bit to get going, and delivers an ending that leaves more questions than answers. That alone might turn off a few from watching, but the setting of the movie and the wonderful set pieces with the kill scenes more than makes up for those faults. Read on to see if you agree…
PRODUCT INFORMATION
DISCS: 1
RUN-TIME: 100 min
ASPECT RATIO: 1.85:1
RESOLUTION: 1080p
AUDIO: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
SUBTITLES: English
REGION: A
RATING: R
PRODUCTION DATE: 1978
RELEASE DATE: Sept 15th, 2015
PLOT SUMMARY
Evil Beyond Exorcism…
How far would you go to inherit everlasting life? When Margaret (Katharine Ross, The Stepford Wives) and her boyfriend Pete (Sam Elliott, Frogs, Road House) have a car accident in the English countryside, the other driver offers to take them to his lavish country estate to make amends. But once there, they are surprised to learn that all of the other houseguests are already expecting them! It’s not long before the couple’s fear turns into terror when the guests (including Roger Daltrey, Tommy) begin dying in unspeakable ways. Now it’s clear, the true master of the house is a supernatural force that will stop at nothing to find the rightful heirs for an unimaginably horrible legacy.
MOVIE
Margaret (Katharine Ross) and Sam Elliott’s moustache, also known as Pete, end up driving on the wrong side of the road in England and wind up in an accident with a rich guy, who apologizes, even though it’s not his fault, and takes them back to his giant mansion. Pete seems to be in a constant state of anger for some reason, and in fact, he is angry the entire flick, except for when sleeping with his girlfriend or checking out the German chick swimming in the pool. I really think he just doesn’t like English people. Margaret on the other hand is a free spirit and just along for the ride, even when a group of rich people show up to the mansion, knowing everything about them. If it was me and I saw Blofeld from Diamonds of Forever (Charles Gray) showing up, spouting a bunch of nonsense about witches and Satan, chain-smoking his life away and being all around creepy, I would get the hell out of there. Pete and Margaret do try to escape, but for some strange reason, they just can’t get away. Not too long after, people start dropping like flies. What is going on and what does it have to do with the creepy sounding old guy Jason Mountolive? All I can say is money makes the world go around.
The Legacy is all about trying to confuse you to no end and it does so pretty damn well. When the killings start happening, you don’t know what is going on, but the story slowly hands out the information, and come the end you kind of an idea of what is going on. As for the ending, I wasn’t a big fan of where they decided to go with it. Also, way too many plot details are left hanging and not explained. I always assumed cats were the spawns of Satan, but a little more info would be nice. One last thing, Pete is really damn forgiving when it comes to all sorts of wacky changes in behaviour with his girlfriend. It must be something in the follicles.
Overall I enjoyed The Legacy, mostly cause the setting was beautiful to look at. The big, ominous mansion, with British flavour overload, is my kind of environment and The Legacy uses it to its full advantage. The story might be a bit lacking, but in the end, the film is a solid late 70s horror film.
BLU-RAY
Scream Factory has released The Legacy with an all new HD transfer, but seeing how I’ve never seen the movie on any other format, I can’t judge it against anything. I can tell you the film looks great for what it is. The grain is intact, with no noticeable DNR. Besides the clothing and the size of Sam Elliott’s mustache, you might say this was a more modern looking film. The audio isn’t anything super special, with a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, but it comes through nice and clear.
The special features included are two roughly 11 to 12 minute interviews with Film Editor Anne V. Coates and Special Effects Artist Robin Grantham. They discuss a lot about their work and some on the film. They are okay interviews, but I definitely would’ve loved some interviews with the cast, like Sam Elliott for example. Rounding everything out is a TV Spot, Trailer, Radio Spot and Still Gallery.
BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES
- NEW HD Transfer From The Interpositive
- NEW Interview With Academy Award Winning Film Editor Anne V. Coates (LAWRENCE OF ARABIA)
- NEW Interview With Special Effects Artist Robin Grantham
- Theatrical Trailer
- TV Spot
- Radio Spot
- Photo Gallery
VERDICT
The Legacy is wonderful film to look at and it’s an interesting experience, especially if you’ve never seen it before. I may be a little disgruntled at the lack of explanation and I most certainly did not like the ending, but overall, it’s a film worth watching. Scream Factory has done a great job with the Blu, but some more interviews with the cast would’ve been a nice addition to the supplements provided. Either way, this is a disc worth owning.
RATING
