LEGACY OF BLOOD is one of those forgotten horror films that few people saw on release. A video release came and went in the '80s, and since then the film's been put out on one of those rubbishy 'public domain' compilations, but that's about it. Watching it, you immediately understand why it's so obscure. It's a dull and stilted film with little imagination or effort and it's quite a chore to sit through. The film was released during one of my favourite years for the horror film. This was the changeover period, when there were still lots of old-fashioned gothics being churned out, but films were starting to get that 'grindhouse' look and feel, with increased gore content and often sleazy atmospheres.LEGACY OF BLOOD sits halfway between a cheap riff on THE OLD DARK HOUSE type movie and the modern-day slasher. It begins with one of those utterly predictable 'reading of the will' type scenarios, where a group of people are guaranteed to get millions of dollars if they can spend a week in the old building. Soon, but not soon enough, people start dying and there's a mysterious killer on the loose. Much is made of the killer's identity here, but the double-twist ending kind of robs the film of any suspense it might have had; you just end up laughing and the freeze-frame ending is ludicrously cheesy.The first murder is a pretty gory axe-to-the-head kill and director Carl Monson edits it in such a bizarre way that it's the highlight of the movie. I have no idea why he does the freeze-frame thing (the same device that a lot of directors use to show the point of view of someone taking photos) but it's hilarious. After then, there's no gore to speak of, just shadows on the wall, a funny moment where a guy falls into a fish tank filled with, you guessed it, piranha, and a very muddled bit where a guy is stung to death by bees (looks like cranberry sauce on his face). Monson directed a few sleazy Z-flicks during the '70s but this is very uninteresting.The recognisable cast members add a very small amount of entertainment value. John Carradine headlines the piece, but he's barely in the film; I preferred his role in another old dark house horror a couple of years later called HOUSE OF THE SEVEN CORPSES. Merry Anders turned up in B-movie WOMEN OF THE PREHISTORIC PLANET and Norman Bartold was immediately recognisable from his turn as the medieval knight in one of my favourite films, WESTWORLD. Faith Domergue was a respected '50s B-movie actress for appearing in the likes of IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA and appeared with her co-star here, Jeff Morrow, in the sci-fi classic THIS ISLAND EARTH. Buck Kartalian who plays the sadomasochistic butler, Igor, was a bodybuilder who had a starring role as one of the monkeys in PLANET OF THE APES! I didn't recognise redhead Brooke Mills, but I did notice that she was VERY attractive and had a role in the Filipino exploitation flick THE BIG DOLL HOUSE. My favourite character in the film is the chauffeur who's played by a western actor; he's an ex-Nazi hunter who keeps a lamp made of human skin by his bedside! Sadly he gets bumped off all too soon, but not before a few laughs are had.

Talented cast is all that saves this turkey from the mincer, as John Carradine plays a recently deceased father whose family and servants are set to gain a sizable inheritance, if they can spend one week together in the family mansion. Carradine had nothing but scorn for his selfish offspring and has twisted the terms of the will to increase the proportions paid to each, should any die. A recipe for murderous abandon, which is exactly what prevails over the course of one, frenzied night.The film itself is pure hokum, absurd and spectacularly poor in almost every dimension. The cast is what makes it vaguely watchable. Aside from horror maestro Carradine, Jeff Morrow, John Russell, Faith Domergue, Dick Davalos, Merry Anders, John Smith, Norman Bartold, Buck Kartalian and Rodolfo Acosta feature, a talented cast that will appeal to many film buffs. Glamorous Brooke Mills in an early role, has a sizable part as the youngest offspring, mentally precarious and under the watchful eye of treating psychiatrist Smith, who may or may not be connected with the crimes that begin depleting the dysfunctional progeny.While the twist ending suggests that it's done tongue-in-cheek, it's difficult to detect that tone throughout the film, which labours through one, dark night to a blood-splattered conclusion, far less satisfying than one could have imagined. But still, there's the substantial cast of some distinction, and performances that belie the limited content (Morrow, Domergue and Russell in particular give dedicated performances). If you can see the potential in the cast, then this one will be worth a look.

After a wealthy old geezer dies, his four greedy and no-count backstabbing kids get together at the family mansion so they can get their grubby paws on his sizable inheritance. Naturally, there's a catch: They all have to spend an entire week at the estate before they can collect the dough. Of course, a vicious killer starts brutally bumping folks off. Carl Monson's blunt direction fails to wring much tension from Eric Norden's trite, yet deliciously lurid script (a sleazy incest subplot is especially tasty), but does succeed in creating a compellingly seedy atmosphere and stages the murder set pieces with considerable go-for-it grisly gusto (said kill scenes include an axe to the noggin, a bullet to the head, an electrocution and a guy being stung to death by bees). The stand-out trash movie cast qualifies as another significant asset: Jeff Morrow and Faith Domergue from "This Island Earth," rugged Western film perennial John Russell, the luscious Brooke Mills from "The Big Doll House, Buck Kartalian of "Planet of the Apes" (very funny and creepy as a masochistic butler), Richard Davalos from Jack Hill's "Pit Stop," and the ubiquitous John Carradine as the mean, overbearing patriarch of the extremely depraved and dysfunctional clan. The gritty, washed-out photography by Jack Beckett and Ben Rombouts, Jamie Mendoza-Nava's spooky'n'shuddery score, and the delectably hammy performances add immensely to the picture's oddly appealing and engrossing ratty charm. Entertaining low-grade junk.

A family of terrible people must remain in a house for a week or else they will lose their inheritance which will go to the servants who will only get their inheritance if they agree to stay on and keep the house in order. People die (and so will you if you try to sit through this) If you've ever had any desire to see bad actors- many with ill fitting dentures-act or attempt to act in a bad horror movie this is your chance. This is just awful. Its so bad I thought Al Adamson, one of the worst directors ever, directed it, but I was wrong.Its so bad I don't want to say anything more about it, not because it isn't polite but because once I start I may not be able to stop.avoid