The Legacy

The Legacy suffers from a crisis of identity. On the one hand, it's a horror movie, with the requisite supernatural elements and inexplicable occurrences. On the other hand, it's a mystery in the cozy, Agatha Christie style, set in a large Victorian mansion in the English countryside, with corpses turning up left and right. Of course, there's no law against blending genres. To do so successfully, however, takes a defter hand than is evident here. The result is an incoherent mess that leaves the viewer feeling cheated. The actors do their collective best, but this one's beyond help.

Based,as users have pointed out ,on the "and then there were none "aka "ten little Indians" aka "Ten little n...." model which had already begun to be thread-bare at the time (although "mindhunters" recently used it relatively smartly), "the legacy" was mainly a Katherine Ross vehicle ,whose hair is really beautiful.The rest of the cast is faceless,although they hired Roger Daltrey to attract the rock audience:he has five or six lines to say. "They have all done something wrong in their life and they have not been punished" discovers the heroine,in the grand Christie tradition.this is not only a thriller,it's also a horror flick with some gory scenes .The mixture is stodgy .The ending does not make any sense . "Nothing works in this f.... country!" yells the hero after a hot shower and a drive in the English country.

Margaret and Pete embark on the most chilling mystery of their lifetimes. The couple become deeply involved in one of the creepiest families to ever graze a movie screen and may regret leaving their home that day - or will they? The couple cannot find away to leave the mansion - even driving away they find all roads lead back to the old manor home. Will they escape? Will they survive? Who or what is The Legacy? The Legacy is a very good old film that has just the right blend of mystery and horror to satisfy both audiences and is also recommend for lovers of occult films. 9/10

This movie doesn't seem to compare to the horror movies of today but I remember really liking this film when it came out. It may have been considered much better back when the film was released. I had read the book first when it came out before seeing the film and thought it was fantastic. I found it to be a great story and played very well in my mind. Though most seem to have a complaint about the special effects/ cheesiness of the film. I think they fair well in the time frame that the movie was made, plus to this day the swimming pool scene still gives me a chill. If the special effects don't work for you try reading the book and see if your imagination doesn't bring this story to life for you. I gave it an 7 because I felt it was a good solid movie and that is what I would have rated it back in 1978.

An excellent little movie, though it might be wasted on anyone likely to get disappointed by 1970s special effects or confused by the intrusion of a plot. It's a well-made supernatural re-working of Agatha Christie's "And then there were None" (Originally "Ten Little Nigger Boys") and starts when the descendents of a 17th century witch gather at an English country house in the hope of receiving part of the family legacy. Instead, they get a dose of poetic justice delivered from beyond the grave. Don't expect to be scared out of your skin, just entertained for a while.

This can't seem to decide if it wants to be a kitch 70s Hammer Horror-em-up, or a glossy romantic US TV movie. Slick moustache man heart throb Sam Elliot clearly thinks he's in the latter, while Roger Daltrey bounds onto the screen like he's auditioning for a part in 'Eastenders: The Pantomime'. To say The Legacy is uneven is putting it mildly, no two characters appear to realise they're in the same film. Shove them all in a grand old mansion in the English countryside, add a touch of supernatural hokum, some surprisingly inventive death scenes, a whole lot of messing around doing nothing, the most pointless random car drive scene in movie history, a cat which has more screen time than half the cast yet has no reason to be involved in the film, and enjoy - but not that much because it drags after an hour or so.