Legacy of Blood (Cinematic Titanic)

Film Year:  1971
Genre:  Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Director:  Carl Monson
Starring:  John Carradine, Rodolfo Acosta, Merry Anders, Norman Bartold, Faith Domergue
CT Number:  4

The Movie

Spooky mansion, one-by-one murder, whodunit mystery, brothers and sisters DOING IT...Legacy of Blood has it all!

Originally titled Will to Die, this film stars John Carradine (very briefly) as a rich man who has passed away and left his fortune to a group of heirs.  After the will has been read, the family stays the night at his mansion.  However someone seems to be killing all the heirs off one by one.  Is someone trying to inherit the entire fortune?  Is there anyone NOT busy screwing their siblings long enough to even try?

This is a tough one, even with a bunch of formerly riffed alumni to play with (in addition to Carradine, we also have Women of the Prehistoric Planet's Merry Anders and This Island Earth's Faith Domergue).  As a thriller, Legacy of Blood isn't very thrilling, though it's mystery is moderately intriguing, by the time you find out where it's leading the movie has clearly flown off its rocker.  There are so many twists to the ending you can clearly see that the movie thinks it's smarter than it is, and by this point you just want to smack it.

It's just an ugly, trashy little horror movie that wants to off people, which kinda makes it a slasher movie too.  Even worse is its desire to be an erotic thriller as well, shot in the foot by all the film's characters being related to each other.  I don't know who came up with this approach, but it doesn't really make your movie sexier through taboo, it just makes it feel like the person killing people isn't the creepiest thing going on in that house.

The Riff

Legacy of Blood could very well be the worst film of Cinematic Titanic's catalog, probably contending with War of the Insects.  Those who firmly believe that worse movies enhance the riffing experience will be right at home here, and luckily the Titans deliver a stellar commentary that helps their argument.

That said, Legacy of Blood is a very dirty movie.  The characters are dirty, the morality is dirty, the lust is dirty, even the film print is dirty.  If one prefers a less sleazy form of badness, this should be an easy pass.  Those with the guts to enter into this disgusting film will find a lot of hilarity at the expense of its sleaze.  The incestuous undertones of the film are blatant and glaring, and the Titans are rightfully creeped out.  Luckily they also seem to find it amusing.

"Oh come on!  Brothers aren't supposed to do this!  They're supposed to sit on your head and fart!"

While this is the biggest point that they emphasize in this movie, the fact that it's a horror movie doesn't escape them.  This is one of my favorite genre's for projects like this, because of the visual stylings and long sequences of silent suspense bring a lot of openings for commentary.  Legacy of Blood is no different, as sequences of people in bedrooms undressing each other with their eyes usually tend to have the Titans talking over dialogue, while the scenes of "tension" let them riff away without worry.

The host segments are mostly given to a gag that there is a new rule that chewing gum isn't allowed in the theater, which Frank defies.  One of them is devoted to Frank breaking this rule, which is brief and very funny, but I almost wish there was another segment to make up for the one burned out on it.  The other host segment features Trace hosting a game show called "What Won't Kill You?," where he forces J. Elvis to pick the item that won't kill him.  It's solid.

Legacy of Blood is a jewel in the crown of Cinematic Titanic.  While I'd probably point to Doomsday Machine as the better gateway episode into this string of riffs (Legacy is a bit of a movie that isn't for riffing amateurs), this is one of the best of its series.

Classic  

The DVD

Legacy of Blood was initially released through Cinematic Titanic's website, with a low quality movie though otherwise solid picture and good audio.  There were no special features.  Shout Factory re-released it in their Complete Collection set, where it shares a disc with the preceding show, The Wasp Woman.