29 March 2024
The Legacy (1978)
100 min.
Directed by Richard Marquand.
With Katherine Ross, Sam Elliott, Roger Daltrey, Charles Gray, Lee Montague, Hildegard Neil, Margaret Tyzack, John Standing.
Yet another variation on Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None.

Touring the English countryside on their motorcycle, attractive Maggie Walsh (Katherine Ross) and her hunky boyfriend (Sam Elliott) are enjoying their vacation.

But after millionaire Jason Mountolive (Standing) accidently hits them with his Rolls Royce, the shaken couple agree to stay on at the mansion of this good samaritan.

Then, five other guests arrive. When Mountolive announces he's bequeathing his large estate - to Maggie! - the others soon begin to meet with deadly freak accidents.

What could be the secret behind this creepy Legacy?

Nicely slow-paced at times and dotted with creative death scenes, The Legacy won't win any awards for creativity or ingenuity. But it is a good time capsule of the period.

Its lowkey performances and moody vibe earn it a place as one of the better supernatural thrillers from the last half of the decade.

Particularly notable is the sequence in which one of the guests is swimming in the house's huge pool. About to come up out of the water, the swimmer can't break the surface...finding it a rock-solid transparent piece of glass. She panics and drowns in an especially claustrophobic scene.

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