Desperately clinging to the heels of Radio Silence’s memorably outrageous Ready or Not comes another outsider-marries-into-rich-family-then-faces-death romp. Scripted by a duo of action writers (Chris LaMont and Joe Russo), The Inheritance presents an interesting horror trope that is big on atmosphere but light on characterization and texture. It strands a rich family in a grandiose mansion with a ticking clock of doom, complete with foreboding iron gates, twisty-screamy figures, and creepy mannequins. Genre vet Alejandro Brugues was a nice fit for the job considering his pedigree for low budget horror with Juan of the Dead and Pooka Lives! Decent enough but lacking memorable set pieces or elaborate murders, the familiarity of The Inheritance may still thrill casual genre fans as it hops from one ridiculous moment to the next.
Zoom-ins on a ritualistic text flooded with blood, eventually forming a wax seal that comprises the film’s title, set the stage for what lurks just underneath the surface. The whole Abernathy family arrives one by one in black Escalades to an impressive home estate. Charles Abernathy (Bob Gunton), the family’s patriarch, has seemingly invited them all here for his 75th birthday celebration. Charles’ intentions become clearer as they gather within the walls. Someone or something will be coming to kill Charles tonight. To ensure he makes it to dawn, Charles has put his entire state—and the inheritance of his children—on the line. Their fortune will go straight to the Abernathy Foundation charity should anything happen to him. Staff and security has been sent home for the night, leaving just a father and his estranged children locked inside. There is just one minor issue: Hannah (Briana Middleton) has tagged along, despite implicit invitation of only immediate family being present.
The Inheritance plays out somewhat similar to what can be expected of its overly familiar setup, dating back to House on Haunted Hill. Each family member meets a gruesome fate, played mostly offscreen initially to keep the suspicions going. However, this pretense has been abandoned by the time the second murder rolls around, reveling in the strange and unusual. All four children are nothing more than thinly sketched caricatures, barely making any lasting impression as characters. Hannah’s husband, Drew (Austin Stowell), works at a charity with her, making him the veritable “good guy” in a crew of backstabbers. Money-hungry twins, Madeline (Rachel Nichols) and CJ (David Walton), run the tech investment and hotel wings of the family’s empire, respectively. Cami (Peyton List) live streams everything, and seems aptly social media obsessed. For viewers of Netflix’s masterful miniseries, The Fall of the House of Usher, they have seen this type of storyline pulled off in a convincing manner. Lacking the time to devote to characterization, the hollow script here does them no favors.
What does work on some level are the haunting visuals and atmosphere. Using the giant mansion to their advantage, the filmmakers explore much of it, even some aspects ever-so-briefly. In the best scene, Hannah and Drew are pursued by creepy mannequins that come to life and chase them down a hallway. The eventual mythology does nothing new, but at least it is consistent throughout, and makes cohesive narrative sense. Too many moments are just missed opportunities. At one point, two characters get stuck in a giant vault that is quickly losing oxygen, only to be let out minutes later with no recourse or suspense. That wasted scenario doesn’t manage so much as a throwaway scare. Several sequences play out similarly, promising an element that never comes to fruition.
The Inheritance may come across melodramatic, and frequently fall victim to low budget horror trappings that could have used some polish. However, it is not atrocious either, falling somewhere right in the middle. There are worse ways to kill an hour and a half, and certainly far more egregious examples within the horror genre. By the very virtue of its setup, rarely was I not entertained while watching. If its premise intrigues on any level, invite over some friends and have a drunken movie night. Just don’t expect to inherit some new horror classic in the process.
Stay a night with The Inheritance, in select theaters and On Demand on Friday, July 12th.
