Bob Gunton stars as a reclusive billionaire who invites his estranged children to his sprawling mansion under the auspices of celebrating his 75th birthday. Once the clan has arrived, he tells them the real reason they’ve been drawn together: Someone has put a hit out on him, and the deadline for the execution is midnight. If his brood fails to stop the unknown assassin, they will all be effectively cut out of the will. If, however, he manages to survive, his children may claim their hefty inheritance.
This sort of set-up would feel right at home in a Hammer horror movie from the ‘60s. Heck, I think it would be closer to say that it could’ve come out of an Old Dark House mystery from the ‘30s. The Inheritance updates that bare bones structure with a modern sensibility and snark that’s comparable to other recent family horror flicks like You’re Next and Ready or Not (although it’s not nearly as funny or effective as those films).
After a fine first act, the fun slowly begins to dwindle as the movie goes on. The reveal that Gunton’s attacker is (mild spoiler) supernatural in nature is sort of a mixed blessing. While this allows the assailant unique opportunities to sneak up on its intended victims (like the swimming pool murder), the body count is low, and the kills aren’t exactly bloody or suspenseful. At least the filmmakers used some restraint when it came to the CGI.
Director Alejandro (Juan of the Dead) Brugues gives the film a sense of style and atmosphere and should be commended for keeping things running at a tight clip. Most of the time in these kinds of movies, the pacing tends to dawdle with a lot of Scooby-Doo scenes of people walking down dark corridors and finding secret passages. Fortunately, Brugues keeps that shit to a minimum. It’s a shame though that the hottest chick gets Janet Leigh’ed early on, but at least we have Rachel (P2) Nichols around as the ice queen sibling who’s all business. Too bad she doesn’t last much longer.
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