Legacy of Satan

Legacy Of Satan - 1974 ( This Film Rates an F ) Set in New York City in the 1970's. A group of satanic cult members have chosen a woman (Maya) to be their new queen. They enjoy bloodletting and consuming blood from those willing and unwilling alike. They engage in rituals to capture Maya and she starts to have bloody and erotic dreams. She feels "different" but is unable to explain how. The husband (George) tries to understand these changes but is bewildered and frustrated by her erratic behaviors. The couple are invited to a costume party by a friend (arranged by Dr. Muldavo - a friend of a friend) where transportation and the costumes are supplied by the host. Once at this party they are escorted to a room to change into the respective costumes. At 40:30 Maya and George drink wine which immediately entrances them into what looks like a psychedelic experience. It was completely laughable. She makes her way downstairs where everyone is gathered and waiting for her. Every single one of them giddy from the blood drinking and chanting Maya's name. Dr. Muldavo courts the future queen even further. Maya soon learns how deep this all goes but remains helpless and powerless until George comes to the rescue with the help of one jealous satanists. He wields a lighted sword. Dr. Muldavo is injured as a result and requires large amounts of blood to survive. George and Maya try to escape but it's all for naught and Maya is already the queen, a wicked queen who does not take no for an answer. The 70's synth soundtrack was a bit too loud and repetitive and some of the transitions from scene to scene were a bit cut and rough. The gore is extremely minimal and there was no effort to show any. The acting is borderline but some of the stunts reminded me of a high school play. But even decent acting and good gore effects could not save this horrid film. Even at 70 minutes Legacy of Satan is still too long.

The lovely Lisa Christian plays Maya, a sexually frustrated young woman married to the boring George (Paul Barry). Unbeknownst to them, their friend Arthur (James Procter) has gotten mixed up with a Satanic cult, and now this cult considers Maya essential to their plans, luring her & George to their lair by using a costume party as a cover.

Gerard Damiano, the adult film director best known for the iconic Deep Throat, also gave us this decidedly minor horror film that won't be very satisfying to sleaze lovers. (The whole cast actually stays clothed most of the time!). The plot, characters, and performances are all quite insipid, although John Francis still manages to be very amusing as the nefarious cult leader Dr. Muldavo.

The truly tacky makeup effects are courtesy of Tom Brumberger (Don't Go in the House), while other familiar names working behind the scenes include co-composer Arlon Ober (The Incredible Melting Man) and cinematographer Joao Fernandes (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter). That music score is HILARIOUSLY awful!

Unfortunately, this is a rather dull affair that possesses an awful lot of padding for a film running a mere 70 minutes. It may be of some interest to very curious exploitation & horror aficionados, but it's not a movie I would really recommend.

Sandra Peabody of The Last House on the Left fame has a very small role as a cult member.

Four out of 10.

Legacy of Sat (1974)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

A bored housewife (Lisa Christian) doesn't have much going on in her life until a Satan worshiper decides she'd make the perfect leader for their cult. Soon the woman is dealing with all sorts of weird visions but her husband isn't going to just let the cult take her over without a fight.

Gerard Damiano, best known for DEEP THROAT, directed this rather weird film that has pretty much been forgotten over the years except for those who enjoy seeking out the various "Satan" pictures from the decade. This one here was rumored to have been more explicit at some point but I'm not certain there's any actual proof that it was. Perhaps in the pre-production stages it was discussed but there's nothing evident here to think it was ever shot that way.

The biggest problem with this film is that nothing ever really happens. The wife pretty much does nothing except walk around and have various visions and none of them are that shocking, disturbing and they're certainly not scary. I'm really not sure what Damiano was going for because there's no gore so that rules out any shock value. There's no violence so that's another strike against the picture. There's not really any sexuality so there's nothing erotic going on. I'm not sure if he was just trying to create a psychedelic piece of art but that doesn't happen either.

LEGACY OF Satan is mildly entertaining in a silly way and especially if you like low-budget movies that deal with this subject. Fans of that subgenre will want to check this out but all others can find much better movies out there.

Terrible EVERYTHING! Cinematography, Direction, Sound Engineering, Script, Set Design, Lighting, and Acting; terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, and terrible.

It looks and feels like some apartment building somewhere, full of young people, gathered up all of the neighbors, and decided to make a movie.

It is difficult to understand what the point of this film even is! Skip this one over EVERY TIME you have the opportunity to do so!

Seriously! Pull it up on whatever streaming channel has it available just to say to yourself, "nope," and then move on to something else! This film deserves us all doing just that from time to time!

This movie looks and sounds like a home movie, except longer and more tedious. The lighting is amazingly bad. Characters' heads cast shadows on other characters' faces a lot. Impressively bad all-synthesizer score. The vampire wears a 1970s pink ruffled shirt and everybody has 1970s hair. But the editing has got to be the worst of the lot. There are long pauses between the lines of dialog. Characters pause and stare at each other or at their own feet for long periods, then hold perfectly still while they recite their lines. Between that and the muffled sound track it's difficult to follow the story. After an hour of utter tedium, there is a silly fight scene which begins when the hero shows up with a toy sword with a glowing blade.

If you were looking for a picture that's so bad there's amusement value in it, _Plan 9 from Outer Space_ would be a better choice.

Check out IMDB's list of the director's other work.