The Inheritor

My review was written in June 1990 after watching the movie on Vidamerica video cassette.

Lensed two years ago, "Inheritor" is a dull supernatural horror pic released direct-to-video.

Its Wisconsin locations and strained tale of an ancient Indian curse suggest the work of horror/regional writer August Derleth, but Julian Weaver's script is way too talky and static to develop the desired atmosphere.

Lisa McGuire toplines as twin sisters: Marybeth, who dies before the film begins but lingers in flashbacks on her corpse; and Allison, called to Windsor Lake as part of the investigation of sis' demise.

John Rice is the bland young police sergeant investigating Marybeth's suspicious heart attack, while Barnaby Spring is miscast as the chief suspect, whose ancestor, a minister named Proctor (John Russo), also was up to no good.

There's plenty of exposition and poorly done flashbacks until the revelation that Proctor killed sacred buffalo and was slapped with a curse. Idiotic and sometimes cryptic climax features a minotaur for no good reason. Acting is very tired, especially guest star Dan Haggerty's turn as a local doctor. Lead McGuire is used mainly as decoration.

Following the mysterious death of her twin sister, Alison (Lisa McGuire) heads to the town of Windsor Lake, WI to find out more info. She immediately meets up with Simon Proctor (Barnaby Spring, if that is your real name), the guy who was dating her sister and letting her lease his house (nice boyfriend). Proctor is a famous author and his family has some sort of curse on it. Whatever. I've often wondered how odd little movies like this get made. It is well shot, features decent actors and the storyline has some dark Lovecraftian family secrets and catacombs a la "The Lurking Fear." But the end result is so boring and makes little sense. You get colonial flashbacks, people burned alive in a church, a Minotaur and a final shot that I am sure the director has to explain to everyone who watches it (I'm still waiting, Mr. Savegar!). The production was kind enough to splurge on getting Dan Haggerty for two scenes as the town's medical examiner. The VHS box calls this THE INHERITOR, but the on screen title is just INHERITOR.

So many problems with this movie, so little time. It suffers from over acting, under acting, cheap music, cheap sets, cheap film, cheap hair, cheap writing, and cheap feelings. Some movies are watchable because they are so bad. This one is just boring. Even the brief and barely seeable nudity doesn't save it.

The only other comment worth making is: Casablanca is a damn fine movie.