The family patriarch, Christopher Dean has died and in his will has dictated that the family can only collect their inheritance after spending a week together in the family home-- and guess what?  They start getting murdered one by one.  It’s Agatha Christie’s “Ten Little Indians” served up family style.

The production drips with sleaze.  The police car graphics are made with those old metallic letters people used to use to mark the street numbers on their mail boxes, the carpet always looks sort of wrinkled, and the giant house location is empty except for the most essential furniture elements. Also really telling is the burial of Christopher Dean, a powerful and influential man, but it’s pretty clear his body was laid to rest in a vacant lot.

There is just too much utter sadness and hatred to these characters.  So much so that you almost have to laugh, because simply nobody is this screwed up.  It’s probably the screenwriters’ attempt at being edgy, so basically they spend the full eighty minutes of the movie punishing each other and being hurt by each other without even a hint of kindness or affection.

A real standout in the cast to me is the be-pantsuited “Johnny”, who draws his damaged character through a sort of Jimmy Cagney/Louie Anderson/ Jackie Gleason filter when he gets really mad.  He also looks sort of uncomfortable in his pantsuit and big collar and, as a portly man, always looks slightly overheated, yet he finds a way to bring that discomfort to the role.

Also, the long and tall John Russell as Frank Mantee is fascinating to watch.  He is composed of some strange physical attributes, but in the right light with the right kerchief, comes out strangely handsome.  Or actually, what I would call sort of a parody of being strangely handsome.

Of course, the heavy in the cast is John Carradine, who’s the father of the very talented Keith, David, and Robert Carradine.  He did amazing work in the “Grapes of Wrath”, “Stagecoach” and of course in the first movie I ever saw him in “The AstroZombies”.

Legacy of Blood is probably the most depraved film we’ve ever riffed on, both in CT and MST3K-- it's not for kids of any age.  A troubling compote of inter-family hatred, spiteful longing, and some unrequited incest, but also maybe one of our funniest riffs so far.