Highly Overrated But Still Good

Crappy film

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Very odd film.Enjoyable. Trippy. Leisurely (even at 69 minutes) but not even slightly scary. There's something engaging about Maya that I can't quite put my finger on; Perhaps it's the magical influence hanging over her. Perhaps it's her potential to take the army of darkness onwards into the future. Or perhaps it's her amazing bone structure and resemblance to Annette Haven in 'V The Hot One' which I found under my Dad's bed when I was a kid and who formed the basis for many of my teenage fantasies...

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.

Bored architect turned devil worshipper Arthur (James Procter) lures sexually frustrated housewife Maya (Lisa Christian) into the bosom of a Satanic cult who believe that a union between her and their malevolent leader, Dr. Muldavo (John Francis), is the key to incredible Satanic powers. Maya's hubby George (Paul Barry) has other ideas and, dressed as a jester, uses a magical glowing sword to infect Muldavo's face with a life-sapping omelette.According to another reviewer here on IMDb, Legacy of Satan, directed by Gerard Damiano of Deep Throat fame, is rumoured to have begun life as a hardcore feature, but was trimmed of its explicit sexual content to make it suitable for release as part of a grind-house double-bill; it's not all that hard to believe, the film definitely having the look and feel of a 70s porno—all grainy cinematography, trippy visuals, and lo-fi synth music, with a decadent, sexually charged atmosphere, a nonsensical plot, and an untalented cast of complete unknowns. The film's short running time and choppy editing also go a long way to support the theory.However, if there was ever a XXX version, it has long since vanished into the mists of time, and all we have been left with is this dreadfully boring, shambolic wreck of a film, a Satanic horror with no tension, no scares and very little blood. Clearly Damiano considered himself something of an artist, and did his best to bring a hallucinatory beauty to the film through the use of coloured light and strong shadow, but his handling was way too heavy-handed to be effective, the result being a garish mess as opposed to a stunningly creative piece of cinema. Arlon Ober and Mel Zelniker's experimental electronic score proves to be just as much an assault on the ears as Damiano's visuals are on the eyes.

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.