A Deadly Legend

Nobody should claim that "A Deadly Legend" is a great horror movie. Clunky script, some wooden acting, dodgy editing, and a mish-mash of plot points that don't come together as an effective whole.

That said, "A Deadly Legend" is a style of low budget genre movie that I like. Without knowing anything about the history of its making, I would bet a big molasses cookie that the idea for this movie started far outside the movie industry. One or two or three people with an idea and a lot of passion. Somehow the money came together, a story grew, and a cast and crew put together. During shooting there were probably some days where people thought, what the heck are we doing? But, I'd bet that mostly people had fun with the project of taking creativity from idea to realization.

There seems nothing cynical about "A Deadly Legend," either its energy or its story. I like that. The creators, if they still have that passion for movie-form story-telling, should keep going. Learn from making this movie, keep creating, become better at it.

One call out: Lori Petty is amazing in this. In a movie where the acting ranges from flat to over-the-top, Petty's Wanda is in a class all her own. Without the character and Petty's spin on it, "A Deadly Legend" would have been far less enjoyable. At worst, we needed a scene that better establishes the relationship between Wanda and Mike, and Wanda and the rest of the central characters.

That's a fault throughout the movie. People show up, things happen, and we're left much of the time to piece together the relationships, the dynamics, and fit all of it within the context of the story. It seems like the creator(s) compromised tight story-telling in trying to feature as much of the ensemble cast as possible. The movie suffers for that compromise. Next time the creator(s) will do better, I'm sure.

A great horror movie? No. A project that shows some inherent skills and hints at potential greatness? Yes.

Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention, but the plot of this film came across as nonsensical cult-worship garbage. The make-up effects were horrible enough for me to comment, and Lori Petty's career belongs consigned to the dust bin of history. (Maybe it already is and that's why she's in this film.) Likewise Judd Hirsch and Corbin Bernsen ham it up past the point of believability.

I've seen many, many worse movies, which is why this one doesn't get a 1 star review, but that's literally the only reason. I can't think of anything even remotely redeemable or interesting about this film. The movie's ridiculous ending is merely the icing on the cake.

I had high expectations for this film. It ended up not even reaching "so bad it's good," potential, but just plain bad. The storyline was so confusing, I literally thought maybe I wasn't paying attention. Man, it even felt like the creators couldn't decide what they were making.

Oh, good god. Don't believe all the fake reviews. (You'll note that none of those ten-star posters have ever posted an IMBD review before, always a telltale sign.) This is laughably bad, with a lamely on-the-nose approach that's about as scary as an old Lifetime movie. Adding to the televisual feel is the frequent use of blackouts between scenes, as if we're breaking for a commercial.

How they got the name actors involved, I'll never know. (Although Lori Petty is so dreadful, you may be amazed she ever had a high-profile career.) The quality of the non-name performances is easier to explain--one of the hammiest is by the screenwriter, who gave himself a big role.

It's all so stupid at times I wondered if it was actually some sort of deliberate camp exercise. But if that was the intention, the filmmakers left it waaaaaay too easy to mistake their pileup of absurdities and ineptitude for the real thing, as opposed to any kind of sendup.

Adding insult to injury, this atmosphere-free tale of demonic possession or something in a blandly over-lit suburban community is nearly 100 minutes long. This is one of those movies so hapless and yet mediocre that it could only be rendered truly watchable by an accompanying drinking game (a shot for every cheesy "apparition" appearance? a beer every time Petty mooches for beer?), or by MST3K commentary. In excerpt it might cough up some unintentional laughs, but actually watching more than a few minutes of the whole thing gets dull really fast. You've been warned.

It's awful. Juvenile dialog. Overacting. Implausible decisions. High School Drama class special effects. On top of an incredibly loose and silly plot line.