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.
