- Director: Alejandro Brugués
- Writers: Joe Russo & Chris Lamont
- Stars: Bob Gunton, Peyton List, Briana Middleton, Rachel Nichols, Austin Stowell, David Walton, Resse Alexander, Chris Wood
REVIEW
When the patriarch of the Abernathy family, Charles (Gunton), invites his children home on his 75th birthday, he promptly tells his family that he will die tonight. Someone is coming for him, and if the kids want to see any of their inheritance, he must survive the night.
As the film starts, it gives you a Knives Out combined with Succession kind of feel. Estranged family members drawn together, most seemingly at each other’s throats for no other reason than that was the way they were raised. We meet all the kids, the most (relatively) normal Drew (Stowell), who turns up with his wife Hannah (Middleton), the family business obsessed Madeline (Nichols), and the family douche bag CJ (Walton) and because everyone hates influencers, the youngest Abernathy is social media darling, Kami (List). From here, it becomes a game of who dies first but with an added wrinkle that it might just be another family member doing the killing.
The Inheritance is directed solidly by Brugués, who doesn’t want to get all that inventive, except for a handful of times in the film. This is a shame because even though these moments are riffs on shots seen in other horror films, it gives you a sense of what could have been if caution were thrown to the wind. The script by Joe Russo and Chris Lamont doesn’t break any new ground but does have some high and low points.
The acting is generally fine. Everyone is committed to their roles and tries hard, but because of the familiarity of the material, it doesn’t get to rise above.
The film has a very cool painting effects gag, which was a highlight for me and the massive estate house is used very well, long hallways and numerous doors always provide ominous looking shots.
The Inheritance is a decent way to spend ninety minutes but if you’ve seen similar films to this, you’ll know what is coming (if the baffling decision to spoil the film in the opening credits doesn’t do that for you anyway).
The Inheritance is available in select cinemas and On Demand right now.
Ryan Morrissey-Smith
Leave a Reply