The Inheritance (2024)

The-Inheritance-(2024)
The Inheritance (2024)

You’ve probably seen this movie before or even a hundred times and more. The details might be slightly modified, but the premise is foolproof: An unlikable cast is trapped in one house overnight. If they manage to make it through till morning, they stand to win a hefty amount of money as a reward. They all seem to handle the undertaking at different levels of self-assurance, skepticism, or fear nonetheless, each of the actors appears to be getting progressively more enraged. First off, when one individual loses his/her hope and gets killed, the rest decide to cower in solitude and one tragedy follows another where the more famous actors are usually the ones to go first. Most of the time the last person left is the kindest character who either wins the money or throws it away just to defy. The most annual event dealing with horror House on Haunted Hill (1959) and later House on Haunted Hill 1999, Escape Room (2019), its sequels, and Providence and Ready or Not (2020), USD’s Abigail and Humane are very similar to it in structure. The same goes for The Inheritance which is a hardly memorable representation of this formula along with an artificial supernatural twist, literally does not do a good job of reinventing the genre.

The film opens with an impression of various banknotes among which the viewer can see a hand signing a document, a flashforward to a satanic moment, and a prelude to something horrid.

On his 75th birthday, Charles Abernathy (Bob Gunton) brings his children to the Abernathy estate for an ‘exclusive’ family reunion. All of them appear in black SUVs which seems to be more a statement of their ‘self-worth’. This family consists of eight children. Most of the ill-tempered ones include Madeline (Rachel Nichols), the most Acidic of the women being the Boss Lady, and Brother C. J. (David Walton), a conniving jerk. The youngest, Kami (Peyton List), is an empty-headed social media influencer with a dedicated following who supports her fashion brand. Slightly more engaging than a head of lettuce is Drew (Austin Stowell) who runs a charity with his spouse Hannah (Briana Middleton) Drew is more of a middleman photo holder than an active participant. As soon as everyone complains that Drew broke the ‘NO WIVES RULE’ Charles speaks up saying “It has become known to me that I have a bounty on my headboyngah yes.

He claims the contract will be fulfilled the next night and points out that the children have reported him. This puts Charles’ children in a peculiar position: they stand to inherit billions if their father makes it out alive, a strong incentive. Charles, on the other hand, offers a blood relative only option to Hannah as she is not a blood relative. But she is off to a contradictory start by saying how she views herself as an Abernathy and that she does not need the UN membership.

In the event that he dies, they shall get nothing, and his wealth will be endowed to a nonprofit organization a stitch that receives boos from anyone apart from Drew and Hannah. In addition, the entire lot will be isolated within the house till the next day, as the doors and windows are corked, rendering the mansion unfleeced even when the sun rises. But the issue persists: Who is it that among the people wants to see Charles dead? The focus of the eldest son or daughter’s vague address sheds very little light on the situation, and the children appear very relaxed about asking too many questions as though they do not want to go against their father. However, considering the fact that Charles has a fondness for Faust, it is not difficult for the viewer to figure out what is going to happen next.

The Inheritance 2024 The issue is that what surrounds the frame is quite uninterested in the characters such as people. Writers Chris LaMont and Joe Russo spend as little time as possible building any kind of meaningful relationships or personalities, making all the expected characters one-dimensional stereotypes. Look how the ‘children’ come to terms with their situation. Given the creepy premise, one would expect them to devise plans or at the very least, imagine. They split up and curiously decide to move around the dark mansion for some unknown reason. Perfect timing for bad omens: a billiard table that returns on its own, a toy monkey that seems to unwind itself, and two people hiding behind a curtain.

Simultaneously, Madeline and C.J. are scheming to take over the company while they are driven by their own jealousy and paranoia, certain that their father has lost it, and that Drew and Hannah are their enemies.

Clocking to only 84 minutes, The Inheritance was directed by Alejandro Brugués who has previously directed Juan of the Dead (2011) and episodes of horror anthologies Nightmare Cinema (2018) and Satanic Hispanics (2022). One can find evidence of his intelligent style for horror elements in the steam-filled indoor pool sequence featuring Kami, who ventures out to the pool at night. It unfolds like Jaws (1975) only this time the character is not submerged in water and wondering what’s underneath he’s the other way around. Throughout, the camera sits under the water’s surface, and Brugués depicts the image of Kami’s legs as they dangle in the pool while Kami is shot in profile. Suddenly, it becomes apparent that a strange and certainly tense situation has arisen. They captured something and dragged it across the pool with them, then lifted it high. All is witnessed from below, except the feet that are ever slowly sinking with bits of claret wafting about which allows us to conclude the pieces as they must be gruesome.

The picture goes back to its dull format after that motivating segment. The siblings hardly notice the loss of Kami. They do not seem to be interested in the sequence of events that occurred and how they should proceed next, thus either showing their inhumanity or the poor screenplay. Ghosts come into the picture. Another eerie scene has Kami’s spirit pulling itself from a painting, but the imagery might be a bit of a rip-off from The Devil’s Backbone (2001) and Drag Me to Hell (2009). There is another sequence, a storage room that has historical items that look at Drew and Hannah as they try to flee the house as if to say, “What do you think you’re doing?” A family pattern persists where they use the knocks with two bits as a way to communicate with each other. It is true that here the makers have very few original thoughts. Most disappointing is that these already overly familiar ideas are treated without much energy.

Late at night while watching The Inheritance, one can come to terms with the material possibly due to low expectations and a religiously brief period. But its themes will be coldly recognizable, including the rich people are the worst theme. Its character and plot row have been played out already, though in a better way.

The film does not offer many new twists or surprises for this well-trodden premise, and neither does it make an attempt to set itself apart from the competition, including other productions from 2024. Those sparse dreadful moments that were referred to earlier, in conjunction with the rest that were not mentioned, do not disappoint. Yet the film is able to demonstrate one thing that has been obvious to anyone who has seen Brugués’ other films his talent as a filmmaker is far superior to the kind of projects he gets himself attached to. After all, the old saying in the world of filmmaking goes, with bad material, even the best director will fail in his task.

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