Coming to DVD Tuesday, April 12
Cast:
Keith David as Uncle Melvin
D. B. Woodside as Henry
Rochelle Aytes as Lily
Golden Brooks as Karen
Darrin Dewitt Henson as Tyrone
Shawn Michael Howard as Simpson
Directed by Robert O’Hara
Review:
The African-American horror genre has been plagued by urban stereotypes usually involving gangs, or gangsters, or hoodlums, or rappers. Unfortunately, many of these films usually include some sort of hook with a well-known rapper such as Bones with Snoop Dogg or Dead Heist with a slew of rappers. Or they are confined to urban anthologies such as Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror or Nite Tales with Flavor Flav of all people. Rare are the films where we see a group of African-Americans in a non-urban environment and having to fight for their lives.
But then something comes along such as The Inheritance that doesn’t include any of these stereotypical elements. And it’s quite refreshing. We get a group of couples â including one white couple â all cousins that are affluent, poised and technology-savvy that are put in a situation where there is no escape.
They travel to a remote house in the dead of winter in order to learn if they have been awarded any of the inheritance from a newly-dead member of the family. There, the “ancestors,” or older members of the family – including uncles and aunts – spin a tale that begins in the time of slavery where one of their ancestors fought against the tyranny of the time and paid for it with his life.
However, he rose from the grave and would grant his bloodline a wealth of riches and prosperity if they make the ultimate sacrifice â giving up one of their children to whatever this man had become (something obviously evil in the flashback we see). The cousins treat the story as a fallacy, something the ancestors tell the now grown-up children in order to spook them or just to create a show before revealing the inheritance.
Soon enough, they realize it is anything but a story and they have not been brought to this house in order to learn what treasures were left to them but to be fodder in what has become a devilish ritual sacrifice to this unearthly evil.
The good thing about The Inheritance is that they have a strong group of actors on board including journeyman Keith David as the lead ancestor, Uncle Melvin, D. B. Woodside (from TV’s 24) as one of the sacrifices, beautiful Rochelle Aytes (a TV vet from Desperate Housewives, Dark Blue and Detroit 1-8-7) and Golden Brooks (most famous for being on The CW’s long-running Girlfriends). Not one rapper to boot!
Director Robert O’Hara shied away from using any stereotypical elements in The Inheritance instead focusing on a normal group of people thrust into a no-win situation. Again, refreshing, and it ends up being a pretty good horror movie.
While it lacks a lot of the gore seen in a lot of the films these days, we do get to see the aftermath of some kills, including a brutal head on a pole. Many of the deaths are left up to the imagination or shown off-camera. It works in delivering the message that their own family is offering them up in order to continue to reap the benefits of an ancient evil.
