''The Valdemar Legacy'' ( es, La herencia Valdemar, links=no) is a 2010 Spanish pastiche horror film directed and written by José Luis Alemán which stars

Laia Marull Laia Marull Quintana (born 4 January 1973) is a Spanish actress. She has won three Goya Awards — Best New Actress for ''Fugitives'' (2000), Best Actress for ''Take My Eyes'' (2003), and Best Supporting Actress for ''Black Bread'' (2010). S ...

Daniele Liotti Daniele Liotti (born 1 April 1971, in Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rom ...

Paul Naschy Paul Naschy (born Jacinto Molina Álvarez, September 6, 1934 – November 30, 2009) was a Spanish film actor, screenwriter, and director working primarily in horror films. His portrayals of numerous classic horror figures— The Wolfman, ...

Silvia Abascal Silvia Abascal Estrada (born 20 March 1979) is a Spanish film, television and stage actress. She landed a breakthrough role in 1995 sitcom ''Pepa y Pepe'' which advanced her career. She has since featured in films such as ''The Yellow Fountain'' ...

, Ana Risueño and

Óscar Jaenada Óscar Jaenada Gajo (born 4 May 1975) is a Spanish actor. Career Jaenada began acting at the age of thirteen, performing in Shakespeare plays. The memory of his grandmother taking him to the Rívoli Cinema made him want to become an actor, ...

, among others. Ending with an unresolved plot, it is followed by ''The Valdemar Legacy II: The Forbidden Shadow''. While drawing from the

Cthulhu Mythos The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth August William Derleth (February 24, 1909 – July 4, 1971) was an ...

, the plot does not closely adapt a particular Lovecraftian story. It was panned by critics.

Plot

Set in two different timelines, the plot uses an extensive

analepsis A flashback (sometimes called an analepsis) is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point in the story. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story's primary sequence of event ...

to the 19th century. The film ends abruptly with a

cliffhanger A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhang ...

, only focusing on the flashback subplot pertaining the tragedy of the Valdemar couple (Lázaro and Leonor) circa 1880, thus leaving the plot not set in the past forgotten as a sort of disconnected preface.

Cast

Production

The film was produced by La Cruzada Entertainment SL. Shooting locations included

Comillas Comillas is a small township and municipality in the northern reaches of Spain, in the autonomous community of Cantabria. The Marquessate of Comillas, a fiefdom of Spanish nobility, holds ceremonial office in the seat of power at a small castle ...

Azpeitia , population_note = , population_density_km2 = auto , blank_name_sec1 = Official language(s) , blank_info_sec1 = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST = CEST , u ...

, Valporquero and La Granjilla.

Release

The film was theatrically released in Spain on 22 January 2010.

Reception

Reviews were generally negative, citing the mediocrity of the film. In the wake of the appalling reception, the director wrote a letter apologizing for splitting the film into two parts and pointing out that the

overacting Overacting (also referred to as hamming or mugging) refers to acting that is exaggerated. Overacting can be viewed positively or negatively. It is sometimes known as "chewing the scenery". Uses Some roles require overly-exaggerated character acti ...

of the actors was done on purpose to seek the essence of classic horror films. Javier Ocaña of ''

El País ''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...

'' considered that the narrative structure of ''The Valdemar Legacy'' made no sense, also assessing that, in too many sequences, "it looks like a film with professional means commanded by an amateur". Irene Crespo of ''

Cinemanía ''Cinemanía'' is a Spanish language monthly film magazine based in Madrid, Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)( ...

'' rated the film 2½ out of 5 stars, deeming it to be "tremendously risky". Manuel J. Lombardo of ''

Diario de Sevilla ''Diario de Sevilla'' is a Spanish newspaper founded in 1999 in Seville. It is part of the communications group Grupo Joly. Its circulation as of 2013 was 23,172. The current ''Diario'' is not to be confused with a previous periodical of the sam ...

'' considered the film to be a double disappointment for the viewer, because of the low quality and also because of the obligation of having to go to the theatre again to find out how the thing ends, dragged by failures such as an "absolute inability to narrate", "no sense of rhythm or ellipsis", a "very poor mise-en-scène", a null sense of atmosphere or horror, as well as "lamentable performances" and "second-rate digital effects".

References

External links

''The Valdemar Legacy''
at ICAA's ''Catálogo de Cinespañol'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Valdemar Legacy Spanish horror films 2010 horror films 2010 films 2010s Spanish-language films Films set in the 19th century Films shot in Spain Films shot in Cantabria 2010s Spanish films