The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh - Move Review

I hate to start this with a negative, but do you see that title? Who in their right mind let that title go to print? It looks like something a nine-year old came up with after a late night Goosebumps binge. It’s so awful that you’d need a masters in English from Dartmouth to fix it. This movie has such great marketing materials. The posters are well designed, the trailer was compelling, but no one stopped to consider the name is too long to appear in the preview pane of streaming services. This is the first flaw among many in this film. This is the perfect example of a film that should have stuck to the old Alfred Hitchcock wisdom of its what you don’t see that scares you. Let me explain.

This film starts out strong with impeccable set design and dressing. Rosalind Leigh’s family home is a mishmash of Christian and Pagan alters and symbols. Almost every surface has something of which you only catch a partial glimpse. The film centers on Leon Leigh, Rosalind’s estranged son. He’s come to pack up his mother’s home following her death. He hasn’t seen her in a long time. The majority of his memories are negative due to his mother’s religious zealotry. His childhood was filled with forced prayer and corporal punishment. Leon’s views the relationship with his mother as the cause for his inability to have a committed relationship. His inability to let go of his past cost him his relationship with the love of his life, Charlotte. The character building in the first thirty minutes or so is well done. Aaron Poole, who you might recognize from the incredible film The Void, is extremely talented at reacting to his environment. Which is important as the majority of the film is told through the house itself. There’s an ominous air inside the home. It’s obvious Rosalind was a disturbed individual, but as Leon digs deeper into her madness, he finds that things are worse than he thought. His mother’s voice echoes through his memories. Film legend Vanessa Redgrave lends her voice to Rosalind. It was an inspired choice. There are few voices as distinct as hers. It was an inspired choice.

At the midway point of the film as Leon finds evidence that his mother’s religious beliefs were not of the standard Judaeo Christian variety. No, as he digs through the creepy house he finds her interests were much darker. It’s a slow burn that works for about forty-five minutes. It’s at that point that the film feels like an episode of an anthology series that they attempted to stretch out to feature length. The film’s creepy atmosphere is ruined by the filmmakers need to try and make it more than it is. This is a huge hole many low budget productions fall into. They start with an extremely effective scare reminiscent of a popular creepy pasta called The Rake. Its a cool moment that could have been a solid ending to the film. Unfortunately, not only does the monster come out of nowhere in the story, but the filmmakers feel the need to show the creature in the light, showcasing the terrible CGI. We’re talking MSPaint level stuff here folks.

So many films are ruined by overreaching their means.

Now, I want to address something I’ve seen online. This film has been compared to Hereditary. In some cases, people have said it’s a Hereditary ripoff. This is completely untrue as Rosalind Leigh came out six years prior to Hereditary. Its also disrespectful to a truly great film by Ari Aster.

Don’t watch this movie. Watch Hereditary instead.