Review of Legend (1985) by Blais E — 13 Dec 2010

Tim Curry is unforgettable as the enormous scarlet-skinned, steer-horned Demon, Darkness, Hell-bent on the destruction of the two remaining unicorns in his kingdom as well as stealing the luscious Mia Sara away from Forest-Fop Jack (Hollywood psycho-midget Tom Cruise) in this interesting, visually-stunning, though very uneven film.

What keeps it from being a near-perfect picture is its choppy, practically non-existent pacing & poor sense of narrative. Characters who dominate the first portion of the film (The trio of Darkness's Goblin-Henchmen, for example-) inexplicably disappear midway & are never mentioned again, almost as if two different storylines had been sloppily crammed together.

Rob Bottin's prosthetic make-up is awe-inspiring (Darkness, the Goblins, & especially "Meg Mucklebones", a hideously-foul cannabilistic swamp-hag who almost makes a meal of our jerky-Jack-), and the musical score is appropriately ethereal in scope.

Seek out the original European print or Director's cut for a less-truncated, more coherent story.