Last Man On Earth: Released in 1964 B&W

Staring: Vincent Price

Plot: Vincent Price plays Robert Morgan, a brilliant scientist looking for a cure to a plague that's sweeping the world.  The plague has an interesting side effect, it doesn't kill you, it turns you into a Vampire like creature.  At the first of the movie you discover that Price has been alone in this ghost world for over three years and by day he's systematically hunting down and putting the stake to the undead.  At night he hides in his ultra secure house while the Vampires taunt him to come outside.  

Based on the book "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson and later re-made into a cheesy movie called "Omega Man" it's a great film that shows the desperation of loneliness.  However I do have some odd questions about it...

* Spoilers *


After three years how is this guy NOT insane?  He's got a horde of Vampires trying to eat him and he tosses bodies into a huge flame pit everyday.  That would be enough to drive me to the nut house.

The flashback to his family life before the plague really slows the movie down to a crawl.  After about twenty minutes you're thinking...What happened to the Vampires?

A great ending which I won't blow here, just a clever twist that makes you think ~ whoa.


Anyway a great movie that you can find at a Best Buy or Circuit City for next to nothing.  So go get it!

brion      

This is the flick which introduced me to Vincent Price and remains a favorite.  It also got me interested in Richard Matheson, who wrote the script for Last Man using a pseudonym.  

It sticks remarkably close to the novella (a given, considering Matheson wrote both) but the differences between the film and book don't really have all that much an effect on the overall message.  A great film, even though the production and some of the English dubbing left something to be desired.

To answer your questions:

1.  He clearly IS insane, or at the very least an emotional wreck.  Witness his hysterical laughter turn to sadness when watching the film of his daughter's birthday, or his desperation when he first meets "the woman."  The dude's whacked, in complete denial and out of his mind.  This was implied much more strongly in the book, but there are moments in the film which give you that idea.

2.  If you didn't care about Morgan and his struggles, the film would be half an hour long and boring as hell.  By telling us his backstory we see why he continues to struggle on, even though there's absolutely no hope in his plight.  He lives for revenge on the most base level, and thanks to the lengthy backstory, we know why.  This is why his final revelation is just as much a revelation to US as it is to HIM.

3.  I agree; definitely a movie fans of Matheson and/or Price should check out.  I've read Protosevich's remake script online and if they do indeed decide to stick with that one, the story will lose a lot of its soul and profoundness, IMO.

I thought this was absolutely great.  They don't make nice, slow stories like this anymore, which is a real shame.

I bought it, and I'd definitely recommend renting it.