The Last Man on Earth
I was digging through some DVDs a friend had given me looking for something to watch this weekend, and what should I find but The Last Man on Earth, the first movie version of Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend, starring Vincent Price. I thought I’d report on it.
I loved this movie. It runs surprisingly close to the book (it did manage to condense the entire last half of the novel into about 15 minutes). It may not be as sophisticated as we’re used to in a modern, action-packed, special-effects laden movie world. But the images it creates are damn scary. That whole desolate city, completely abandoned, that shocked me in 28 Days Later? Nothing new there. Last Man had it down pat. I think my favorite bit is the first night we spend with Robert, played by a young and wonderfully grim Vincent Price. He pours himself a tumbler of scotch, puts on a jazz record, and sits on the sofa, listening to the vampires pound on his house, trying to get in, calling “Come out, Robert!” The scariest thing about this scene? How bored he looks — because he’s been doing this every night for three years.
The story also has a cool Twilight Zone ending that the movie makes especially poignant. (Matheson was a writer for Twilight Zone, responsible for some of its most memorable stories, like “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.”) Highly recommended, all in all.
Now to dig up The Omega Man.
