"The Last Man On Earth" remains the most faithful adaptation of Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend" to date, not as ambitious as "The Omega Man" and much creepier. This movie's hero, Robert Morgan, seems to be the only living man to survive a plague. He spends his days stalking and staking plague victims that have been reanimated as vampires, and his nights are spent barricaded inside his house while they beat on the door and moan for his blood.
Certain scenes in the film, such as when Morgan tries to drown out the cries of the vampires by playing records on his phonograph, are genuinely disturbing. The early portions of the film, where we see Morgan in his horrific daily routine of rising with the sun and clearing the city of vampires, are especially effective, among the best "end of the world" type films ever made. The most frightening sequence takes place during a flashback, when Morgan loses his wife to the plague and then insists on burying her instead of burning her body. Just as he has simultaneously denied and dreaded, she returns from her grave whispering "Let me in...let me in..." Other aspects of the film do not work as well, and have dated badly. After Morgan discovers that he may not be the last person alive after all, the film begins to unravel. It never quite makes the transition from Morgan's personal horror to the dread of the new "vampire society" emerging. The actress who plays Ruth (or rather the actress who vocalizes her, since the entire movie is dubbed and since the actors were mostly Italians, the English voices may have been performed by others) delivers her lines with a muddled voice that makes her hard to understand and seems a little silly. Likewise, the action sequence at the conclusion where the "new humans" chase Morgan through the streets is awkwardly realized and works in concept only.
The movie does make an inventive departure from the novel by having Morgan "cure" Ruth of her vampirism, therefore proving that he could have saved the rest of the survivors from their own affliction, yet they kill him in cold blood because he has become a villain in their eyes.
"The Last Man On Earth" is significant for providing a number of aesthetic references for the horror genre, namely the shambling corpses and barricaded protagonists. George Romero effectively expanded on this a few years after the fact in "Night of the Living Dead", with a much greater impact. The sight of the ghouls hammering at Morgan's house, which has a few reinforcements that seem alarmingly inadequate, are still unnerving.
If you can get past some of the dated hairstyles, attitudes, and the clumsy plot elements, "The Last Man On Earth" has a nostalgic creepiness that may work for you. Plus, Vincent Price is always worth a look!
Certain scenes in the film, such as when Morgan tries to drown out the cries of the vampires by playing records on his phonograph, are genuinely disturbing. The early portions of the film, where we see Morgan in his horrific daily routine of rising with the sun and clearing the city of vampires, are especially effective, among the best "end of the world" type films ever made. The most frightening sequence takes place during a flashback, when Morgan loses his wife to the plague and then insists on burying her instead of burning her body. Just as he has simultaneously denied and dreaded, she returns from her grave whispering "Let me in...let me in..." Other aspects of the film do not work as well, and have dated badly. After Morgan discovers that he may not be the last person alive after all, the film begins to unravel. It never quite makes the transition from Morgan's personal horror to the dread of the new "vampire society" emerging. The actress who plays Ruth (or rather the actress who vocalizes her, since the entire movie is dubbed and since the actors were mostly Italians, the English voices may have been performed by others) delivers her lines with a muddled voice that makes her hard to understand and seems a little silly. Likewise, the action sequence at the conclusion where the "new humans" chase Morgan through the streets is awkwardly realized and works in concept only.
The movie does make an inventive departure from the novel by having Morgan "cure" Ruth of her vampirism, therefore proving that he could have saved the rest of the survivors from their own affliction, yet they kill him in cold blood because he has become a villain in their eyes.
"The Last Man On Earth" is significant for providing a number of aesthetic references for the horror genre, namely the shambling corpses and barricaded protagonists. George Romero effectively expanded on this a few years after the fact in "Night of the Living Dead", with a much greater impact. The sight of the ghouls hammering at Morgan's house, which has a few reinforcements that seem alarmingly inadequate, are still unnerving.
If you can get past some of the dated hairstyles, attitudes, and the clumsy plot elements, "The Last Man On Earth" has a nostalgic creepiness that may work for you. Plus, Vincent Price is always worth a look!