I am Legend is one of my favourite SciFi Novels. It’s moody, atmospheric and frightening. The Omega Man was an early seventies adaptation of this novel, but it was ‘adapted’ so much that many fans of the book slated it. But I liked it – very much. Fair enough, it didn’t have half the depth of the book but it did a good job of conveying the sense of isolation our main character had to contend with. The vampires were gone and mutants arrived in their stead. With references to Biological Warfare, this adaptation was an attempt to give it a more topical feel, an attempt to make the audience a bit more empathic towards the story. It didn’t really work - but a good movie nonetheless.
Finally, I’ve picked up a copy of The Last Man On Earth, which is the first attempt at adapting Mathieson’s novel. It was made in 1964 and stars Vincent Price as Dr. Robert Morgan (I can’t for the life of me see why they changed the name of this character from Neville to Morgan but a scriptwriter’s mind can be a dark and dangerous place).
A plague borne by the wind spreads across the planet and the casualties run from hundreds, then thousands and into millions. Many of the plague victims come back to life as shuffling, zombie vampires. Roaming at night, they seek out victims, intent on feeding on their blood. In the middle of all this Dr Robert Morgan is immune. He stalks the streets by day, staking any vampires he comes across and transporting them to a giant burning pit for disposal. Ben, his old friend has become a vampire and leads a cadre of them to Morgan’s ramshackle house. Every night they arrive to call out his name and taunt him. Every night, Morgan must ensure his defences are in place and sits out the constant calling of his name and break-in attempts by the shuffling zombies eager for his blood.
It is during on of his daylight forays into the city that he comes across a woman. She is part of a band of survivors who, although infected, keep the disease in check by use of an antidote. It turns out that many of Morgan’s victims were not vampires at all but members of this group. And now they are coming for him, intending once and for all to put a stop to this man they see as a maniac rampaging through the city and killing their loved ones.
Time is running out for Morgan.
Filmed in Black and White, this movie has a stark brutality about it – from the body-strewn streets to the flaming funeral pit. Vincent Price puts on what I consider to be one of his finest performances as Morgan. He convincingly portrays a man driven half-mad by isolation and fear. Morgan is a man also driven to extreme brutality by his situation and, again, Price delivers – particularly in one seen where he begins laughing and ends up crying.
This is also a film that asks a question of the viewer – what is normal?
At the film’s end, Morgan cries to the mothers and children of the new society that they are all freaks and that he is the last, the only man left on Earth. The irony being that it is, in fact Morgan that is the freak, the outcast that society cannot contain and therefore must destroy.
I still like The Omega Man but I have to admit that this film does Mathieson’s novel much more justice. Highly recommended thought provoking stuff. 8 out of 10.
Finally, I’ve picked up a copy of The Last Man On Earth, which is the first attempt at adapting Mathieson’s novel. It was made in 1964 and stars Vincent Price as Dr. Robert Morgan (I can’t for the life of me see why they changed the name of this character from Neville to Morgan but a scriptwriter’s mind can be a dark and dangerous place).
A plague borne by the wind spreads across the planet and the casualties run from hundreds, then thousands and into millions. Many of the plague victims come back to life as shuffling, zombie vampires. Roaming at night, they seek out victims, intent on feeding on their blood. In the middle of all this Dr Robert Morgan is immune. He stalks the streets by day, staking any vampires he comes across and transporting them to a giant burning pit for disposal. Ben, his old friend has become a vampire and leads a cadre of them to Morgan’s ramshackle house. Every night they arrive to call out his name and taunt him. Every night, Morgan must ensure his defences are in place and sits out the constant calling of his name and break-in attempts by the shuffling zombies eager for his blood.
It is during on of his daylight forays into the city that he comes across a woman. She is part of a band of survivors who, although infected, keep the disease in check by use of an antidote. It turns out that many of Morgan’s victims were not vampires at all but members of this group. And now they are coming for him, intending once and for all to put a stop to this man they see as a maniac rampaging through the city and killing their loved ones.
Time is running out for Morgan.
Filmed in Black and White, this movie has a stark brutality about it – from the body-strewn streets to the flaming funeral pit. Vincent Price puts on what I consider to be one of his finest performances as Morgan. He convincingly portrays a man driven half-mad by isolation and fear. Morgan is a man also driven to extreme brutality by his situation and, again, Price delivers – particularly in one seen where he begins laughing and ends up crying.
This is also a film that asks a question of the viewer – what is normal?
At the film’s end, Morgan cries to the mothers and children of the new society that they are all freaks and that he is the last, the only man left on Earth. The irony being that it is, in fact Morgan that is the freak, the outcast that society cannot contain and therefore must destroy.
I still like The Omega Man but I have to admit that this film does Mathieson’s novel much more justice. Highly recommended thought provoking stuff. 8 out of 10.
God, I'm old.
