Last Man On Earth (1964)
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Dr. Robert Morgan is the only survivor of a worldwide plague due to a immunity he acquired to the bacterium while working in Central America years ago. He is all alone now to try and clean up the world while staving off murderous blood-suckers looking for his blood.
Overall: This is a story from Richard Matheson’s novel “I am Legend” which was also later remade as “The Omega Man.” Although more faithful to the book than subsequent versions, Matheson apparently wasn’t a fan of this film. However I thought it was quite well done and one of Vincent Price’s better performances. It does seem to confuse zombies & vampires but it is a new way to cast the vampire monster in a different light. Unfortunately it does take awhile to develop the story and bring in other survivors and unfortunately for me, it was a little too long. I do think if you watch this, you’ll see a bunch of similarities between this film and Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” and note that this film was made 4 years before Romero’s. And both are shot in black & white although color was available. It is a dark film that tries less to be about vampire hunters and more about the character’s isolation and reality of being alone. I think the film definitely helped spawn “Night of the Comet” and “28 Days Later.” What was nice about this film was the fact it tried to do more along the lines of “what would u do if this was you” putting the viewer in the same situation. Because it distances itself from the usual “Dracula” plot lines, the film comes off as treating the viewer in an intelligent manner. Comparison: Night of the Living Dead meets Near Dark |
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