The Last Man on Earth Movie Review

Richard Matheson's compelling novel I Am Legend has been the uncredited inspiration for many zombie/plague/end-of-the-world films and sort-of actually made into two movies: this one, and the 1971 The Omega Man. Vincent Price plays The Last Man on Earth, lone survivor of a plague which first kills, and then zombifies its victims. On one of his daytime zombie hunts, Price comes across a group who, through injections, are not as zombied-out as the rest of the neighbors, but still have a bit of the ol’ pasty face and resent his total aliveness. Where as Omega Man replaced the paranoia of the novel with Chuck Heston's machismo, this one fills in with poorly done repetitive violence and a hero who is pretty much too tired to go on. Matheson himself was so dissatisfied with the project that he used the fictitious name Logan Swanson for his co-scripting credit. AKA: L'Ultimo Uomo Della Terra.

1964 86m/B IT Vincent Price, Franca Bettoya, Giacomo “Jack” Rossi-Stuart, Emma Danieli; D: Ubaldo Ragona, Sidney Salkow; W: Richard Matheson. VHS SNC, MRV