Violence/Gore: A few largely off-screen stakings, some wrestling around, and one last impalement, all virtually bloodless.

Sex/Nudity: Nope, not a bit of it.

Best Line: “There was a time when I shopped for a car. Now I’m looking for a hearse.”

Score:

Vincent Price is one of those reliable classic horror actors who can carry you through just about any schlock imaginable - see countless Corman Poe films from AIP, for example, almost all of which are a sheer delight if not the apex of modern cinema - and his presence does help save this occasionally lifeless (heh heh) adaptation of Richard Matheson’s apocalyptic novel, I Am Legend. As all true horror fans know, the book was also adapted with Charlton Heston leading the battle in THE OMEGA MAN, but while this earlier version is only slightly more faithful to the original material, it’s a more lackluster production that often feels like a student film that managed to convince Price to show up for a few days shooting.

Shot in Rome with an Italian cast but for Price, virtually all of the movie is dubbed in post-production, adding to the movie’s rough-hewn ultra-low budget feel. As to plot: Price is Robert Morgan, apparently the last healthy man left alive on Earth after a mysterious plague carried by the wind sweeps around the globe, blinding and killing everyone. Ah, but that’s only the first step - most of the victims rise again as zombie-like vampiric creatures that shuffle about and moan for Morgan’s blood. The majority of the film follows Morgan as he sleepwalks through an empty existence, hunting the vampires by day, executing them with home-made wooden stakes, and then returning to fortify his house at night with garlic and mirrors. A lengthy flashback sequence shows the pre-apocalyptic events that led to this nightmarish vision, with Morgan - a scientist seeking a cure for the plague - watching helplessly as his daughter and wife succumb to the disease. Watching his little girl grope blindly in her bed and cry out for her mother may make you cringe, but the movie’s most powerful moment is undoubtedly the after-death visit paid on Morgan by his wife. Brr.

In the last act, Morgan meets another apparent survivor, a woman named Ruth who conceals a secret that may offer salvation for the human race or death for Morgan…or perhaps both. The story concludes somewhat limply in a church. Fans of Heston’s OMEGA MAN will probably guess where things are heading, although they’ll be spared the heavy-handed religious symbology utilized by that oh-so-’70s romp. LAST MAN ON EARTH does rather handily capture a sense of desolation, affording us a glimpse at a bleak future in which the human race must evolve or die. You might have to make it past a few plodding, B-movie level sequences to get there, but there are rewards.

Of course, the movie’s real claim to fame may be its undeniable influence on the landmark zombie film, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, which would come along only four years later. As for Matheson’s novel, the book has never had its true day in the cinematic sun, and plans to mount a third adaptation have so far yielded nothing but periodic industry buzz.

For Vincent Price fans, this is a must-see; for zombie movie enthusiasts, it might be worth taking a peek to see where Romero might have come up with the initial look and modus operandi of his shambling undead; for everyone else, it’ll make for a nice feature in a late-night double bill with NIGHT or something else suitably black and white and bleak.

DVD Extras: Since we first wrote this review, a really nice edition of this film was released by Madacy (pictured above) that not only sports a really crisp, clean print but evidently restores the correct widescreen aspect ratio for the film. Nice job.

ATB