The Last Man on Earth: The Classic Film 40 Years Later

The Last Man on Earth was made in 1960. This review may be a little late but the film is well worth it. The film itself was based on a book called I Am Legend. Vincent price plays the character of Morgan, who in the book was named Neville, but thanks to the "Red Scare" I believe they chose a more "American" name for the character. You can almost experience his loneliness, as he fights to survive. Eerie, lonely, even suspenseful, the quiet and deserted streets of nineteen sixties New York City really give this classic a good run that even people of today can sympathize with, and perhaps even future generations as well.

The whole movie was well shot for it's time, it could keep a person interested even with the sound turned off. I would not suggest doing this the first time for it is hard to understand the first time around even with the sound. It takes two or more times to fully enjoy the film. For instance, after he has disposed of the three bodies strewn in front of his house you begin to ask, why is he the last man on earth if every day he has to take these corpses to a burning pit? I will tell you right now to save you time, they are not human anymore. The book described it much better then the movie, so I suggest you read I Am Legend before watching the film. One part I just could not stand about the movie was the horrible fight scene. The "zombies" are so weak, that the time Morgan lost track of time and stays out to late, all he has to do is shove them out of the way and slap them to the almost comical "Thwack" of old movie sound effects. The entire scene was extremely weak. The "zombies" also moved incredibly slow and stumbled about like they were completely unbalanced.

However I did like the makeup and costume work. The black and white film actually added to the mystique of it as well. The only other good part about the Zombie scene was that they figured out to pick up boards and smack at the boarded up window. And while that was happening one of them was shouting in one of the most spine tingling voices that I have heard come from a real human. "Come out Morgan." The one would shout it in a way that was much scarier then a watcher would suspect.

Thinking is an essential part of watching this film. Several instances erupt during the movie that it is almost guaranteed to confuse the unwary watcher. Something that I found to be a problem, though I doubt that it is in all copies of the movie, is the quality of the sound. I watched it out of a pack of 20 movies called Vampires and More 2007 edition therefore it is quite possible that the entire thing was squeezed to fit onto one of the four DVDs. The automobile chosen for Morgan, the main character, to drive was an interesting decision. It was a sporty looking 50's station wagon. It even had the wings on it that, for some unknown reason to me, the auto manufacturers stopped putting on cars. Normally you would think a truck would be better to haul the corpses of the "Zombies" who did not last the night to the smoldering pit he throws them in. Luckily I read the book and learned that he drove a station wagon because he knew how to fix and maintain that specific car since before the world was thrown to the clutches of evil. To wrap this film up, I will just add that this motion picture has several twists and turns in the plot, and it is worth the watching. So remember that if you run into it in the five dollar bin at Wal-Mart.