Film: The Last Man on Earth

When Will Smith hit theatres last year in I Am Legend, everyone finally knew the name of the Richard Matheson's brilliant novel. Of course, this wasn't the first time the book had been adapted to the silver screen. That happened way back in 1964 with a budget horror film called The Last Man on Earth.

As a fan of the original novel, it's hard to watch this film without judging it in relation to both the novel and the two later adaptations of said novel (The Omega Man [1971] and I Am Legend [2007]). So this review will end up touching not only on the film itself, but on what it has spawned.

But let's start out small, and focus on the film in isolation.

Time has not been kind to The Last Man on Earth. The film relies heavily on voice-over, and is chock full of less than stellar acting. This is probably at least partially because of the low budget, and because over time acting styles have changed and evolved; gradually moving further and further from their theatrical roots. Certain scenes are still accomplished well, given the budget, but overall the lack of cash and the age of the film seep out of the screen. So as a stand-alone product it is aged, and really not that good. Not really worth watching 40 odd years later.

However, as any connoisseur of the zombie genre could tell you, this film, at times, bears a striking resemblance to George A. Romero's classic, Night of the Living Dead. The influence is clear from the first time you see the vampire creatures in The Last Man on Earth, who stumble around with stiff-limbs and try desperately to break into the titular character's barricaded home. What's sad though, is that while both Night of the Living Dead and the novel I am Legend are phenomenal, The Last Man on Earth fails to live up to either its source material, or its spiritual successor.

Additionally, the film makes certain changes from the original novel. A prime example is changing the titular character from an everyman with little to no knowledge of the cause of or possible cure for vampirism, into a scientist who works on curing the infection. This is a change which has been carried over into later adaptations of the novel, making me wonder whether they're true adaptations of the novel, or just adaptations of this film.

A big change from the original novel was the ending, and although this is the closest yet to the original ending it is, in my opinion, still not nearly as effective. The later adaptations have endings which deviate further and further from the original, growing less effective with each step. And that is so very unfortunate. I still get chills thinking about the ending in the novel. And not once has a film adaptation used that ending, or elicited the same reaction from me.

So what are my feelings on the film? In a vacuum, I'd say it's not worth watching. In relation to the other film adaptations of I am Legend, I dislike the changes it made to the original work. Yet I am grateful for the influence The Last Man on Earth had on Night of the Living Dead; a film which is often credited with the creation of the zombie genre.

The final verdict? 1/3 - Don't watch it. But I'll give it a conditional 2/3 for people interested in the zombie genre, or fans of the original novel. For you, this film won't be good, but it will be interesting.