One of three filmed versions of Richard Matheson's classic tale I Am Legend (the others being THE OMEGA MAN, starring Charlton Heston, and I AM LEGEND, with Will Smith), THE LAST MAN ON EARTH has strengths and weaknesses in equal measure. On the plus side, the film achieves a real sense of true horror. This is not the jump-in-your-seat kind of horror though, but a heartfelt feeling of isolation and despair felt at the situation Vincent Price's character is in. Unfortunately, the subject matter of the film is hardly one to make the viewer happy, so it leaves a general depressing tone to the proceedings, but then again that's the point, isn't it? Vincent Price is on top form as the stern and resolute survivor who is plagued (no pun intended) by responsibility and memory of what has happened, and his dulcet tones are perfect for the narration of the story. Filmed in Rome, the locations are all authentic too, and they add hugely to the feel of the film and the grand isolation of it all. There are some action scenes interspersed through the film, generally fights with vampires, but the camera tends to cut away at the deaths instead of concentrating on them. There is also a terrific finale where Price is being chased by the half-vampire squad intent on gunning him down, and a stomach-thump downbeat ending.
The images of the vampires knocking at the windows and trying to break into the house is a very bleak, hostile one, and it has recurred since in the cinema, most notably in Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, where hordes of white-faced (or green-faced, if you watch the colourised version) zombies try to force their way into a deserted farmhouse to eat the survivors trapped inside. On the down side, the simple nature of the film means that it tends to get bogged down in character study in what is essentially a one-idea movie. Also, some scenes veer on boredom, especially the drawn out scene where Price remembers the events leading up to his situation, which seems to have simply been added in to fill out space. These flaws are not important however and they don't affect the film too much overall, leaving it a thought-provoking, if depressing, under-rated classic. Well worth getting.
The images of the vampires knocking at the windows and trying to break into the house is a very bleak, hostile one, and it has recurred since in the cinema, most notably in Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, where hordes of white-faced (or green-faced, if you watch the colourised version) zombies try to force their way into a deserted farmhouse to eat the survivors trapped inside. On the down side, the simple nature of the film means that it tends to get bogged down in character study in what is essentially a one-idea movie. Also, some scenes veer on boredom, especially the drawn out scene where Price remembers the events leading up to his situation, which seems to have simply been added in to fill out space. These flaws are not important however and they don't affect the film too much overall, leaving it a thought-provoking, if depressing, under-rated classic. Well worth getting.