The last man on earth

Year of release : 1964

 

Run time : 1h27min

 

Genre : Sci Fi / Horror

 

Cast : Vincent Price

 

 

The movie is based on the 1954 post apocalyptic horror novel 'I am legend' written by Richard Matheson. Book which was influential in the development of the zombie and vampire literature, making the concept of a worldwide apocalypse due to disease,popular.

 

It's 1968,and Dr. Robert Morgan has been living alone for almost 3 years. He seems to be the only survivor of a plague which killed the whole world,and turned people into a cross between zombies and vampires,who can't stand mirrors, are repelled by garlic, fear sunlight,and only come out at night.

These creatures still have a bit of their mind,as at night,they gather at Morgan's house,trying to break in,to kill him.

 

Morgan's days are always the same: he gets up, cleans the undead lying around the house,then goes looking for supplies at markets (although, everything should be expired,being 3 years old. There's a scene in which he gets garlic -from a freezer?! which is still good! My parents own a farm,I know garlic doesn't last that long,especially in a freezer!),then goes looking for the undead,to kill them. He then burns the impaled corpses.

 

The first half an hour is just him, alone. After,we see his life before, with his wife and daughter, the rumours of a disease carried by the wind,then the disease taking effect, his family getting sick, being tired on daylight,and finally dying.

 

One day,in the desolated present, he sees a woman walking on the street and helps her. She seems odd,and we soon discover she is infected and sent by the infected who found a sort of cure,which doesn't last long, as they have to take it daily,to keep him busy,while they come to kill him.

 

The woman tells him they fear him,and to them he is a monster, because he kills them, and because it's not natural to walk on daylight!

 

The movie bored me. It was all over the place,and didn't make sense. He was the only one left alive,and uninfected because he was bit by a bat?! No one else was bit by a bat,in the whole world,just him ?!

 

He lived 3 years without learning how to grow his own food! I don't understand how could someone survive on expired food!

His existence seemed useless,as it was just survival mode,and to me it's just not worth it!

 

SPOILER The ending was bittersweet,as the undead killed the one who could have cured them! His blood was the answer to their disease. He wanted to make a cure for them,but they killed him because they feared him.

 

I didn't like the acting .

This is one of those movies in which you can tell the k!lling and the impaling is fake,and they are using certain camera angles to make it look real.

 

I didn't like the soundtrack,but it wasn't as annoying as the soundtracks of the movies made in that era.

 

I liked the interiors and the furniture.

 

You can watch the full movie for free here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqX-jxK03UM&t=108s&ab_channel=CultCinemaClassics

 

Rating : Could have been a contender !