The Last Man on Earth stars Vincent Price as the last human left alive on Earth. It was the original movie that I Am Legend, starring Will Smith, was based. Although I regret watching less than I regret watching Will Smith’s movie (and I really regret watching that) it’s still a pretty awful movie.
It’s interesting, however, to watch a movie fail in 1964 as opposed to watching a movie fail now. The premise of this movie is that a disease wipes out the human race turning people into half zombies, half vampires. The science in the film reminds you of a parody of a monster movie from that era. Did people actually buy any of this? Even in 1964?
The effects are brutal, the acting marginal (except for Price) and some of the dialogue painful. But in 2007, Will Smith’s movie is actually worse in many ways. Smith’s movie has the one thing that Price’s movie needed: wicked special effects and a presentation. But in 2007, it’s all presentation. The crux of the story is about a man who thinks he’s destroying monsters, when the reality is he is the monster. For Price’s movie, the morality play gives the scenes some heft, even if it’s laborious to get there and ridiculous to watch the action scenes.
The Smith movie, on the other hand, is like eating a chocolate cake that’s all icing. It’s too much presentation. The morality play is sort of there despite the CGI and ass kicking and Will Smith’s abs.
If only Price’s movie had the effects and presentation or Smith’s movie had the soul, there might’ve been a good movie if you somehow crossbreeded the two.
Quite frankly, I was only able to sit through Price’s movie in a Mystery Science Theater 3000 kind of way. Price looks like a friend of mine, so it made some of his dialogue extra hilarious when I added stuff about my friend. It’s one of those movies that probably could’ve been good and it’s amazing that Hollywood’s managed to screw it up twice.
