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Summary: Morgan, Morgan, Come Out Morgan...
Review: Back in the 1970's, while growing up in suburban Detroit, the highlight of any weekend was 11:30 on Saturday night, when local horror movie host/nut job/cultural icon The Ghoul aired on (at various points in time) Channel 50 or Channel 20. The show was a combination of bad movies (usually punctuated with our hero's overdubbed comments, dialog, and belches), TV show parodies, and blowing up models or his nemesis Froggy with M-80's or cherry bombs. Vincent Price's "Last Man On Earth" was one of the films that received The Ghoul treatment but really was several cuts above most of the cinematic dreck featured on the show. Based on the novel "I Am Legend," the film ultimately went on to influence both "The Omega Man" and George Romero's "Night Of The Living Dead." No self-respecting horror fan should be unfamiliar with the plot, which centers around the dead coming back to life to battle the living, in this case Price. Our hero holes up in his boarded-up house during the day as the zombies bang on his windows and doors, groaning "Morgan, Morgan...Come Out Morgan..." while Price quietly contemplates the carnage he will wreak once the sun sets as he systematically and fruitlessly attempts to terminate his death-sucking friends. One of the least known of Price's movies, but certainly amongst his best.
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Summary: THE quintessential Post-Apocalyptic horror film!
Review: Based on Richard Matheson's novel I AM LEGEND; LAST MAN ON EARTH is a sci-fi/horror/morality play starring the inimitable Vincent Price.
Price plays Dr. Robert Morgan; who as you'd guess by the title becomes the last man on Earth after the remainder of the World's population is wiped out by a virus he helped create. Wait, did I say last man? I actually mean last NORMAL man, because Morgan is hiding in isolation with "vampires" outside pining for his blood, because Morgan's own blood contains a special antibody that makes him immune to the virus. To keep from going mad; Morgan lives the past through his home movies and lives with the guilt that among the victims claimed by the virus were his wife and daughter.
This low budget US/Italian co-production predates George Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD by four years, but doesn't get the full respect it deserves. In fact; I think LAST MAN ON EARTH is far superior, more intelligent and scarier than NOTLD. Bet you won't guess the twist in the tale.
This was later remade as THE OMEGA MAN with Charlton Heston (which I haven't seen yet) and several years back Arnie Schwarzenegger was to have starred in a remake which never saw the light of day. Despite being made four decades ago, LAST MAN ON EARTH can stand alongside other SF/horror classics like INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL as one of the best genre movies of its era.
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Summary: horror, noire, religious allegory and a great performance
Review: For $...- this film is an absolute steal for horror fans - and also for those who are fond of film symbolism.The Bad Obvious budget problems, some hooky dubbing voices, continuity errors such as having night and day appear in the same scene and some questionable acting. - But not by Vincent! Due to the flaws the film might elicit laughs by indiscriminate viewers. Just avoid watching the film with these types - we all know who they are. The Good The film has many noire elements: the despairing, unstable, confused loner, deserted streets, a voice over narration describing the inner world of the protagonist and a fem-fatale. The film takes place in a modern post apocatalypitc Las Angeles but there are abundant elusions to the dark ages of medieval Europe: spears as weapons, paranoia, fear of the supernatural, plague victims, wrong headed crusaders, and vehicles carrying the dead to be consumed by fiery pits. The story has all the plot points of a religious allegory and on top of all this it's a horror movie. There is an outstanding - one man show - performance by Price - Price plays his character as if he were a 120 year old man in a forty year old body- tired worn out frustrated, angry, depressed, moping, hunched shouldered and dug deeply into the worst nightmarish rut imaginable. His only activities are to go out by day and destroy former victims of the plague now turned into goulash vampires - By night he boards up his house and drinks himself into a stupor. The original story by "I am Legend" Richard Matheson was very good to begin with but the Last Man on Earth screenplay adds more symbolism, which gives the film additional depth. Much of the film is told in flash backs which reveal all the hero's errors in judgment. Last Man On Earth is a moody, dark, compelling nightmare. This DVD version is from very good film stock My only complaint is that it apears as if the DVD may have been dubbed form a very good VHS print Other then this the film stock is almost flawless for an old movie- but know the film always had an appropriate gritty, documentary, black and white, look and sound.
Maybe the DVD does not deserve 5 stars but- but because of the films depth in story, Prices performance, pathos, intelligence and symbolism along with being a very good horror film ...! I cannot give this DVD anything but 5 starts. Absolutely no one who loves Vincent Price or, horror films should pass this up!
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Summary: Being The Last Man On Earth Looks Tiring!
Review: Given the fact that Omega Man is one of my favorite cheesy movies, it may suprise you to learn that I saw The Last Man On Earth with Vincent Price for the first time today. I'm glad I watched it. I mean, it's not even an excellent B-movie, but it's an obvious influence for later films. The vampires attacking the 'last mans' house sure look like the zombies in The Night Of The Living Dead. It's truer to the original Matheson story I Am Legend than Omega Man (Matheson co-wrote the script, but had his name taken off the film because he didn't like the results). Vincent Price looks too tired right from the beginning of the film, but it is Spaghetti SF so I guess I shouldn't complain.
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Summary: An absolutely chilling horror movie that has no equal
Review: I first saw The Last Man on Earth while watching one of those Creature Double Feature Saturday shows when I was in third grade. It was a chilling story that brought horror home to the suburbs. Vincent Price has never been so ruthless, yet so human and capable of grave mistakes. This movie is best watched late at night with the lights off. I'm glad I finally found it on video, after years of searching.
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Summary: Haunts me to this day!
Review: I first saw this movie when I was 12, and the scene that stayed with me the most was of the swirling dead leaves in the empty backyard playground. I couldn't remember the name of the movie, and so I hunted for it for years (literally) until I just recently found it through the book it was made for, I Am Legend. I love this movie for its faithfulness to the book, but do agree that it had some bad acting (not by Vincent Price, however). I think that Vincent Price did a great job as Morgan, and hardly think anyone could duplicate his desperation and melancholy. I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys more of a psychological thriller. I am a huge vampire fan, but if what you want is blood and gore, this is not the movie for you. It's more of an emotional and thinking movie.
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Summary: Target for a buck
Review: I just picked this DVD up last night at Target. They have this special area near the entrance...Spot something....anyway found this DVD in there for only a buck. Bought and watched it. If you like the Dead movies you'll appreciate this one.
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Summary: Great movie!!
Review: I ordered this movie as a gift for my mother and I watched it with her and it was very good.
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Summary: An early take on zombiism
Review: I recently picked up this movie on a whim for $1. It's an early zombie film similar to the omega man where the people are sickened by a virus that wipes out most of the planet leaving only a few survivors - only it's not actually a zombie film at all, but a vampire film based on Richard Matheson's 'I am legend'. But anyway, I prefer to see it as a zombie film. More interesting is that vincent price's character seems to by the ONLY person who survives without getting sick - all the others are kept alive by some mysterious treatment.
anyway, that's all details. the important thing is that this movie starts better than it ends, but that's OK, it's still fun. i think that this is the only zombie movie i can think of that presents zombification as non-to those who are attacked. (i can't remember if this is the case in the omega man.)
they're also slow and weak and don't seem to have the typical hunger for human brains. interestingly they do foreshadow bub's memory of their past lives, and they even taunt price as they clamour at his door at night.
i used to think zombie movies began with romero and ended with evil dead, this pushes the timeline back a llittle further into the past.
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Summary: A Classic Sci-Fi movie
Review: I saw this movie as a 7 year old & could not get it out of my head, when I saw The Omega Man in the Theater with my older brother I told him about the movie being about the same thing. Every since the advent of VHS I have been trying to locate this movie I will certainly get it and tell others about it.
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