"The Last Man on Earth" Reviews/Discussion - 2012 Horror Challenge: Day 22
09-26-12, 02:46 PM
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"The Last Man on Earth" Reviews/Discussion - 2012 Horror Challenge: Day 22
The Last Man on Earth (1964)  Selected by shellebelle |
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These "October Horror Movie Challenge" threads are for the discussion of the films in the 31 FILM SUBSET list.
MAIN THREAD | LIST THREAD
The plan is for everyone to watch this film on the October day in the thread title, and to start discussing it the morning of the following day.
You may start discussion early if you want, but the preferred plan is for this to be as much of a group exercise as possible, with all of us viewing it "together" and discussing after.
Of course, you are totally encouraged to participate in these threads even if you haven't watched the movie on the designated day.
Even if you haven't watched it in years, or are not participating in the Horror Challenge, please feel free to chime in.
Spoiler tags are unnecessary in here, so if you have yet to see the film BEWARE OF SPOILERS.
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10-22-12, 11:39 AM
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Re: "The Last Man on Earth" Reviews/Discussion - 2012 Horror Challenge: Day 22
I'm not sure if this was the first version of this film but I liked all of them. The omega man, this, and I am legend. hmmm I thought there was another one but maybe not. Mr price can do no wrong. He is like the James Stwart of horror films. Loved his version of the raven also but vader did it better.
10-22-12, 11:50 PM
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Re: "The Last Man on Earth" Reviews/Discussion - 2012 Horror Challenge: Day 22
The Last Man on Earth is a great movie that suffers from gratuitous flashbacks but picks up again for a sizzling ending. I wonder how much of LMoE's (1964) slow moving vampires versus man trapped in boarded house influenced Night of the Living Dead (1968). The ending is great, the threads of romantic hope crashed by betrayal then the irony of the "survivors" killing their only hope of salvation. The themes of isolation/grief versus companionship are rich and I love the loneliness of the first 1/3. Although Vincent Price is a great actor it seems strange to see him play the innocent hero in this one because I think of him more as an archetypal villain. Although it is pretty menacing to perform a blood transfusion on a sleeping girl without her consent (take a stand against blood transfusion rape). It's hard to believe this is the same movie they butchered to make the CGI infested I Am Legend rip-off. Great pick, shellebelle!
Edit: Did a Wikipedia search which indicated the below...
Edit: Did a Wikipedia search which indicated the below...
Matheson remarked, "I was disappointed in The Last Man on Earth, even though they more or less followed my story. I think Vincent Price, whom I love in every one of his pictures that I wrote, was miscast. I also felt the direction was kind of poor. I just didn’t care for it."
George A. Romero has acknowledged the source material of The Last Man on Earth as an influence on his film Night of the Living Dead, remarking that he "basically had ripped [it] off from a Richard Matheson novel called I Am Legend."[9] Numerous critics have suggested The Last Man on Earth film itself was also a source of inspiration for Night of the Living Dead.
Last edited by Undeadcow; 10-23-12 at 01:17 AM.
10-23-12, 01:09 AM
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Re: "The Last Man on Earth" Reviews/Discussion - 2012 Horror Challenge: Day 22
Quite simply my favorite adaptation of Matheson's I am Legend. Vincent Price (who could ham it up with the best of them) here gives a great and understated performance filled with nuance and pathos as the titular Last Man.
The low budget actually helps the movie forcing the story to concentrate on Price's character instead of the spread of the vampire plague. I agree that the flashbacks slow the movie down but do contribute to the overall story.
Observation: Could this movie have been the precursor (even before Night of the Living Dead) of the "zombie apocalypse" genre that has grown popular in recent years?
The low budget actually helps the movie forcing the story to concentrate on Price's character instead of the spread of the vampire plague. I agree that the flashbacks slow the movie down but do contribute to the overall story.
Observation: Could this movie have been the precursor (even before Night of the Living Dead) of the "zombie apocalypse" genre that has grown popular in recent years?
10-23-12, 02:49 AM
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Re: "The Last Man on Earth" Reviews/Discussion - 2012 Horror Challenge: Day 22
Even though I liked this movie it was my least favorite of the three. The pacing was very bad in this movie and could had a good portion cut. The was inconsistent on how to take out the vampires. You have Robert taking vamps out by stake and then latter you see vamps dying by gunshot. Then there is the point when Robert breaks into the armory and passes the assault rifles up for smoke grenades. Then the last thing I had a problem with is the ending is explain to the viewer instead of shown.
10-29-12, 02:13 AM
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Re: "The Last Man on Earth" Reviews/Discussion - 2012 Horror Challenge: Day 22
Quite simply my favorite adaptation of Matheson's I am Legend. Vincent Price (who could ham it up with the best of them) here gives a great and understated performance filled with nuance and pathos as the titular Last Man.
The low budget actually helps the movie forcing the story to concentrate on Price's character instead of the spread of the vampire plague. I agree that the flashbacks slow the movie down but do contribute to the overall story.
The low budget actually helps the movie forcing the story to concentrate on Price's character instead of the spread of the vampire plague. I agree that the flashbacks slow the movie down but do contribute to the overall story.
What bothered me the most, though, was the part where he fell asleep and almost died. Which raises the obvious question: how on earth has he survived alone for Three Years..?!
