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Last Man on Earth (1964)

"Mankind won't be destroyed. The fact that you and I are working here today is evidence of that."
Starring: Vincent Price, Emma Daniel, Franca Bettoia
Rating: 8.5/10
Directed By: Sidney Salkow
Runtime: 86 minutes

Last Man on Earth is the first film adaptation of Richard Matheson's classic novel I Am Legend, which Hollywood deems necessary to treat us to another remake of, following 1971's Omega Man and countless homages ranging from the Simpsons to 28 Days Later (yeah, I know but c'mon, all it's missing is Chuck dying in the fountain). Since most remakes fall far short of the original, and if you've seen any trailer you cannot suppose any less of this vehicle, I felt it was time to revisit the the first time mankind was whittled down to the last man rather than wait until December 14th to be shocked and amazed.

The story centers around Vincent Price, the Last Man on Earth. A mysterious plague has swept the earth, turning everyone into a horde of bloodthirsty vampires (for lack of a better term. Plague victims maybe). Mr. Price is immune due to being bitten previously in Panama by a bat that had picked up the vampire plague and diluted it, making him the only survivor of this devastating tragedy. Price was forced to watch as his family and the world deteriorated. His own daughter is taken and burned and Price illegally buries his own wife to spare her corpse the immolation when she too succumbs to the plague. In a twisted bit of logic, this is what ultimately sells an initially disbelieving Price on the vampire concept, seeing as it's hard to deny the existence of the undead when your dead wife comes back to life and wants to kill you. Price must search for other survivors and protect his life while everyone he knows attempts to kill him.

Price fills his day by running supply errands and killing every helpless vampire he comes across. He is very pro-active, systematically attempting to clean out an entire city in an effort to broaden his margin of safety. He also searches for survivors in an attempt to stop from going mad. Man is a social animal, so the emptiness of the city, the being alone 24/7, especially with the undead screaming to get in at dusk, becomes the central fear in Price's existence. The undead themselves are a secondary threat, and a more manageable one, to the overwhelming knowledge that he may be it. No matter how long he lives, how hard he searches, whatever he does, he will always be alone. Salkow is a clever enough director to add scenes of Price at dusk playing records to drown out the noise of the ravening hoards outside with a look of utter dread and hopelessness on his face as if even the best music humanity has ever had to offer cannot sooth the knowledge that it's over (a habit Heston also has in The Omega Man). The only new creations are Price's, and he will never be able to share anything with anyone because they are simply not there.

Yet Price holds out hope, and this hope of other survivors, though a prime motivator for Price's actions, proves to drive in the despair of his situation. Each new failure breeds a fatality in Price which manifests itself in his choices. The scene that best illustrates this is when Price spends a little too long at his wife's grave (real grave this time) and night begins to fall. He must run a vampire gauntlet in a desperate attempt to reach his safe house. Salkow and Price create the scene in a way that communicates to the viewer the idea that Price lingered too long not by accident but chose to push the envelope because he wanted to die; to put an end to the burden, the responsibility of being the Last Man, but at the last second is forced to flee and preserve his existence by the indomitable will to survive. Hope drives him onward and he is rewarded by more death and hopelessness. When he finds a dog it renews his drive, but Salkow has that pup snuffed out like a candle in probably the most heartbreaking scene in the whole film. After so many instances like these when he finally does encounter a real person, he initially shoves her away, rejecting the thing he sought most because what's the point? To have that taken away as well? Would it be better to never find anyone and just hope you would, rather than find someone and watch them die? A large bunch of questions for a small-budget sci-fi opus.

Vincent Price, of course, carries the entire movie. He has the acting chops to to really give the impression of a man at the brink of despair. Much like Blade Runner the voice-over narration, though tremendously effective, could be removed from the film and the viewer would have a very good idea of what was occurring at any moment. Price uses very subtle movements and gestures to flesh his character out and provide an understanding of his mental state, which really draws you in and forces an empathy with his character. The rest of the cast is slightly wooden and the little girl seems at times overdubbed, which would make sense because she's terrible. Salkow and cast create an atmosphere of unsettling dread and hopelessness which pervades the whole film and brings a terror more cerebral than visceral without sacrificing any action or pacing.

Hollywood may do a passable job with I Am Legend and charge you $10 to go see it (or $5 to rent it) but the Great Satan Wal-Mart has provided in their $1 DVD section a copy of Last Man on Earth coupled with the 1961 Lon Chaney Jr. vehicle The Devil's Messenger(4.5/10) with Chaney as Satan (!). Now, I hate it there too just like everyone else, but like everyone else sometimes you get stuck being there and now you have something to look for if this happens. The movie is advertised as Full Frame but is indeed Widescreen in about the quality of a decent VHS dub but with a few audio dropouts near the beginning, but eminently watchable and totally worth one dollar no matter where you find it. Come December 14th, 2007 either $10 will be dropped at the box office or $1 will be spent to watch a story of the Last Man on Earth, with varying differences in quality and entertainment. I'll be very curious to see what your choice is. You've seen mine.

As Always: Tron@cybermonkeydeathsquad.com