How about another trip into some dread-soaked cinema from the sixties? Before I even get going, let’s make a few things understood, oh friendly Horror fan and reader. I have not read Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel, I Am Legend, nor have I seen any of the other adaptations of it. I only know this film, which was directed by Sidney Salkow and shot from the screenplay by Logan Swanson and William Leicester. Now, this is not from the lack of desire to do so, as I am sure Charlton Heston and Will Smith are both talented enough to pull off interesting performances, I simply haven’t bothered to seek them out. And, unfortunately, the book and I just haven’t crossed paths, yet.

As much as I’ve thought about it, I can’t quite put my mind in the place where viewers must have been when this debuted in early 1964. A lot of madness was starting to boil up in the world those days and oddly enough, this story screams to be acknowledged even more today. Living in the era of new viruses getting announced, seemingly, all the time and even legitimate Zombie Apocalypse Survival Guides being unleashed with absolute seriousness, almost makes one feel romantic for the simple notion of ‘dive under your desk to be turned to crisp’. It creates a hotter burn that way, after all.

When this film begins, we are shown various shots of a very quiet city, nothing moving, no people around. That is, until we see a human body on the ground, then another, then another. After a pan down the street we glide forward to a house, which we see boarded up and sitting in an unkempt yard. What a strange town: no lawn care or trash pick-up to speak of at all. Looking in the window, we see Robert Morgan, played by the infamous, Vincent Price. Incidentally, Price previously worked with Salkow in 1963’s, Twice-Told Tales. He gets out of bed and gives us some narration with that awesome voice and we learn that he’s been living in this life for three years. As the story moves forward, we see a nearly typical day for him – which is close to a typical day for most of us; get up, get out bed, no Beatles reference past here, pick up some dead bodies, get gas, throw the bodies in a massive burning pit, go to the grocery and mirror stores, drive wooden stakes into a few hearts, you know–regular errands. It turns out that earlier in his reality, an unknown virus popped up and became a global plague that turned people into Vampire-Zombies and as far as he knows, he is the only human left alive. He also happens to have been a scientist that was in denial of the early pandemic fears and later was working on a cure until it eventually became futile.

Once night falls, it brings some nifty Jazz music and a few Vampire-Zombies banging on the walls, windows and front door of Price’s home. These particular ghouls actually still have memories and voices and one of them is always calling for Morgan to come out of his house. They come for him every night and every night he drowns them out with music until the sun returns them to their hiding places. Price spends his days trying to hunt down each ghoul and execute them, marking his progress on a map of the city. He still carries a shimmer of hope that he may find a human that hasn’t been infected and this is what has kept him going. Not many actors can get away with being the solitary character for the majority of a film, but Price can always keep one interested.

My wife and I are both big fans of Vincent Price and though we haven’t seen nearly all of his films, we are well aware of his range of emotions and his absolute command of any reality he is set in. Having said that, I feel this may be his most tragic performance. Trying to imagine the life of Robert Morgan in realistic terms is a true riddle for the spirit. What would I do in his shoes? What would you do? I can’t say living off canned food sounds fun, nor fighting off Vampire-Zombies for three straight years with no end in sight. But I suppose you never know until you get there, yeah?

And now for some technical drool. The opening 45 seconds, with the different shots of the empty city, is perfectly grim and sets the tone for the entire journey. This, and all the other cool camera work, is thanks to the cinematography of Franco Delli Colli. (He got to work with Pasolini, so he’s extra-cool in my book.) The musical score is by collaborators Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter, whom worked on many scores together, including The Cosmic Man, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and Kronos, and Sawtell also scored another Vincent Price classic, The Fly. This music covers many colors of emotion, though mostly those of an isolated and oppressive nature. I hear an influence of the same loneliness one hears in certain Bernard Herrmann compositions. And since he was the man back in those days, how could one not be inspired? Notice I didn’t suggest a “rip off”? There is a difference. Even George Romero’s masterpiece, Night of the Living Dead, tips its hat a few times to The Last Man on Earth. One could argue that the insanity happening in Pennsylvania is the same reality of LMOE, taking place in a different location, perhaps even viewed as a prequel. It seems quite unlikely that Romero’s zombies weren’t, at least a little, inspired by Salkow’s, let alone the zombie-plague from Matheson’s novel. I’ve not heard it confirmed, or denied, so you can chew on your own conclusion.
The Last Man on Earth is a very well executed film and no collection of Classic Horror matters without its presence. It is quite a vision of solitude and death, with a genuine passion for life beaming through as the saving grace. Salkow absolutely created an amazing film that is every bit as strong now, as it was 50 years ago! Oh yeah, this film turned 50 this year! It’s time for some cake, folks.