The Last Man on Earth

part 6 of the Bad Horror Marathon



Data
Title: The Last Man on Earth
Year: 1964
Length: 86 minutes
Directors: Ubaldo Ragona & Sidney Salkow
Writers: William F. Leicester, Richard Matheson, Furio M. Monetti & Ubaldo Ragona, based on a book by Matheson
Starring: Vincent Price
Music: Paul Sawtell & Bert Shefter

My reaction
Synopsis: one man is the only apparent survivor of a zombie-vampire plague
How I saw it: on video, yesterday (have on DVD)
Concept: Great.
Story: Good.
Characters: Indifferent.
Dialog: Good.
Pacing: Bad.
Cinematography: Indifferent.
Special effects/design: Indifferent.
Acting: Bad.
Music: Indifferent.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good). It starts off very interesting; same as with the Will Smith version (I Am Legend), I'd give the first act an 8 or 9 out of 10, but the rest of the movie's not so great. The story comes to a grinding halt in the middle with a 25-minute flashback. The ending is by far the best of the three adaptations (not that that's saying much - Will Smith's ending is horrendous, and Charlton Heston's whole movie is crap); it's a European production, and they're willing to go a lot darker than Hollywood. The casting is a little weird to say the least - Vincent Price as an action hero, wearing his standard suit/smoking jacket wardrobe.
Objective Rating: 2.3/4 (Okay).