The Last Man on Earth
IN COLOUR

This classic, and I would venture to guess, largely unknown Vincent Price film, has just arrived on Amazon Prime...and it's in COLOUR. The film is the first of 3 film adaptations of the book, I Am Legend byRichard Matheson. The most recent was Will Smith's film of the book's name and was an enjoyable affair. Charlton Heston added gravitas to the 1974 adaptation, The Omega Man, and was more of an action flick than the sombre brooding tale than this Vincent Price offering.
I first watched The Last Man on Earth on YouTube. It was grainy, in a poor resolution but watchable and finding it on Prime in colour was a treat. Out of the 3 adaptations, I think I prefer The Last Man on Earth. If you can look beyond the shoddy special fx and, arguably, plodding pace, there is a haunting tale of a lonely man doing what he thinks is right with some grim scenes and cinematography (The scene of him dumping bodies into the pit was especially grisly. But it's the story that shines through in Price's version, more so than Heston's and Smith's. All 3 films are about the same thing but it's the twist in the tail that makes The Last Man on Earth the head of the pack. At only 85 minutes, it does not become baggy, over complicated or cluttered.


For some reason I thought I had already seen this Hammer Horror classic and maybe I had when I was younger but I could not recall the opening scenes suggesting I had not. I recognised imagery from the film thanks to trailers, clips and segments in Iron Maiden videos; perhaps this was the cause of my mistake. My expectations were high when hitting play as some, especially in the British Horror Group I am a member of, herald it as peak Hammer with the great Christopher Lee often siting The Devil Rides Out as his favourite Hammer film. It had a lot to live up to, however, invariably such films fail to deliver due to unmeetable expectations, but Christopher Lee, Devil worship, Charles Gray, directed by the great Terence Fisher…what could go wrong?
First of all, it was lovely to see Christopher Lee starring as the protagonist, not the action type, that was the job of Leon Greene, but as the wise council and voice of reason, no wonder it was Lee’s favourite Hammer film, he got the chance to play a good guy for once.
The film doesn’t hang about, as soon as Leone Green lands his plane and is met by Christopher Lee. He asks about someone called Simon and within a few lines of dialogue we’re at Simon’s new house because they’re worried about him and hadn’t seen him for at least three months. My first thought was he’d met a girl or taken a new job but it turns out he’s having a dinner party and hob nobbing with a group of new friends from an astronomical society. Of course, Christopher Lee suspects they’re all devil worshippers ready to sacrifice chickens. For me, it was a stretch for him to conclude this within the first nine minutes of the film and I wish more time was given for his suspicions to embed. A general decline in Simon’s behaviour perhaps or more clues gathered to Simon’s new ‘hobby’, it all happened a little too quickly, especially as Simon’s behaviour is quite pleasant and not sinister at all. Simon’s bought a new house, I’ve not seen him in three months that means he’s dealing in black magic. Simon insists Greene and Lee leave (this would make more than thirteen at the party and thus unable to perform the ritual) but Lee punches Simon’s lights out instead before kidnapping him and slugging the butler at the same time, it was all a little clunky for me.







