I am quite picky when it comes to adaptations of I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. In my opinion none of them have captured the essence of the novel, even the one which Matheson wrote the screenplay for. That adaptation is 1964's Last Man on Earth from Robert Lippert and distributed in America by American International Pictures. It was a co-production with an Italian film outfit where it was shot. According to Matheson the screenplay was developed for Hammer Films but they had to back out of the project when the censors got frosty after the bloody Curse of Frankenstein and Horror of Dracula. He had his credit changed to "Logan Swanson" when he felt the project was drifiting away from his preferences. What we get is a pretty close version of the plot of a man stranded alone in his house battling zombie-like vampires which congregate at this door every night. We follow his struggle to remain and sane and we see him try to make contact with other living things which do appear in time. It has the proper dour ending which the novel intended. The problem is Vincent Price, an outstanding actor but terribly miscast in the role of Neville (changed to "Morgan" in the movie). Price is just too sophisticated for the role which demands an earthier type. Further the protagonist of I Am Legend is not a scientist but must become one during the story. This adaptation like all the rest make him a researcher to begin with which dillutes much of his ignorant struggles with the changed world that makes up much of the novel.
In 1971 we get that earthier hero in Charlton Heston in The Omega Man. The problem this time is the writers apparently thought that vampires were passe and decided to make Neville's opponents (he keeps his name at least) would be more interesting as albino luddites in sparkly black robes who become deranged as the disease takes them over. This one though is filled with all sorts of hope and promise at the end as we get a flotilla of small kids who we are pretty certain are not going to be killed by the enemy. Not in a major movie in 1971. Instead of Matheson's theme though, we get a Jesus Christ allegory which is interesting as far as it goes but again is not I Am Legend. The notion that Neville can redeem the world was the furthest thing from Matheson's mind when he wrote the novel.
They remade The Omega Man in 2007 and stuck wannabe action hero Will Smith in the role of Neville. Despite the first use of the original title I Am Legend this movie strays from the novel because its source was not the novel really. The vampires are part of the fast-moving zombie hordes which have littered horror films in the last many years. I found fast zombies terrifying in Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later and fascinating in World War Z, but they are a big fail in this movie. For one thing the SFX used to bring them to "life" seems lacking somehow, making the creatures feel more animated than real. Once again Neville is a researcher who is able to offer hope to the world by the end of the narrative and I know that Hollywood craves that, but that's not the point of Matheson's novel.
Weirdly the atmosphere and thematic heft of I Am Legend is found of all places in a movie which is not an official adaptation. 1968's Night of the Living Dead was inspired in part by Matheson's story according to director George Romero. This is not a story of Neville in any way, but the feeling of helplessness and of pitiful ignorance which informs Neville for much of I Am Legend is here in spades. The zombies or ghouls are very similar, they have the listless aimless but unrelenting quality that Matheson gave to his vampires in the novel. Our "heroes" are regular people who must come to grips with themselves before they can effectively fend off the outside threat. Since they never do the former, the grim outcome is inevitable. The forces which appear at the end do not bring salvation but destruction.
So I wait still for a proper adaptation of I Am Legned. With Matheson gone I doubt I will ever see such a thing. But it would be neat if it happened.
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