- Directed by Ubaldo Ragona and Sidney Salkow, The Last Man on Earth is surely the most faithful adaptation of Richard Matheson's horror masterpiece I Am Legend. Vincent Price stars as the lone human Robert Morgan, cursed to defend himself against a post-apocalyptic world of zombified vampires played by a cast of badly-dubbed Italians (including Franca Bettoia, Emma Danieli, Giacomo Rossi Stuart). Fortunately, the zombies don't land too many lines, which gives Price the opportunity to remind everyone that he was a compelling enough actor to carry an entire film when necessary.
- The plot of every zombie movie is fundamentally the same - namely, there are a bunch of zombies - but The Last Man on Earth has the good sense to preserve the novel's defining twist that Morgan is not the hero he thinks he is. The flashback sequences involving Morgan's family are appropriately affecting, as is his tragically short stint as a pet owner. To its great credit, the film completely avoids even a hint of camp, quite unlike its later antecedent The Omega Man. Although The Last Man on Earth is not the earliest zombie movie, it may have been the first film to make such extensive use of empty cityscapes to convey its sense of isolation. What a great way to kick off the new (pandemic) year!
