Film Screening: 1964 Classic: The Last Man on Earth

Friday, Dec. 29. 7 PM. Fools Foundation. Admission: $5.00

Shiny Object and Fools Foundation present the Vincent Price classic, "The Last Man on Earth."

This is the first film adaptation of Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend" from 1964 (the second being Heston's "The Omega Man," and there's a third coming from Warner Brothers next year) starring Vincent Price. In this, Price plays a scientist who is the last survivor on Earth after a plague has turned the rest of the population into zombie-vampires. He manages to escape contagion due to a jungle virus he once had which makes him immune to the disease. He spends his time clearing bodies, killing the zombie-vampires, reinforcing his house against them, and reserves time to cling to what was a normal lifestyle prior to the plague.

This film was an admitted direct influence on Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" (he actually stated that Night was a "rip-off" of Last Man): the Red Scare commentary, the documentary style of filmmaking, the grim and pessimistic ending - it's all found in "The Last Man on Earth." Also interesting, Price plays a character which goes against his typically typecast roles, and quite effectively - humanism, sadness, despair are all here.

We plan to run the original widescreen version of this film (it's usually seen in a full-screen pan and scan version).