Many people believe that the first major zombie film was 1968’s Night of the Living Dead, directed by George Romero. As of a few weeks ago, I did too. Then I discovered a mention online of this little-seen 1964 movie starring Vincent Price called The Last Man on Earth.
Technically, The Last Man on Earth isn’t about zombies. It’s about vampires. However, these aren’t like any vampires you may be used to seeing on film. These vampires shuffle around, aren’t very bright, and only come out at night. They may as well be zombies.
The movie takes place in 1968, three years after an airborne virus has wiped out all humanity, save for Robert Morgan (Price). Morgan was a scientist who worked to find a cure for the disease right up until he was the final living human being. The disease had the strange effect of killing its victims and then reanimating them with a thirst for human blood. Being vampires, they’re unable to be out in the daylight and are kept at bay with garlic and can be killed with a stake to the heart.
Morgan struggles to stay sane as he attempts to hunt down and kill the remaining vampires in the city. He travels the streets by day, killing the vampires as they sleep in abandoned buildings, and then disposing of their bodies by burning them in a large pit outside of town. By night, he locks himself in his house, listening to jazz records, as the remaining vampires attempt in vain to get inside to kill him. After three years, the routine has gotten old and Morgan ponders his efforts (in voice-over narration) as the keeper of order and inheritor of the Earth.
The Last Man on Earth is notable for what it achieves on an obviously bare-bones budget. The script is based on Richard Matheson’s novel, I Am Legend, and Matheson himself wrote the screenplay, although he did so under a pseudonym. The editing is poor and the sets do very little to hide the fact that, despite supposedly taking place in the United States, it was filmed in Italy. Still, this grim tale of a man’s attempt to keep order in a world gone insane manages to focus the viewer’s attention on Morgan’s day-to-day battle rather than on the negative aspects of the production. It’s interesting to see very early examples of what have become zombie and post-apocalypse movie clichés such as Morgan foraging in an abandoned grocery store for food and announcing his existence on a shortwave radio with no hope of a reply.
Vincent Price initially seems a bit out of place as Dr. Morgan. His performance ranges from stolid to bordering on overwrought. Somehow, though, Price makes the character work by simply being Vincent Price in the moments of emotional midrange. Price’s mature presence brings an unspoken intelligence to Morgan that would have been lacking with someone else in the role. Since there is very little dialogue in the movie, that quality does the production a huge favor.
The Last Man on Earth may seem clunky and even boring by today’s standards but it does manage to pull off an effective creep-out once or twice. While it may not have widespread appeal, horror fans as well as science fiction fans should check it out simply for its curio value. Seeing it may help you appreciate the films that have borrowed from it over the years.
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
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