Cult Movies 101: ‘The Last Man on the Earth’

George A. Romero, who many believe single-handedly inspired a new generation of horror films, wasn’t as original as you might think. If you ask him, his magnum opus, “Night of the Living Dead,” was actually a half-baked rip-off of the 1954 Richard Matheson novel “I am Legend.”

Regardless of that however, it’s interesting to know that even a mastermind like Romero needed someone else to piggyback off of in order to create a series of films [well, at least the first two anyway] that have stood the test of time.

There may be even more to the story though. In 1964, Vincent Price starred in “The Last Man on Earth,” a film based on the same book that helped fuel Romero’s vision. While it’s a cheesy flick that doesn’t do the book much justice, it does show us several of the techniques that end up making some of Romero’s films classics, pinpointing it as an important film in its own right.

Because of this, those looking to see a campy, yet influential horror film that inspired some great future work will get exactly what they want.

While the film loses much of its momentum after the first hour, with an ending that ruins the solemn and serious tones the film establishes, the first several scenes are visionary. Director Ubaldo Ragona does a fantastic job showing us the desolate and tortured scenery around the film’s star Price. Seeing him drop bodies into ditches and shop for a car in an empty car dealership do an excellent job of showing the viewer that the world has changed forever.

With his eerie voice and chilling mannerisms, Price could have easily taken this film over the top, but there’s a realism to his performance that makes him viable and his situation one you’ll feel for. On his performance alone, the film is a success. It’s even fair to say that Will Smith modeled his performance in “I am Legend” after Price, as they share the same kind of concern, fatigue and temperament towards the future of society.

Unlike the film Smith was in however, which was full of depth and plot development, “The Last Man on Earth” doesn’t pull through in spite of its initial promise. The fact that the “vampires” in this film resemble zombies and are pretty much harmless ruins the impact the film could have had. Seeing Price fight off a dozen vampires with no weapons is something that you’d never see in a Romero film or “I am Legend.” In Romero’s films and that book, these monsters pose a serious threat, and one wrong move can cost you your life. In this film though, it feels like Price is nearly unstoppable.

Even worse, this film engulfed in a velveeta-esque cheese, with slow-talking vampires with no charisma and poor action scenes. At times, it’s hard for anyone not a true fan of the genre to get something out of it. Even for the hardcore horror fan, it could be a chore. If it wasn’t for Price and great visuals early on projecting the motifs of loneliness and the human condition that made the book a classic, this film would have been nearly impossible to sit through.

Ultimately, while the film doesn’t live up to the same standards as Matheson’s novel, it will appeal to the cult crowd who wish to see an influential horror flick that was anything but that until Romero took these concepts and made good use of them.