#12 - The Last Man on Earth (1964)
Based on Richard Matheson's classic horror novel "I Am Legend", with a screenplay written by the author, this movie tells the story of, well, the last man on earth. After a plague wipes out mankind, causing them to rise again as vampires (or "zompires" as Julie calls them), Robert Morgan (Vincent Price) finds himself alone. He spends his days systematically killing the creatures, hunting them down while they sleep, and hoping that he may eventually make contact with other living souls.
This movie starts out very strong - the whole first act is pretty much just Morgan going about his daily tasks of survival, and it's interesting even though the creatures are no threat to him. Then the second act is an extended flashback to before the plague began, and the film started to lose me here. It has been a long time since I've read the novel, but I don't remember so much time being spent on his wife and child. I thought it was kind of pointless and dull. The final third returns to the "present", where Morgan finally meets another living human... or does he? Dun-dun-dunnnn.
Overall this didn't do a lot for me. Price makes just about anything worth watching, but the rest of the film isn't strong enough to make this a classic, in my opinion. Skip it and read the book instead.
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