The Stories of Lonely Men and Vampires

Based on the book "I Am Legend" by Robert Matheson, both The Last Man on Earth and I Am Legend depict post-apocalyptic worlds plagued by both a deadly virus and the equally deadly creatures it creates. Both films focus on themes of loneliness and isolation but differ greatly in the ways the characters portray it. Additionally, the characters of Robert Morgan and Robert Neville, while both methodical scientists have drastically different personalities. It's also interesting to see the progression of the portrayal of zombies, though they are considered more vampiric in the films, over the course of nearly four decades.

The Last Man on Earth (1964)

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The Human Among Vampires

Three years after a devastating new plague turned all people into undead vampires, Dr. Robert Morgan (Vincent Price) remains the last man alive. By day, he disposes of the dead and infected. By night, he tries to drown out the sounds of Ben Cortman (Giacomo Rossi Stuart), his once research partner now vampire, and a horde of undead who try to break in and kill him every night. Ben was the first to fear that the plague was a danger to society, though Robert always believed they could find a cure. Robert’s wife, Virginia (Emma Danieli), and daughter, Kathy (Christi Courtland), succumb to the plague themselves and Virginia even returns as a vampire to their home. Now Robert believes in vampires and knows better than to leave them un-staked or un-burned. But still, he misses the world as it was, and the people in it. By chance, he finds a dog one day, and races after it, only to lose it. It later turns up at his doorstep, wounded, and he bandages its wounds. He soon realizes his companion is doomed and is infected as well, he knows what must be done. After disposing of the dog, Robert meets Ruth Collins (Franca Bettoia), a woman seemingly uninfected! Though he believes he is immune, he suspects her of being sick, and it’s confirmed when he finds her injecting herself with a vaccine to keep the illness at bay. She belongs to a group of people who have been using the vaccine as well, and plan to form a society, and was sent to kill Robert for killing other vampires who were still alive. She passes out and Robert gives her a transfusion of his blood which cures her. Ruth’s people attack Robert’s home and he flees first to a police station, taking tear gas grenades in the hopes of losing his assailants, and then to a church. They catch up to him at the altar and impale him as he denounces them as genetic freaks and declares himself to be the last man. He dies in Ruth’s arms.

The Last Man… In Rome

The script for The Last Man on Earth was partially written by Richard Matheson, but he was unhappy with how it was coming along and left it for one of the directors, Ubaldo Ragona, and others to finish and is only credited as “Logan Swanson.” The other director was Sidney Salkow. Richard Matheson originally started the script in the hopes that Hammer Films would produce The Last Man on Earth, but they turned it down and

it was produced by Robert L. Lippart in Italy. It was filmed in Rome with mainly Italian actors and Price was the only actor to speak his own English, the rest being dubbed. The film was shot in winter and puffs of breath can be seen coming from the actors in several shots throughout the film. The world might not have had George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead if not for this film, as it has been reported that he felt it was the blueprint for his zombie film.

Vincent Price Saves the Film’s Lackluster Story

The Last Man on Earth is the story of a man who never gave up hope in the face of a new and devastating disease. But his hope; is it reason or madness? Dr. Robert Morgan was averse to the theories of the plague being carried on the wind as the papers said, but not his fellow scientist, Ben. Ben is used as a constant reminder of what Robert could become. Ben fed into the rumors of vampires despite his duty to science while Robert remained steadfast in his belief that the cure could be found. As a result, Ben was turned, Robert wasn’t. Robert even said that reason was his only advantage over the vampires. He tries to cling to civility by setting the table, keeping a calendar, percolating coffee in the morning, but he can’t always keep that up. How can a person keep pretending everything is alright when they drive by dead bodies every day?

Robert can’t even devote himself entirely to science; he’s had to accept the existence of vampires to survive. He drives to the pit every day, incinerating new corpses, the same route he once took to try to save his daughter from that very fate. He watched as science failed to produce a cure and the only voice, besides his own, he’s heard in three years is Ben’s monotone howls. We’re even shown the results of what can happen when he abandons reason when he goes to visit Virginia’s grave. It was a spur of the moment and he should have been making more stakes and he stays in her crypt until nightfall. This led to him having to fight off the vampires and having his car destroyed.

The first flicker of life Robert sees in his three lonesome years is a dog that finds its way to his house. In more ways than one, this serves as a reminder of his late wife. First, he loses it, trying to catch it, then, after several hours it comes back, just as his dead wife did. The exception is that the dog came back alive, wounded, but seemingly able to be healed; what he had hoped for all along for Virginia. Again, like Virginia, Robert comforts the dog and tells it everything will be alright. Perhaps in recalling his wife’s hidden sickness, he checks its blood and finds it, too, is infected. He still holds out hope, even when he realizes its futility. The most unusual thing about his treatment of the dog is that he buries it instead of burning it. Would the dog come back? Could the dog come back? Perhaps he didn’t care, he had felt compassion for this animal and refused to throw it into the pit, just as he refused to do with his wife.

The film has promising themes and makes powerful comparisons between Robert's old life and his life after the plague, but it lacks in it’s writing, directing, and cinematography, and reminds us all that it’s a B-movie. It leaves many questions about the motives of his character. He

cures Ruth but had never tried to do the same with the dog he found, or any of the other vampires for that matter. They are slow and weak alone, so why not isolate one and try it? He might have saved the dog this way.

Additionally, after he learned she and her society wanted to kill him, he was furious. It seems like a strange way to react to learning that you are no longer the sole person left on earth, that there was a chance to rebuild the world. So, after learning of her plans to kill him and rejecting the new society he cures her anyway. Then, he ridicules the survivors for needing a vaccine to stave off the virus instead of revealing that he knows the cure! Why hide it? Why be angry at the only human you’ve seen in years? Why save her if you hate her so much? We’re left with questions that only undermine Robert’s character. The best part about the film's writing is Robert’s inner monologue and not that it’s particularly well-written. It simply is a welcome addition to the film considering that Price acts beside almost no one for the first half of it, save for the occasional flashback to his family; it serves as a respite for the silence.

As for the camera work and sound, there were multiple shots where the sound did not line up with what was being shown on screen. There were points when clapping was heard, yet Robert was not clapping and points when he was, and we heard nothing. The music he played to drown out the vampires was so cacophonous, it’s a wonder it didn’t just scare them off outright. A shot of Robert talking to Ruth was completely out of focus and a cut at the end of the film replays Robert being impaled with the spear as Ruth runs into the church moments after it happens for the first time. This is why it’s important to do two takes.

Overall, considering the B-movie rating, it is still an entertaining watch. Price gives a believable performance as an exasperated scientist throughout and adds greatly to the believability of this chaotic world. This makes it terribly palpable when Robert’s veil of stoicism slips at the end when he's at the altar. If you can get past the poorly edited sound and dubbing and the continuity errors, you just may find this enjoyable.

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I Am Legend (2007)

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The Legend of Robert Neville’s Cure for the World

Three years after a new virus decimates the world, turning people into vicious nocturnal beings called Darkseekers, Robert Neville (Will Smith) and his dog, Sam, are now the sole uninfected inhabitants of what was one New York City. Robert was once the leading virologist working on the cure to reverse the virus’ effects and continues his work, day in and day out in the lonely city. He plans to transfer his immunity to the virus to other living things and finally finds some success in his tests on rats. He captures a Darkseeker and begins his tests on her. He’s set up and named mannequins to alleviate some of the lonesomeness. He was always so alone; he once had a wife, Zoe (Salli Richardson-Whitfield) and daughter, Marley (Willow Smith) who were killed in a helicopter accident while fleeing the city during the plague’s onset. One day, he is trapped by the Darkseekers and manages to escape just before nightfall, but Sam becomes infected and Robert must put her down. Seeing no hope, he attempts to kill himself, fighting the Darkseekers, but is saved by Anna (Alice Braga) and Ethan (Charlie Tahan). The two of them are on their way to a survivors’ colony in Vermont, which Robert believes cannot exist. The Darkseekers follow them back to Robert’s home and attack. Attempts to hold them off fail and the three retreat to the lab where they discover his cure has been working on the test subject Darkseeker. Robert realizes he must save Anna, Ethan, and the cure from the onslaught on Darkseekers and sacrifices himself. Anna and Ethan make it to the survivors’ colony and give them the cure.

Eleven Years of Trial and Error

The production of I Am Legend was eleven years in the making. Warner Brothers first wanted to produce it in 1995 and considered Michael Douglas, Tom Cruise, and Mel Gibson, even later Arnold Schwarzenegger, for the lead role. It was canceled in 1998 for budgetary concerns and revived in 2002, by Schwarzenegger no less. For the next four years, directors changed hands and fell through on their availability to make the project until it eventually fell with Francis Lawrence to direct. After production, Smith even tried to adopt one of the German Shepherds, Abbey, as he had grown so fond of her, although the trainer declined. His fondness for her was no doubt why he acted so well alongside her.

Full of Action, Empty of Meaning

I Am Legend; a well-made movie with excellent casting but a less than memorable story. It promises to be an action-packed thriller and delivers on the action sequences. Considering this, it hits remarkable emotional highs and lows throughout the story uncharacteristic of an action film. Other than that, the film falls flat on its other methods of creating a story line, mainly with a mindless antagonist and its bland butterfly symbolism.

The recurring motif of a butterfly is unnecessary. The butterflies that are seen or referenced throughout the film all supposedly lead up to the end. The Darkseeker leader cracks the glass of the lab door in a pattern resembling a butterfly, then Robert sees a butterfly tattoo on Anna’s neck. He “listens” and sacrifices himself to save the cure and Anna and Ethan, but there’s not all that much that the symbol is really saying. Is it supposed to represent fate, love, or the will of God, or maybe even be an omen of death? It’s never well defined. Marley makes a pantomime butterfly with her hands just before their helicopter crashes, hence here it means death. Later, a Monarch butterfly is shown with Sam as Robert debates talking to the pretty mannequin. This could be the first time he’s “listening” or maybe it’s to show emotional healing, but I can’t see that either of these instances make a clear link to Robert’s fate. In fact, upon my first watching, I completely missed the butterfly on the posters in the beginning and the in pattern the Darkseeker made on the glass at the end. It never felt as though that motif was imperative to the story.

The story also suffers from a weak antagonist. One could argue the antagonist is the virus or even Robert himself as a kind of “Man vs. Self” conflict, but, really, it’s the Darkseekers and specifically the one with the

sunburns on its face. And what makes him the antagonist? He’s trying to kill Robert because that’s just what Darkseekers do, but this one screeches and seemingly controls the others. That’s it. It ends up a one-dimensional villain with no real learning capability or will of its own, just instinct. Sure, the Darkseekers set the trap for Robert but was it orchestrated by the sunburnt one? We don’t know and it’s not explicitly linked. The creature is predictable in its behavior, wild and vicious, and therefore not scary. Robert survived three years dealing with them and it seems like this one should be no different. **

The main thing that makes this film shine is Will Smith’s acting. His most heartbreaking scene is acted alongside a mannequin, but he perfectly captures Robert’s breaking point while still giving the character his dignity. His analytical approach paired with his moments of pure emotion makes for a powerful combination. He acts the part with the conviction of a man whose life had been taken from him and who worked tirelessly to try to piece it back together.

After everything, the biggest question I have is: if the city was abandoned, why not just bring home a few cans of dog food for Sam?

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The Lost Humanity of the Darkseekers

With both Roberts, they have a similar backstory. They were both researchers trying to find a cure and their wives and daughters had both been killed. Both even have trouble talking with people after so long in isolation as well. The biggest difference is that Robert Morgan makes it his job to kill as many vampires as possible, while Robert Neville is still working every day to find a cure.

It seems Neville has retained most of his sanity and drive which is in part due to his canine companion he’s had for the years prior… And maybe also because he hadn’t needed to kill his undead wife like Morgan. He remains more level headed than Morgan as well, with the only real outbursts happening after dire emotional stress. Price’s Robert still hasn’t healed from his family’s death years ago (of course, people heal at their own pace) and makes rash decisions that end up costing him. From this, Smith’s Robert is generally more believable as a scientist and general human.

Now, let’s talk about the monsters of these monster movies. We have the undead vampires of The Last Man on Earth and the Darkseekers of I Am Legend. While both are the product of a plague, the creatures’ behaviors are vastly different. The Darkseekers bear almost no resemblance to vampires, or at least, Neville hasn’t discovered any similarities. They are not repelled by garlic or mirrors and seem more like animals as Neville covers his steps and jacket with a cleaner of some sort to hide his scent. Their only resemblance to vampires comes from their hunger for blood, as he used in his trap, and that their skin burns in the sunlight, killing them. They are not the lumbering oafs from The Last Man on Earth either, though Darkseekers cannot speak, unlike the undead vampires.

The Last Man on Earth also distinguishes one of the undead as Morgan’s colleague, Ben. By doing so, it shows the loss of humanity in the creatures and even the loss of humanity in Morgan in the way that in all those years, he’s never tried to cure Ben, despite him coming around every night. As for the Darkseekers, they’re just like animals, in it for the hunt, food, or the instinct to kill. We are shown no transition, and they lack the ability to communicate or convey emotion or real reasoning abilities besides collectively copying a trap.

The overall messages of the film differ greatly, too. The message of I Am Legend can be summed up in the final line of the film, “light up the darkness.” This is reiterated throughout the film as Neville creating an imitation society for himself at the video store to give him some familiarity in the barren city. It’s also in the way he tells Anna about Bob Marley’s songs and how Marley was trying to help the world because many were trying to ruin it. Plus, just before the final battle with the Darkseekers, he renounces his belief in a God and in his hope that anyone else survived the epidemic. But his legend, in the end, was his sacrifice and momentary return of faith, enough to save his friends and the cure.

The Last Man on Earth’s message was more unclear. Morgan’s dying breath was that he was the last man, rejecting Ruth’s people as inhuman. Was he so caught up in fear all those years that he never bothered to think if they could be saved? It was a hopeless ending for him, but a hopeful one for that world. The survivors could go on to cure the rest with their vaccine and Ruth’s newly cured blood. But unlike Neville, Morgan did little to save his world; it ended up saving itself in spite of him.

**Just for fun afterward, I did watch the alternative ending and I can say the film would have been much more satisfying. It makes the butterfly motif stronger as the sunburnt Darkseeker draws a butterfly on the glass to identify the female Darkseeker Robert’s been experimenting on, and non-verbally asks for her return. It humanizes the Darkseekers and helps flesh out their leader with the sunburns. It makes one not so different from Robert. It proves to some extent that their humanity was never really lost and that even maybe there is more hope than Robert thought. But this was subbed with the theatrical ending, which sacrifices meaning for a more “heroic” end for Robert. The only fitting part of that ending was how it ties into the title of the film, but otherwise, it was a waste.

If the alternative ending to I Am Legend was used as the theatrical one, there would have been a different relationship, a closer one, between the films. They would have both been about men, so blinded by what they were doing, what they thought was right, that they never noticed how their actions affected the world. Neville would have been viewed by the Darkseekers the same was Morgan was viewed by Ruth’s people, “a legend,” a murderer. The films, however, tell radically different stories.