The Last Man on Earth (1964)
Directors: Ubaldo Ragona (as Ubaldo B. Ragona), Sidney Salkow (uncredited)
“Do you dare
imagine what it would be like to be the last man on Earth... or the last woman?
Alive among the lifeless... alone among the crawling creatures of evil that
make the night hideous with their inhuman craving?!” That's what the poster for
this film wanted to know. Do we dare?
Sure, why not?
Before Will Smith made it clear that he was Legend and
Charlton Heston was the Omega Man, Vincent Price told us that he was The Last
Man on Earth. And with good reason, too. In a world populated with vampires,
who better to represent the human race than that silvery-voiced master of
suspense and horror?
If you saw either of those later filmed versions of Richard
Matheson's tale, you'll know what the score is:
Four years in the future, a plague wipes out society, except
those infected don't stay dead for long. They return as creatures of the night,
ready to feast on any remaining survivors – which will then infect those they
attack and increase their numbers. The last survivor of mankind, Dr. Robert
Morgan, spends his nights locked up in his home, sleeping in fear that he'll be
discovered. By day he collects supplies vital to his survival, killing any
weakened vampires he finds and searching for a cure to the plague.
Of course, since he's immune, he has somewhere to start
regarding his research. That isn't the problem; the real issue is if he can
survive against overwhelming odds and keep his sanity long enough to get the
job done. He gets a dog as a companion, which goes tragically wrong, and then
finds another survivor. Or is she? She's showing some of the symptoms of being
a vampire but doesn't attack him.
As the mystery deepens for Doctor Morgan, he discovers that
he isn't as alone as he first thought, but the alternative to being a vampire
may not be all that he'd hoped. What remains of the human race and the dark
side of survival is revealed. It's a gloomy future ahead...
There are some flaws with this film, one of the biggest
being the vampires. They may be everywhere, but they don't seem that
threatening. They're slow, sluggish and despite all the clichés (sharp teeth,
problems with garlic and mirrors and being killed by a stake through the heart)
they act more like zombies. Old movie zombies. Which means they just
groan and wander around banging on doors in a futile manner, as opposed to
chasing Brad Pitt at a breakneck speed.
It gets off to a slow start too, with a drawn-out backstory.
Just when you think it's about to pick up it slows down again, before racing to
a panic-stricken final act which needed just a little more explanation. Then
there's the original idea of our hero becoming a legend of this
post-apocalyptic world... but doesn't.
Those faults aside, it's still a good film. It may lack the
high-budget gloss and depth of the later versions, but it's a fantastic early
model of the survival horror genre that inspired others. The deck is stacked
against Morgan right from the start, and it's easy to understand why he's
become unraveled. The solitude is impossible to deal with, a cure seems
hopeless, and even a simple trip to the shops or getting petrol for his car is a
mission.
Vincent Price is in top form, giving a great performance and
seemingly becoming more unhinged as it goes. The ending is as dark and
disturbing as the beginning and shows a more realistic portrayal of the end of
the world than many in this genre. There's something more psychologically
disturbing about being slowly stalked than being over-run by racing hordes, and
on that level this film delivers. A slightly quicker pace would have been good,
but it works regardless.
Of course, it's a classic. But why? It may not be the best
and it certainly isn't the oldest. Yet the impact and influence of it make it a
film that can't be denied. It's one of those that set the standard, and while
the bar may have been surpassed by others, it's still a benchmark that most
struggle to achieve.
- Rick Austin