The Last Man on Earth

Director - Ubaldo Ragona (Una Vergine Per un Bastardo)
Starring - Vincent Price (House on Haunted Hill), Franca Bettoia (Don't Touch the White Woman!), and Emma Danieli (Guns of the Black Witch)
Release Date - 1964
Genre - Horror
Tagline(s) - "By night they leave their graves, crawling, shambling, through empty streets, whimpering, pleading, begging for his blood!" "Do you dare to imagine what it would be like to be... the last man on earth... or the last woman?" and "Alive among the lifeless... alone among the crawling creatures of evil that make the night hideous with their inhuman craving!"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (15 Horror Movies Volume 2)

Rating (out of 5):

     Growing up I missed out on a lot of Vincent Price's films.  I was able to watch House on Haunted Hill multiple times on cable and I owned Edward Scissorhands on VHS.  This was the extent of my Vincent Price filmography.  However, years later that all changed when I started collecting DVDs.  I gradually started collecting all his films over the years and with time I came across multiple box sets that contained this little film.  While I was still in high school me and a few friends decided to throw this film in and see how it faired.  Since then I have watched it over and over and, along with House on Haunted Hill, is one of my favorite Price films so far.

    The film follows Dr. Robert Morgan who is the sole survivor of a plague that wiped out the entire population of Earth.  Those infected turn in to the living dead that fear sunlight and have an insatiable appetite for the living.  Unfortunately for Morgan he is immune to the disease and is destined to live in a hellish cycle from day to day.  Every morning he must leave his home to scavenge for supplies and repair what part of his home was destroyed during the night by the infected bloodthirsty fiends.  After he has gathered supplies and repairs his home he goes out and slaughters the undead as they hide from the daylight.  This is an everyday routine for Morgan, however, one day he is thrown for a loop when he spots a young lady walking in the daylight.  He invites her in to his home and discovers that she is taking medication allowing her to walk in the daylight and not crave blood.  He quickly discovers that she is part of a group that discovered a drug  to survive and Morgan has been unknowingly killing them thinking they are the fiends.  The group sent the young girl out to distract Morgan so they can kill him...and they do.

     We owe the way we look at zombies now to George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead.  Before this movie zombies were associated with voodoo and were mindless slaves that did their master's bidding.  Post-Night of the Living Dead zombies are flesh hungry fiends that have an insatiable appetite for the living.  However, NotLD was heavily influenced by The Last Man on Earth and the book that inspired the film, Richard Matheson's I Am Legend.  Without this film film, though more related to vampires than zombies, zombies would not be as they are today.  I have seen this film more times than I care to count and every time I watch it I cant take my eyes off the screen.  The acting is slightly bad in this with the obvious exception of Vincent Price.  Price once again gives an amazing performance.  There is a reason Price is a legend among not only in the horror community but the entire film community.  The storyline is very simple but very effective.  Combine that with Price's power performance and the sky is the limit.  The film also has an amazing sense of dread and great atmosphere.  Finally, I have seen two versions of the film; the black and white version as well as the colorized version.  The film was meant to be seen in black and white, therefore, the special effects were created just for that.  Though they are nothing special they still are a bit more effective when compared to the colorized version.  Overall, this is a classic film that deserves a lot of credit in shaping the way we see zombies now-a-days.  I highly recommend this one.