I finally got a chance to see Vincent Price's take on Richard
Matheson's classic "I Am Legend". I caught it on a public access
station in Nashville of all places, but beggars can't be choosers.
I've long been a fan of Charlton Heston's bravura "The Omega Man"
that draws from the same source, but folks here and elsewhere have
lauded the earlier Price performance.

The Italian production drains every bit of energy it can out of its
shoestring budget. The claustrophobic feeling in the movie is caused
largely because of the limited sets. A real house in the Italian
suburbs is used and used effectively for the exteriors, at least in
the back yard. For the front of the house where a lot of the action
takes place, it seems to be more of a classic film lot set, but
somehow I doubt it. Vincent Price's Morgan is much more like
Matheson's hero in that he lives in a modest house that seems
particulary ill-prepared to stave off the zombie threat.

The movie is slowly paced for sure, but just when you think it's
about to bog down it adds a new element. The humdrum opening slowly
reveals the nature of the threat, then we learn the scope of the
problem, then we get a glimpse of familiar faces among the vampire
hordes. A reasonably well-done flashback connects many of the dots,
but still the viewer has to do a lot of work to make the story stay
together. The final addition of the mutated survivors and their
effort to slay Morgan for his predations is a good twist, and shows
the limited view of the world we've been given by focusing on
Morgan's little battle for survival which he himself had elevated to
epic proportions.

I was struck at how similar in many respects the movie was to the
other adaptation. The transformation of the "hero" into a Christ
figure was something I don't remember from the Matheson novel, but is
clearly suggested in both films. I likely need to read the novel
again.

This was a really good little cheap movie. I hope to add it to my
collection at some point.

Dean