Dean-

If you have a DVD player, you're in luck! While shopping for some
new 'old' flicks a few weeks back, I happened on a sweet find. A
company called Diamond Entertainment has a DVD that features House On
Haunted Hill AND Last Man On Earth as a double feature! Both films
are presented in widescreen to boot! The video transfers are good,
with clean visual and little or no pixelation, and there's no drop
out on the soundtrack. Best of all, it sells for $8!!! Not a lot in
the way of extras, but for eight bucks... so what. I bought mine at
MediaPlay, but if there isn't one of those near you, any electronic
superstore should have a "bargin bin" section with DVDs priced under
$10. I also got Killer Shrews/Giant Gila Monster and First Spaceship
on Venus/Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet for $8 each. Cool!

If VHS is still your media of choice, Sinister Cinema offers a nice
print of Last Man... for $16. I've seen 'em cheaper elsewhere, but
the picture looks really washed out and the overall print is splicey.

-J


--- In sonsofkong@yahoogroups.com, "Dean" <sonofvulcan@a...> wrote:
> 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