The Last Man On Earth Movie Review (1964)

"Another day to live through. Better get started."

Based on Richard Matheson's 1954 novel, I Am Legend, 'The Last Man on Earth' is a post-apocalyptic horror film that follows Dr. Robert Morgan (Vincent Price) as the lone survivor in a hellish wasteland filled with vampiric creatures caused by a plague. In December of 1965, he inherited the earth and has been living each day ad nauseam for three years. Every day he has the same routine - he checks the fuel for his generator, goes out for supplies, kills vampires and returns home before dark. The bodies of the slain vampires are thrown into a pit and set ablaze to control the contagion.

Through a flashback, it is revealed that Dr. Morgan had a wife and daughter, both of whom succumbed to the plague. Upon the death of his wife, he didn't want her burned with the others and decided to bury her on his own. To his surprise, she rises from the grave and makes her way back to their home. This in part explains why we see him lose pieces of his sanity throughout the film and even at times almost resents being alive.

While out one day, he stumbles across a woman who he brings back to his home. He starts to have concerns about her and then shoves a wreath of garlic in her face resulting in an adverse reaction. She swears that she's not one of them, but Dr. Morgan finds her trying to inject herself with a vaccine. She explains that there's a large group of infected who are taking the vaccine and that many of those that he killed were actually part of their group and she was sent to secure him so that the others could kill him. This results in a chase through the police station and finally the church where Dr. Morgan is shot and impaled by a spear. This is where he proclaims that he's the last man on earth meaning that he is the last actual man and not an infected or hybrid.

~TJ