As the kick-off post of a brand spanking new segment called ‘Remakes Head to Head’ I’d like to do something special and post the classic zombie-like vampire story by Richard Matheson. Normally these posts will have 2 movies battling for supremacy but this time is going to be a little different. There have been three movies adapted from the same book titled ‘I Am Legend’ by Matheson, telling similar but much different stories. The three Movies are ‘The Last Man on Earth’, ‘The Omega Man’, and ‘I Am Legend’.

The Original: The Last Man on Earth (1964)

This movie starred Vincent Price as the last man on earth. A Pandemic has turned the entire human race into these zombie-like vampires that can only come out at night. The vampires moved slow, but could talk and fumble around. They would come to his house at night and you can hear his old friend yelling “Morgan…. come out side”. This movie was especially sad because he alone was immune to the disease making him watch in total helplessness as his wife is turned into the living dead. Not only that, but a posse comes in and takes his daughter and throws her in a trench to be burned in front of him.

The movie had a great story, and really fit the Vincent Price type character perfectly. Vincent usually played a character where the man he portrayed has been wronged in a severe way, which causes him to go a little nutty in the head. The movie had it’s creepy moments, and the movie itself had more qualities that made the main character totally isolated. The main character is also a scientist looking for the cure to this disease, which he actually finds. Later after finding a woman we find out that there are others and they are organized but they are not human, including the woman. After being drugged he is taken to the vampires where he is chased and killed before he could help any of them. The movie ends with the ironic realization that they have killed the only thing that could have cured them.

I rate this movie 8/10

The First Remake: The Omega Man (1971)

Although Charlton Heston is in this movie as the main character, this movie is complete crap. We have the same general story as before, but the vampires are albino’s all wearing these matching cloaks. Apparently when you get turned into a vampire you are issued a retarded cloak and a hatred for technology. This is the only movie of these three that totally disregards the main character’s family and owning a dog altogether. We just get Charlton Heston and these very articulate retarded looking albinos with dorky cloaks trying to fling rocks into his apartment.

The love interest is a Black lady that knows karate or some kind of martial art. It doesn’t really matter because she gets turned into an albino vampire with a white afro pretty fast. I could barely watch this movie guys, I did it for you!

I rate this pile of crap a 3/10

The Second Remake: I Am Legend (2007)

This movie had Will Smith as the main character. The film was visually better but lacked in story, when compared to the Vincent Price original. This movie had used the right name for the main character like the previous film, which ‘Last Man on Earth’ did not do, and also had a dog. This dog was a damn super dog though, and had a lot of character which made the main character appear less isolated. Will Smith’s character had lost his family in a helicopter accident while they were being evacuated from the city. Although it was sad to watch a man lose his family, it wasn’t as sad as helplessly watching your family turn into monsters before your very eyes and even coming after you.

I give Will Smith or any other actor a lot of credit that can pull off an entire movie being the only person in a movie for more than 70% of the film and come across as entertaining. This movie was not bad by any means, and did have a lot of the same things as the original did. This was the only one of the films that introduced a female character later in the film and didn’t kill her off and made the main character a martyr and not just an ironic victim. It had strange things like vampire dogs too which were a little odd. The action was pretty decent, but it just wasn’t the original.

I rate this movie a 7/10

The Battle

This movie trifecta was based on a book that really wanted to tell you a great story involving a few things.
1. Sorrow.
2. Isolation.
3. Struggle to find a cure for a disease.
4. Ironic death.

It also has to entertain you with a few things.
1. Over all Story.
2. Entertaining lead actors.
3. Over all visual effects and horror.

Sorrow:
Winner = ‘The Last Man on Earth’

Isolation:
Winner = ‘The Last Man on Earth’

Struggle to find a cure:
Winner = ‘I Am Legend’

Ironic Death:
Winner = ‘Last Man on Earth’

Over all Story:
Winner = ‘Last Man on Earth’

Entertaining Lead Actors:
Winner = ‘I Am Legend’

Over all visual effects:
Winner = ‘I Am Legend’

Original Wins!

‘The Last Man on Earth’ takes the prize with 4/7 or 57% of the wins.