Then the movie begins with the news reporter. This is why in Fallout 1 when you're voted to leave the Vault, we really wanted that sense of isolationism; that sense of: You are the only person out here on the Wasteland who is, quote, "a normal person", and we wanted you to feel, like, special in that way. Even then, their reaction is constrained to the beliefs of the particular person; for example, a Christian vampire would fear the cross, but a Jewish vampire would not. Years after a plague kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into monsters, the sole survivor in New York City struggles valiantly to find a cure. The film depicts a man-made plague that turns victims into zombies. It was published in 1991 by Eclipse Comics and collected into a trade paperback by IDW Publishing. Some vampiric elements are retained, such as sensitivity to UV light and attraction to blood. I Am Legend is based on a 1954 Richard Matheson sci-fi novel of the same name. Directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Will Smith as Robert Neville, this film uses both Matheson's novel and the 1971 Omega Man film as its sources. The novel was a success and was adapted into the films The Last Man on Earth (1964), The Omega Man (1971), and I Am Legend (2007). I Am Legend has been adapted into a feature-length film three times, as well as into a direct-to-video feature film called I Am Omega. TV Personality: Akiva Goldsman (screenplay), [18], The book has also been adapted into a comic book miniseries titled Richard Matheson's I Am Legend by Steve Niles and Elman Brown. ‘Rampage’ Director Brad Peyton Targets Action Thriller ‘Sniper Elite,’ ‘Assassin’s Creed’ Producer on Board (Exclusive), 23 March 2021 Implicitly set in Los Angeles during 1976, the novel details Neville's life in the months and eventually years after the outbreak as he attempts to comprehend, research, and possibly cure the disease. It starred Charlton Heston (as Robert Neville) and Anthony Zerbe. In 2012, the Horror Writers Association gave I Am Legend the special Vampire Novel of the Century Award.[6]. Dr. Alice Krippin: But a few years later, it mutated into plague that kills most of the people on Earth or turns them into creatures, There are a few who are immune. In 2007, a third adaptation of the novel was produced, this time titled I Am Legend. The book is full of good ideas, every other one of which is immediately dropped and kicked out of sight. Neville further believes the pandemic was spread not so much by direct vampire bites as by bacteria-bearing mosquitos and dust storms in the cities following a recent war. Afterwards, the hemocytes leave and let Neville, Anna, and Ethan be. I Am Legend is a 1954 horror novel by Richard Matheson. Ruth warns Neville that her feelings for him are true but that her people will attempt to capture him and that he should try to escape the city. He obtains books and other research materials from a library and through gradual research discovers the root of the disease is probably a Bacillus strain of bacteria capable of infecting both deceased and living hosts. [4], Dan Schneider from International Writers Magazine: Book Review wrote in 2005:[5]. It presents unnecessary dangers such as the risk of the bombs missing their target or creating flying debris, both possibly killing civilians and government personnel. With I Am Legend, Matheson instituted the germ theory of vampirism, a take on the old archetype which has since been tackled by other writers (notably, Dan Simmons in Children of the Night from 1992). Robert Neville appears to be the sole survivor of a pandemic that has killed most of the human population and turned the remainder into "vampires" that largely conform to their stereotypes in fiction and folklore: they are blood-sucking, pale-skinned, and nocturnal, though otherwise indistinguishable from normal humans. Variety 16 December 2007, 01 April 2021 When Neville wakes, he discovers a note from Ruth confessing that she is indeed a vampire sent to spy on him and that he was responsible for the death of her husband, another vampire. It has also been adapted as the Spanish short student film Soy leyenda. I just saw this movie today, the day it opened here. Neville accepts his fate and asks Ruth not to let this society become too heartless. I Am Legend is a classic horror story. The characters are child's drawings, as blank-eyed and expressionless as the author himself in his back-cover photograph. After bouts of depression and alcoholism, Neville finally determines there must be some scientific reasons behind the vampires' origins, behaviors, and aversions, so he sets out to investigate. These living-infected have slowly overcome their disease and are attempting to build a new society. | The ending of the film was also altered to portray Neville as sacrificing his life to save humanity, rather than being executed for crimes against the surviving vampiric humans, although a deleted ending for the film was closer in spirit to the book. His experiments with microscopes also reveal that the bacteria are deadly sensitive to garlic and sunlight. [16] Film critics noted that the British film 28 Days Later (2002) and its sequel 28 Weeks Later both feature a rabies-type plague ravaging Great Britain, analogous to I Am Legend.[17]. Take a look ahead at some of our most anticipated superhero series arriving in 2021 and beyond. Science fiction horror novel by Richard Matheson. Discover something for everyone this month with some choice picks for the best movies and TV to stream in April. [10][7][11][12][13] Discussing the creation of Night of the Living Dead, Romero remarked, "I had written a short story, which I basically had ripped off from a Richard Matheson novel called I Am Legend. [15], Stephen King said, "Books like I Am Legend were an inspiration to me". 101 min He recognizes that their desire to kill him, after he has killed so many of their loved ones, is not something he can condemn. Neville's continued readings and experiments on incapacitated vampires help him create new theories. As the pills take effect, he is amused by the thought that he will become their new superstition and legend, just as vampires once were to humans. The world of medicine has seen its share of miracle cures, from the polio vaccine to heart transplants. Eventually, the two comfort each other romantically and he explains some of his findings, including his theory that he developed immunity against the infection after being bitten by an infected vampire bat years ago. The note further suggests that only the undead vampires are pathologically violent but not those who were alive at the time of infection and who still survive due to chance mutations in their bacteria. Fatally wounded, Neville is placed in a barred cell where he is visited by Ruth, who informs him that she is a senior member of the new society but, unlike the others, does not resent him. [23], In 1964, Vincent Price starred as Dr. Robert Morgan (rather than "Neville") in The Last Man on Earth (the original title of this Italian production was L'ultimo uomo della Terra). It has been adapted into three films: The Last Man on Earth, The Omega Man and a film of the same name. Neville goes to his prison window and sees the infected staring back at him with the same hatred and fear that he once felt for them; he realizes that he, a remnant of old humanity, is now a legend to the new race born of the infection. The Hollywood Reporter After discussing the effects of Neville's vampire-killing activities on the new society, she acknowledges the public need for Neville's execution but, out of mercy, gives him a packet of fast-acting suicide pills. Although Matheson calls the assailants in his novel "vampires" and though their condition is transmitted through bacteria in the blood and garlic is a repellant to this strain of bacteria, there is little similarity between them and vampires as developed by John William Polidori and his successors, who come straight out of the gothic fiction tradition. It appears highly unlikely that the military would use an airstrike to demolish New York's bridges. Given its setup, "I Am Legend" is well-constructed to involve us with Dr. Neville and his campaign to survive. In this version, the infection is caused by a virus originally intended to cure cancer. In some ways, I Am Legend presents an interesting crossover between movies like Cast Away and couples it with elements of Contagion and The Walking Dead. "[3] Anthony Boucher praised the novel, saying "Matheson has added a new variant on the Last Man theme... and has given striking vigor to his invention by a forceful style of storytelling which derives from the best hard-boiled crime novels". Get a sneak peek of the new version of this page. This includes exposing vampires to direct sunlight or inflicting wide, oxygen-exposing wounds anywhere on their bodies so that the bacteria switch from being anaerobic symbionts to aerobic parasites, rapidly consuming their hosts when exposed to air, which gives the appearance of the vampires instantly liquefying. The inconsistency of Neville's results in handling vampires also leads him to realize that there are in fact two differently-reacting types of vampires: those conscious and living with a worsening infection and those who have died but been reanimated by the bacteria (i.e. despite having vampires in it, [the novel] is not a novel on vampires, nor even a horror nor sci-fi novel at all, in the deepest sense. | Best Sci-Fi Movies Based on Book (Dystopia, Apocalyptic, Horror), Black Actors in Traditionally White Roles, Famous Tag-lines... With One Word Changed, View production, box office, & company info, Mark Protosevich (screenplay), Tim Cain, the producer, lead programmer and one of the main designers of the 1997 computer game Fallout said, This book was how a [sic] individual would handle thinking that he was the last survivor on Earth. In 1971, a far different version was produced, titled The Omega Man.   |  "[14] Moreover, film critics noted similarities between Night of the Living Dead (1968) and The Last Man on Earth (1964). Differing from the book, each of them portrays the Neville character as an accomplished scientist. All the same, the story could have been an admirable minor work in the tradition of Dracula, if only the author, or somebody, had not insisted on encumbering it with the year's most childish set of 'scientific' rationalizations. PG-13 Deborah Christie, Sarah Juliet Lauro, ed. [9], Though referred to as "the first modern vampire novel", it is as a novel of social theme that I Am Legend made a lasting impression on the cinematic zombie genre, by way of director George A. Romero, who acknowledged its influence and that of its 1964 adaptation, The Last Man on Earth, upon his seminal film Night of the Living Dead (1968). Weekly dust storms ravage the city, and during the day, when the vampires are inactive, Neville drives around to search them out in order to kill them with wooden stakes (since they seem impervious to his guns' bullets) and to scavenge for supplies. Matheson goes to great lengths to rationalize or naturalize the vampire myth, transplanting the monster from the otherworldly realms of folklore and Victorian supernaturalism to the test tube of medical inquiry and rational causation. Desperate for company, Neville painstakingly earns the nervous dog's trust with food and brings it into the home. I Am Legend is a 1954 post-apocalyptic horror novel by American writer Richard Matheson that was influential in the modern development of zombie and vampire literature and in popularizing the concept of a worldwide apocalypse due to disease. Neville additionally discovers more efficient means of killing the vampires, other than just driving a stake into their hearts. PART I: January 1976 Chapter One ON THOSE CLOUDY DAYS, Robert Neville was never sure when sunset came, and sometimes they were in the streets before he could get back. They have developed medication that diminishes the worst of their symptoms. I Am Legend . Thank you so much for joining us this morning. Influencing great modern horror writers like Stephen King, it's one that will stick with you. In this version, the infected are portrayed as nocturnal, black-robed, albino mutants, known as the Family. For an enhanced browsing experience, get the IMDb app on your smartphone or tablet. (2011). During the opening title sequence, a news report is heard. Instead of blowing himself and the hemocytes up with a grenade, Neville discovers that the hemocytes actually came for the female he captured earlier in the movie. Check out the official I Am Legend (2007) Trailer starring Will Smith! Though intelligent, they eschew modern technology, believing it (and those who use it, such as Neville) to be evil and the cause of humanity's downfall. Directed by Francis Lawrence. I Am Legend: Awakening - Story 2: Isolation. Also adaptations are set in the near future, a few years after the film's release, while the novel is set 20 years after its publication date. 2007’s I Am Legend is an end-of-the-world movie about Robert Neville (played by Will Smith), an army virologist living in New York City during the outbreak of a fast-spreading virus that eventually wipes out most of civilization and leaves aggressive, zombie-like “darkseekers” behind. It was also an inspiration behind Night of the Living Dead (1968). The three adaptations show him finding a remedy and passing it on. The infected are portrayed as nocturnal, feral creatures of limited intelligence who hunt the uninfected with berserker-like rage. 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