I Am Legend
Encyclopedia
I Am Legend is a 1954 horror fiction novel by American writer Richard Matheson
. It was influential in the development of the zombie genre and in popularizing the concept of a worldwide apocalypse
due to disease
. The novel was a success and was adapted to film as The Last Man on Earth in 1964, as The Omega Man
in 1971, and as I Am Legend
in 2007, along with a direct to video 2007 production capitalizing on that film, I Am Omega
. The novel was also the inspiration behind the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead
.
whose symptoms resemble vampirism
. The narrative details Neville's daily life in Los Angeles
as he attempts to comprehend, research, and possibly cure the disease, to which he is immune
. Neville's past is revealed through flashback
s.
After bouts of depression
and alcoholism
, Neville obtains books and other research materials from a library, and through painstaking research discovers the root of the vampiric disease in a strain of bacteria
capable of infecting both deceased and living hosts.
After three years, Neville sees an apparently uninfected woman, Ruth, abroad in the daylight, and captures her. Having become accustomed to her, Neville becomes suspicious of Ruth and notices that she is upset when he speaks of killing vampires, on grounds that if her story of survival was true, she would have become hardened to the act. One night Neville is startled awake and finds Ruth about to leave. Suspicious, he questions her motives, but relates the trauma of his past, whereupon they comfort each other. Ruth reluctantly allows him a blood sample but knocks him senseless when he realizes she is infected. When he wakes, Neville discovers a note stating that the infected have slowly overcome their disease until they can spend short periods of time in sunlight and are attempting to rebuild society; but fear and hate Neville who he has destroyed some of their people along with the true vampires (dead bodies animated by the germ) during his daytime excursions against the latter. Ruth warns Neville that her people will attempt to capture him, and that he should leave his house and escape; but Neville disregards Ruth's warning and is captured.
Neville wakes in a prison where he is visited by Ruth, who informs him that she is a ranking member of the new society but unlike the others does not resent him. She acknowledges the need for Neville's execution, and gives him pills, claiming they will "make it easier". Badly injured, Neville accepts his fate and asks Ruth not to let this society become heartless. Ruth kisses him and leaves.
Neville goes to his prison window and sees all the infected waiting for his execution. Judging by their reactions to the sight of him, he comprehends their point of view, having hitherto seen the destruction of the infected survivors as a moral imperative to be pursued for his own and mankind's survival, and realizes that even as vampires were legend in pre-infection times, he, a remnant of old humanity, is legend to the new race born of the infection. He therefore remarks to himself as he dies: "[I am] a new superstition
entering the unassailable fortress of forever. I am legend".
(1956), Damon Knight
wrote:
Galaxy
reviewer Groff Conklin
described Legend as "a weird [and] rather slow-moving first novel . . . a horrid, violent, sometimes exciting but too often overdone tour de force." 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".
Dan Schneider
from International Writers Magazine: Book Review wrote in 2005:
Psychologist Mikhail Lyubansky, Ph.D. noted the parallels Richard Matheson made between his vampiric race and African Americans. This reading was first suggested by the literary scholar Kathy Davis Patterson in 2005 (and subsequently criticized).
-like repellant, there is little similarity between them and vampires as developed by John William Polidori and his successors, which come straight out of the gothic novel tradition. I Am Legend influenced the zombie genre and popularized the concept of a worldwide zombie apocalypse
. Although the idea has now become commonplace, a scientific origin for vampirism or zombies was fairly original when written. According to Clasen:
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). 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." Moreover, film critics noted similarities between Night of the Living Dead (1968) and The Last Man on Earth (1964).
Stephen King
said, "Books like I Am Legend were an inspiration to me". 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.
Although never acknowledged by Matheson, it is worth noting that Mary Shelley
published a novel entitled The Last Man
that told the story of a future world ravaged by a plague and the last solitary inhabitant.
mini-series
titled Richard Matheson's I Am Legend by Steve Niles
and Elman Brown. It was published in 1991 by Eclipse Comics
and collected into a trade paperback
by IDW Publishing
.
An unrelated film tie in was released in 2007 as a one-shot I Am Legend: Awakening published in a San Diego Comic Con special by Vertigo.
was originally broadcast on BBC Radio 7 in December 2007.
, 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). Matheson wrote the screenplay for this adaptation, but due to later rewrites did not wish his name to appear in the credits; as a result, Matheson is credited under the pseudonym "Logan Swanson."
, a far different version appeared as The Omega Man
, starring Charlton Heston
(as Robert Neville) and Anthony Zerbe
. Matheson had no influence on the screenplay for this film; it deviates from the novel's story in several ways, completely removing the vampiric elements except for sensitivity to light.
stars in the film directed by Francis Lawrence
, released on December 14, 2007. This film also deviates from the original novel, but a rewrite in scenario was done to distance the project from the other zombie
films inspired by I Am Legend. The infection is caused by a virus originally intended to cure cancer
. Some vampiric elements are retained, such as sensitivity to UV light
and attraction to blood, though the infected are portrayed as creatures of limited intelligence. The film takes place in New York City in the years 2009 and 2012 rather than Los Angeles in 1975-1977.
stars in this 2007 American feature length direct to video release. The film takes place in a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, which is overrun by savage, cannibalistic humans who have degenerated into a feral subspecies as the result of a genetic virus. Once again, the adaption deviates from the original "vampiric" story and does not credit Matheson's original story.
In this adaption, 'Renchard' has been forced to live in a daily struggle for survival against the mutants. Renchard is contacted via webcam by Brianna (Jennifer Lee Wiggins), another survivor who was stranded in Los Angeles while trying to find Antioch, a community of survivors. Reluctantly, Renchard is forced to aid her and two others escape the city in which he has strategically placed time bombs, set to go off in 24 hours.
This film was rushed into production by The Asylum
and released a month prior to the bigger budget Francis Lawrence project.
Richard Matheson
Richard Burton Matheson is an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is perhaps best known as the author of What Dreams May Come, Bid Time Return, A Stir of Echoes, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and I Am Legend, all of which have been...
. It was influential in the development of the zombie genre and in popularizing the concept of a worldwide apocalypse
Apocalypse
An Apocalypse is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The Apocalypse of John is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament...
due to disease
Disease
A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...
. The novel was a success and was adapted to film as The Last Man on Earth in 1964, as The Omega Man
The Omega Man
The Omega Man is a 1971 American science fiction film directed by Boris Sagal and starring Charlton Heston. It is based on the novel I Am Legend by American writer Richard Matheson...
in 1971, and as I Am Legend
I Am Legend (film)
I Am Legend is a 2007 post-apocalyptic science fiction film directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Will Smith. It is the third feature film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel of the same name, following 1964's The Last Man on Earth and 1971's The Omega Man. Smith plays virologist Robert...
in 2007, along with a direct to video 2007 production capitalizing on that film, I Am Omega
I Am Omega
I Am Ωmega is a 2007 direct-to-DVD American doomsday film produced by The Asylum and starring Mark Dacascos of Iron Chef America.The film is an unofficial adaptation of the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, the title being a portmanteau of The Omega Man and 2007's I Am Legend with Will Smith,...
. The novel was also the inspiration behind the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead
Night of the Living Dead
Night of the Living Dead is a 1968 American independent black-and-white zombie film and cult film directed by George A. Romero, starring Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea and Karl Hardman. It premiered on October 1, 1968, and was completed on a USD$114,000 budget. After decades of cinematic re-releases, it...
.
Plot
The main character is Robert Neville, apparently the sole survivor of a pandemicPandemic
A pandemic is an epidemic of infectious disease that is spreading through human populations across a large region; for instance multiple continents, or even worldwide. A widespread endemic disease that is stable in terms of how many people are getting sick from it is not a pandemic...
whose symptoms resemble vampirism
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
. The narrative details Neville's daily life in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
as he attempts to comprehend, research, and possibly cure the disease, to which he is immune
Immunity (medical)
Immunity is a biological term that describes a state of having sufficient biological defenses to avoid infection, disease, or other unwanted biological invasion. Immunity involves both specific and non-specific components. The non-specific components act either as barriers or as eliminators of wide...
. Neville's past is revealed through flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
s.
After bouts of depression
Depression (mood)
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
and alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
, Neville obtains books and other research materials from a library, and through painstaking research discovers the root of the vampiric disease in a strain of bacteria
Bacteria
Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
capable of infecting both deceased and living hosts.
After three years, Neville sees an apparently uninfected woman, Ruth, abroad in the daylight, and captures her. Having become accustomed to her, Neville becomes suspicious of Ruth and notices that she is upset when he speaks of killing vampires, on grounds that if her story of survival was true, she would have become hardened to the act. One night Neville is startled awake and finds Ruth about to leave. Suspicious, he questions her motives, but relates the trauma of his past, whereupon they comfort each other. Ruth reluctantly allows him a blood sample but knocks him senseless when he realizes she is infected. When he wakes, Neville discovers a note stating that the infected have slowly overcome their disease until they can spend short periods of time in sunlight and are attempting to rebuild society; but fear and hate Neville who he has destroyed some of their people along with the true vampires (dead bodies animated by the germ) during his daytime excursions against the latter. Ruth warns Neville that her people will attempt to capture him, and that he should leave his house and escape; but Neville disregards Ruth's warning and is captured.
Neville wakes in a prison where he is visited by Ruth, who informs him that she is a ranking member of the new society but unlike the others does not resent him. She acknowledges the need for Neville's execution, and gives him pills, claiming they will "make it easier". Badly injured, Neville accepts his fate and asks Ruth not to let this society become heartless. Ruth kisses him and leaves.
Neville goes to his prison window and sees all the infected waiting for his execution. Judging by their reactions to the sight of him, he comprehends their point of view, having hitherto seen the destruction of the infected survivors as a moral imperative to be pursued for his own and mankind's survival, and realizes that even as vampires were legend in pre-infection times, he, a remnant of old humanity, is legend to the new race born of the infection. He therefore remarks to himself as he dies: "[I am] a new superstition
Superstition
Superstition is a belief in supernatural causality: that one event leads to the cause of another without any process in the physical world linking the two events....
entering the unassailable fortress of forever. I am legend".
Critical reception
In In Search of WonderIn Search of Wonder
In Search of Wonder: Essays on Modern Science Fiction is a collection of critical essays by Damon Knight. Most of the material in the book was originally published between 1952 and 1955 in various science fiction magazines including Infinity Science Fiction, Original SF Stories, and Future SF...
(1956), Damon Knight
Damon Knight
Damon Francis Knight was an American science fiction author, editor, critic and fan. His forte was short stories and he is widely acknowledged as having been a master of the genre.-Biography:...
wrote:
The book is full of good ideas, every other one of which is immediately dropped and kicked out of sight. The characters are child's drawings, as blank-eyed and expressionless as the author himself in his back-cover photograph. The plot limps. 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.
Galaxy
Galaxy Science Fiction
Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by an Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break in to the American market. World Editions hired as editor H. L...
reviewer Groff Conklin
Groff Conklin
Edward Groff Conklin was a leading science fiction anthologist. He edited 40 anthologies of science fiction, one of mystery stories , wrote books on home improvement and was a freelance writer on scientific subjects as well as a published poet...
described Legend as "a weird [and] rather slow-moving first novel . . . a horrid, violent, sometimes exciting but too often overdone tour de force." Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...
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".
Dan Schneider
Dan Schneider (writer)
Dan Schneider is a United States poet, critic, film critic, essayist, and fiction writer best known for his criticism and literary website Cosmoetica. Schneider discovered poetry as a young adult, and has since published his poetry and essays in a number of magazines and newspapers...
from International Writers Magazine: Book Review wrote in 2005:
...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. Instead, it is perhaps the greatest novel written on human loneliness. It far surpasses Daniel DeFoe’s Robinson CrusoeRobinson CrusoeRobinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe that was first published in 1719. Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is a fictional autobiography of the title character—a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and...
in that regard. Its insights into what it is to be human go far beyond genre, and is all the more surprising because, having read his short stories - which range from competent but simplistic, to having classic Twilight Zone twists (he was a major contributor to the original TV series) there is nothing within those short stories that suggests the supreme majesty of the existential masterpiece I Am Legend was aborning.
Psychologist Mikhail Lyubansky, Ph.D. noted the parallels Richard Matheson made between his vampiric race and African Americans. This reading was first suggested by the literary scholar Kathy Davis Patterson in 2005 (and subsequently criticized).
Influence
Although Matheson calls the assailants in his novel "vampires", and though their condition is transmitted through blood and garlic is an apotropaicApotropaic magic
Apotropaic magic is a type of magic intended to "turn away" harm or evil influences."Apotropaic" observances may also be practiced out of vague superstition or out of tradition, as in good luck charm , or gestures like fingers crossed or knocking on wood.Apotropaic is an adjective that means...
-like repellant, there is little similarity between them and vampires as developed by John William Polidori and his successors, which come straight out of the gothic novel tradition. I Am Legend influenced the zombie genre and popularized the concept of a worldwide zombie apocalypse
Zombie apocalypse
A zombie apocalypse is a particular scenario of apocalyptic literature that customarily has a science fiction/horror rationale. In a zombie apocalypse, a widespread rise of zombies hostile to human life engages in a general assault on civilization....
. Although the idea has now become commonplace, a scientific origin for vampirism or zombies was fairly original when written. According to Clasen:
"I Am Legend is the product of an anxious artistic mind working in an anxious cultural climate. However, it is also a playful take on an old archetype, the vampire (the reader is even treated to Neville’s reading and put-down of Bram StokerBram StokerAbraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
's DraculaDraculaDracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
). 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. 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 SimmonsDan SimmonsDan Simmons is an American author most widely known for his Hugo Award-winning science fiction series, known as the Hyperion Cantos, and for his Locus-winning Ilium/Olympos cycle....
in Children of the Night from 1992)."
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
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
George A. Romero
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...
, who acknowledged its influence and that of its 1964 adaptation, The Last Man on Earth, upon his seminal film Night of the Living Dead
Night of the Living Dead
Night of the Living Dead is a 1968 American independent black-and-white zombie film and cult film directed by George A. Romero, starring Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea and Karl Hardman. It premiered on October 1, 1968, and was completed on a USD$114,000 budget. After decades of cinematic re-releases, it...
(1968). 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." Moreover, film critics noted similarities between Night of the Living Dead (1968) and The Last Man on Earth (1964).
Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
said, "Books like I Am Legend were an inspiration to me". Film critics noted that the British film
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
28 Days Later
28 Days Later
28 Days Later is an acclaimed 2002 British horror film directed by Danny Boyle. The screenplay was written by Alex Garland, and the film stars Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Megan Burns, and Christopher Eccleston...
(2002) and its sequel 28 Weeks Later
28 Weeks Later
28 Weeks Later is a 2007 British/Spanish film sequel to the 2002 post-apocalyptic horror film 28 Days Later. 28 Weeks Later was directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and released in the United Kingdom and United States on 11 May 2007...
both feature a rabies
Rabies
Rabies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis in warm-blooded animals. It is zoonotic , most commonly by a bite from an infected animal. For a human, rabies is almost invariably fatal if post-exposure prophylaxis is not administered prior to the onset of severe symptoms...
-type plague ravaging Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, analogous to I Am Legend.
Although never acknowledged by Matheson, it is worth noting that Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus . She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley...
published a novel entitled The Last Man
The Last Man
The Last Man is an apocalyptic science fiction novel by Mary Shelley, which was first published in 1826. The book tells of a future world that has been ravaged by a plague. The novel was harshly reviewed at the time, and was virtually unknown until a scholarly revival beginning in the 1960s...
that told the story of a future world ravaged by a plague and the last solitary inhabitant.
Comics
The book has also been adapted into a comic bookComic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
mini-series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
titled Richard Matheson's I Am Legend by Steve Niles
Steve Niles
Steve Niles is an American comic book author and novelist, known for works such as 30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre, Simon Dark, Mystery Society and Batman: Gotham County Line....
and Elman Brown. It was published in 1991 by Eclipse Comics
Eclipse Comics
Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market...
and collected into a trade paperback
Trade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
by IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing, also known as Idea + Design Works, LLC and IDW, is an American publisher of comic books and comic strip collections. The company was founded in 1999 and has been awarded the title "Publisher of the Year Under 5% Market Share" for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 by Diamond Comic...
.
An unrelated film tie in was released in 2007 as a one-shot I Am Legend: Awakening published in a San Diego Comic Con special by Vertigo.
Radio play
A nine-part abridged reading of the novel performed by Angus MacInnesAngus MacInnes
Angus MacInnes is a Canadian actor. He is most famous for his role as Gold Leader in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, and as former hockey great Jean "Rosey" LaRose in the comedy Strange Brew...
was originally broadcast on BBC Radio 7 in December 2007.
Films
I Am Legend has been adapted to a feature-length film four times (once which does not credit Matheson as the source).The Last Man on Earth
In 19641964 in film
The year 1964 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 29 - The film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is released....
, Vincent Price
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
starred as Dr. Robert Morgan (rather than "Neville") in The Last Man on Earth (the original title of this Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
production was L'ultimo uomo della Terra). Matheson wrote the screenplay for this adaptation, but due to later rewrites did not wish his name to appear in the credits; as a result, Matheson is credited under the pseudonym "Logan Swanson."
The Omega Man
In 19711971 in film
The year 1971 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 8 - Bob Dylan's hour long documentary film, Eat the Document, premieres at New York's Academy of Music...
, a far different version appeared as The Omega Man
The Omega Man
The Omega Man is a 1971 American science fiction film directed by Boris Sagal and starring Charlton Heston. It is based on the novel I Am Legend by American writer Richard Matheson...
, starring Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes...
(as Robert Neville) and Anthony Zerbe
Anthony Zerbe
Anthony Jared Zerbe is an American stage, film and Emmy-winning television actor. Notable film roles include the post-apocalyptic cult leader Matthias in The Omega Man, a 1971 film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel, I Am Legend; Milton Krest in the 1989 James Bond film Licence to Kill;...
. Matheson had no influence on the screenplay for this film; it deviates from the novel's story in several ways, completely removing the vampiric elements except for sensitivity to light.
I Am Legend
Will SmithWill Smith
Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. , also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor, producer, and rapper. He has enjoyed success in television, film and music. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood...
stars in the film directed by Francis Lawrence
Francis Lawrence
Francis Lawrence is an American music video and film director.-Life and career:Lawrence was born in Vienna, Austria. His father is a physicist who taught at California State University, Northridge and his mother is V.P. Technology at a PR agency. He moved to Los Angeles at the age of three...
, released on December 14, 2007. This film also deviates from the original novel, but a rewrite in scenario was done to distance the project from the other zombie
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
films inspired by I Am Legend. The infection is caused by a virus originally intended to cure cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
. Some vampiric elements are retained, such as sensitivity to UV light
Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV...
and attraction to blood, though the infected are portrayed as creatures of limited intelligence. The film takes place in New York City in the years 2009 and 2012 rather than Los Angeles in 1975-1977.
I Am Omega
Mark DacascosMark Dacascos
Mark Alan Dacascos is an American actor and martial artist. He won numerous karate and various styles of kung fu championships between the ages of 7 and 18....
stars in this 2007 American feature length direct to video release. The film takes place in a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, which is overrun by savage, cannibalistic humans who have degenerated into a feral subspecies as the result of a genetic virus. Once again, the adaption deviates from the original "vampiric" story and does not credit Matheson's original story.
In this adaption, 'Renchard' has been forced to live in a daily struggle for survival against the mutants. Renchard is contacted via webcam by Brianna (Jennifer Lee Wiggins), another survivor who was stranded in Los Angeles while trying to find Antioch, a community of survivors. Reluctantly, Renchard is forced to aid her and two others escape the city in which he has strategically placed time bombs, set to go off in 24 hours.
This film was rushed into production by The Asylum
The Asylum
The Asylum is an American film studio and distributor which focuses on producing low-budget, usually direct-to-video productions. The studio has produced titles that capitalize on productions by major studios; these titles have been dubbed "mockbusters" by the press.-History:The Asylum was founded...
and released a month prior to the bigger budget Francis Lawrence project.
See also
- Richard MathesonRichard MathesonRichard Burton Matheson is an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is perhaps best known as the author of What Dreams May Come, Bid Time Return, A Stir of Echoes, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and I Am Legend, all of which have been...
- Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fictionApocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fictionApocalyptic fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that is concerned with the end of civilization due to a potentially existential catastrophe such as nuclear warfare, pandemic, extraterrestrial attack, impact event, cybernetic revolt, technological singularity, dysgenics, supernatural...
- Vampire literature
- Zombie (fictional)
- SurvivalismSurvivalismSurvivalism is a movement of individuals or groups who are actively preparing for future possible disruptions in local, regional, national, or international social or political order...