Final Man: Robert Neville
From: The Omega Man
Sidekick: A chess-playing bust of Julius Caesar
I Am Legendmay have been the first film to use the book's title, but Richard Matheson’s story had already been mined for two previous films. First in 1964's The Last Man on Earth, starring the criminally unnerving Vincent Price, and more notably with Charlton "Damn X" Heston in 1971's The Omega Man.
Above: You think he became the head of the NRA through pacifism?
Every one of these three films takes a turn shitting on the source material, but Omega is by far the most amusing. Due to the technological limitations of the day, hyper-dexterous vampire creatures had to be substituted for the next best thing: jive-talkin’ albinos.
Above: The Manis gonna make us CGI next time, ya dig.
Oddly enough,Vinnie Price’s version may be the most authentic to the book (which you can watchherein its entirety) since Omega and Legend buckle and throw more humans into the mix later in the film. But in their defense,no one wanted to Will Smith talking to a volleyball for an hour and a half.
Above: Carnival of Nevilles
They’re all wonderful doomsday scenarios, but Omega Man’s iconic isolation is arguably the most famous,famously parodied over two decades later in one The Simpsons’ most memorable Treehouse of Horror episodes.
Want to Win your own copy of I Am Legend on Blu-Ray? Click the above Homega Man to find out how.
