Of course, maybe not so much smugness and the rabid, slobbering compulsion to stick it to someone for not being aware of something, being born too early, etc. Wait… why was it that I don’t post here very often again… I just can’t remember.
Geez… why can’t I remember?! It’s right on the tip of my tongue!
Well, it is a rip off of 28 Days Later in the sense that 28 Days Later was a zombie movie and people liked it and it made money and studios notice that sort of thing so of course we’re in for a bunch of zombie movies until the studios think we’re tired of them again.
But the real reason I’m here. Did anyone watch the trailer for the new Rambo movie on the same page linked to in the OP? OMG, must we?
They are all just jealous. You get to appreciate this movie as a fresh, new experience, without the need to judge it by the earlier versions starring Vincent Price or Charlton Heston.*
*These men were famous actors back in the early days of film.
This board is about fighting ignorance. Thinking that 28 Days Later was original, and that I am Legend is an imitation of it, indicates some cinematic ignorance. That’s not an insult, just an observation; it can be fixed, and you’ll have fun fixing it.
First, order a copy of Richard Matheson’s novel. (The edition I’ve linked to has some other great stories, too.) Read it, reflect on the fact that it was written over half a century ago, and think about how many stories and movies since show its influence.
Then, start educating yourself about the history of fantasy, science fiction and horror in the cinema. There are any number of books on the subject; I’m sure a lot of folks here can recommend some good ones. One of my favorites is Science Fiction Movies by Phillip Strick (only goes up to the 1970’s, but it’s great). Also get the big, thick (but fun) reference works The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. (I think those may be available as interactive CD-ROMs as well.)
I lent my copy of I am Legend to one of my workstudies this summer who has an interest in fantastic literature but had never read a horror novel. I did this because I’m trying to mold him into my image. It is a fantastic (short) novel. EsotericEnigma: Read it.
It has been a very long time since I saw *The Last Man on Earth * but I seem to remember that it followed the book very closely, in tone and plot. I thought it was one of Vincent Price’s best movies. I think the movie was made for about $4.23 and it shows but still a pretty good movie.
In the novel, he doesn’t find a cure, and he doesn’t find a cure in the first film version (The Last Man on Earth). In The Omega Man, the second film version of the novel, he does find a cure …
… but dies in the end after saving the human race.
I remember catching it on late-night TV once and being surprised at how good it was (given budgetary constraints, and given that Vincent Price wasn’t really the man for the part).
I’m pretty sure he does, but he doesn’t get a chance to use it (if you’re referring to the Vincent Price version).
His own blood provides immunity and works as a cure on the woman with him - forgot her name. But they are both killed before he can explain it to the others.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I’ve come up with one way. It’s also the main reason I find 28 Days Later very interesting:
[spoiler]Jim, the bike messenger who is the central character of the movie, never kills any of the Infected! He only kills healthy people! That’s the message behind the film: there are worse people in this world than the hordes of mindless hate-filled zombies that want to beat you to death with their bare hands. In fact, some of the worst people will go out of their way to convince you that they’re going to be your best friend right before they turn on you.
Jim never kills any zombies. Even when the young girl’s father is infected by a drop of blood that splashes into his eye, Jim can’t bring himself to turn on his former traveling companion before the Rage virus takes over and ends up needing to be saved by one of the soldiers. I waffled back and forth about whether the boy at the gas station was infected, but we know by listening to the army commander’s soliloquy that the Infected are unable to speak intelligibly, so the boy must have somehow avoided being infected and thus attacked Jim purely of his own malice and/or desperation!
Everyone else that Jim kills (namely, the soldiers at the army post) is someone who could have been his ally, holding out for hope against wave after wave of zombies, but instead they lure his party to the post solely to take advantage of them.[/spoiler]
I probably won’t make it to see I Am Legend at the theater because I have two small children, but maybe Kelliebeans and I can watch it on DVD after we get The Omega Man from Netflix.
I thought I am Legend is a remake of The Stand which is a remake of Resident Evil?
Ahh who cares. I just want to see Will Smith fighting something other than aliens and irobots.
Don’t bother with the cave drawing, it didn’t age well. The pottery shard was way better. And as far as I’m concerned, the fresco version never happened.