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| Author | Richard Matheson |
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| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | sci-fi/horror/thriller |
| Publisher | Fawcett Gold Medal |
| Publication date | 1954 |
| Media type | Paperback |
| Pages | 160 (1954 edition) 317 (1995 edition) |
| ISBN | ISBN 031286504X (1995 edition) |
I Am Legend is a 1954 science fiction novel by Richard Matheson about the last man alive in a future Los Angeles overrun with vampires/the infected. Notable as influential on the developing modern zombie genre, in popularizing the fictional concept of a worldwide apocalypse due to disease, and in exploring the notion of vampirism as a 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 again in 2007 as I Am Legend, with Will Smith acting out the leading role.
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Plot
The story takes place between January 1976 and January 1979 in Southern California. The novel opens with the monotony and horror of the daily life of the protagonist, Robert Neville. Neville is apparently the only survivor of an apocalypse caused by a pandemic of bacteria, the symptoms of which are similar to vampirism. He spends every day repairing his house, boarding up windows, stringing and hanging garlic, disposing of vampires' corpses on his lawn and going out to gather any additional supplies needed for hunting and killing more vampires. Much of the story is devoted to Neville's struggles to understand the plague that has infected everyone around him, and the novel details the progress of his discoveries. As the story progresses, it is revealed that some infected people have discovered a means to hold the disease at bay. However, the "still living" people appear no different from the true vampire during the day while both are immobilized in sleep. Thus, along with the vampires, Neville kills the still living people. He becomes a source of terror to the still living, since he can go around in daylight (which they can only do for a short length of time using a special pill) and kill them while they sleep. They send a still living woman named Ruth to spy on Neville, and they replicate Neville's relationship with the dog. Ruth, terrified of Neville at first sight, goes against her role of spying on him and runs away. Rather than spend weeks trying to win her over, he attacks her and drags her back to his house. Eventually Neville performs a blood test on her, revealing her true nature to him right before she knocks him out with a mallet. Ruth leaves a note telling him about the group of people like her, explaining that she was sent to spy and how monstrous he appears to them. Months later, the still living people attack, injuring Neville, but taking him alive so that he can be executed in front of everyone in the new society (which Neville finds very primitive). Before he can be executed, Ruth provides him with an envelope of pills. Neville takes the pills to commit suicide before the still living execute him. As he dies he reflects on how the new society of the living infected regards him as a monster. Just as vampires were regarded as legendary monsters that preyed on the vulnerable humans in their beds, Neville has become a mythical figure that kills both vampires and the infected living while they are sleeping. He becomes a legend as the vampires once were, hence the title "I Am Legend".
Influences
I Am Legend would influence the Vampire genre, and popularized the fictional concept of a worldwide apocalypse due to a disease. Although classified as a vampire story and referred to as "the first modern vampire novel,"[1] Legend made an impression on the zombie genre by way of film director George A. Romero. Romero has acknowledged the influence of the novel and its 1964 adaptation on his 1968 film Night of the Living Dead.[2][3][4] Critics have also picked up on similarities between Night and Last Man on Earth.[5][6] Stephen King said, "without Richard Matheson I wouldn’t be around."[7] Some film critics have noted that the 2002 British film 28 Days Later and its sequel 28 Weeks Later, which feature a rabies-like plague that ravages Great Britain, are similar to the scenario in I Am Legend.[8] The recasting of undead creatures as disease victims is also comparable to recent zombie media such as the Resident Evil series, the Blade trilogy, and the 1984 B-movie, Night of the Comet. A straight to DVD film by The Asylum called I Am Omega was released at the same time as the 2007 film I Am Legend.[9]
Adaptations
I Am Legend has been adapted to a feature-length film three times. The book has also been adapted into a graphic novel titled Richard Matheson's I Am Legend by Steve Niles and Elman Brown.[10] A nine-part reading of the novel performed by Angus McInnes was originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4.[11]
The Last Man on Earth
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). Matheson wrote the screenplay for this adaptation, but later rewrites were changed because he 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 1971, 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 vampirical elements.
I Am Legend
Will Smith stars in the film directed by Francis Lawrence, released on December 14, 2007. This movie also deviates from the original novel. The infection is caused by a virus originally intended to cure cancer. The virus however turns lethal and mutates, killing 90% of the world population, leaving less than 1% immune and healthy, and 9% who become "Dark Seekers" (5.4 billion dead, 12 million healthy and 588 million "Dark Seekers"). The "Dark Seekers" display traits more like those of a zombie/vampire hybrid. The omission of the "still living" is also part of the deviation, but is replaced by the fact that that under 1% of the Earth's population are actually entirely immune to the virus rather than "still living". This seems mainly to be a device used by the director to create a bigger climax in the film with the discovery of the final human colony.
See also
References
- ^ David Carroll and Kyla Ward, The Horror Timeline Burnt Toast No. 13 http://www.tabula-rasa.info/DarkAges/Timeline2.html
- ^ House of Horrors Presents: The Night of the Living Dead
- ^ Steve Biodrowski, Night of the Living Dead: The classic film that launched the modern zombiegenre
- ^ Richard Matheson interview, in Tom Weaver, Return of the B Science Fiction and Horror Movie Makers: The Mutant Melding of Two Volumes of Classic Interviews (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1999), p. 307, ISBN 0-7864-0755-7.
- ^ Thomas Scalzo, The Last Man on Earth (film review)
- ^ Danel Griffin The Last Man on Earth (film review)
- ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,923-2278832,00.html
- ^ http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=109016
- ^ http://www.theasylum.cc/product.php?id=136
- ^ http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/STYLE/225372455/-1/style
- ^ http://www.mininova.org/tor/1057926
External links
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| Novel | I Am Legend (1954) |
| Films | The Last Man on Earth (1964) • The Omega Man (1971) • I Am Legend (2007) |
