firecat

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

I didn't expect much from the book that inspired George Romero to make Night of the Living Dead (I am not a fan of zombies), but I was pleasantly surprised. Published in 1954, I Am Legend had a huge influence on the modern vampire and zombie horror genres. The story focuses exclusively on the activities and inner dialogue of a man who believes he is the last survivor of a plague that infected all other humans with a zombie-ish form of vampirism. The book is well written and doesn't pull any punches. The survivalism/vampire trope is basically an excuse to explore human emotion in all its variety.

Trivia note: Richard Matheson also wrote the Star Trek:TOS first-season episode "The Enemy Within."

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From:

xiphias.livejournal.com

I have to read that at some time, but it's one of those works like Psycho or The Sixth Sense where I already KNOW the twist before I've ever seen it.

It seems to me that a vampire story is about a small number of monsters preying on a large group of innocents/victims, while a zombie story is about a large number of monsters preying on a small group of innocents/victims.

And that I Am Legend is the story of a man who thinks he's the hero of a zombie story, but discovers that he's actually the villian in a vampire story.

From:

epi-lj.livejournal.com

I'v been meaning to read that ever since I saw the Will Smith movie.

From:

firecat

I am told it's very different from the Will Smith movie. See other comments for other movies based on the book.

From:

epi-lj.livejournal.com

I think that's one of the reasons that I want to read it, though; to see where the differences were. Often when I know a movie is based on a book that I haven't read and there are certain parts that I find better than others or I find it in some way controversial, it makes me wonder how the book treated those issues, or what parts came from the book and what parts were original.

From:

firecat

I have the same urge when I see a movie without having read the associated book.

From:

stefanie-bean.livejournal.com

What a coincidence - the other night we watched the Vincent Price 1964 film, The Last Man on Earth. I liked it much better than the Will Smith film, as it had all the bleak elements I've come to associate with more "classic" sci-fi/horror: the grungy set; the protagonist falling to pieces; the despairing twist at the end. And of course the "throw the dummy off the cliff" wonderful production values.

Intriguing point, the film was shot in Rome, and some of the 1960s "modern art" buildings were fun to look at, including a quite modern church design (we associate modern churches with "post-Vatican II" but this was obviously built way before that.)