The Last Man on Earth, 1964.
Directed by Ubaldo Ragona and Sidney Salkow.
Starring Vincent Price.
Based on Richard Matheson's classic 1954 sci-fi/horror novel I Am Legend (with Matheson contributing the screenplay under the pseudonym Logan Swanson), The Last Man on Earth is an Italian production starring horror legend Vincent Price as Dr. Robert Morgan, the sole-survivor of a plague that has turned the world's population into vampire-like creatures.
Morgan spends his nights locked away in his house and by day he hunts the creatures and burns their bodies. He comes to suspect that he is immune to the virus and believes that he may be able to create a cure for the infected. His suspicions are proven correct when he discovers a partially infected woman Ruth, who he is able to cure, but this only serves to endanger him further...
Originally set for production under the British studio Hammer Films, the property was transferred to to American producer Robert L. Lippert who then shot the low-budget film in Rome, Italy. A suspensful and chilling thriller, the film served as a strong influence on director George A. Romero's zombie classic Night of the Living Dead (1968), and its popularity has continued to grow over the years. While Matheson was disappointed with the final film (and felt that Price was miscast in the role), The Last Man on Earth is considered by some to be the finest adaptation of his novel (with the other official incarnations being the 1971 Charlton Heston movie The Omega Man, and 2007 Will Smith vehicle I Am Legend).
Embed courtesy of Internet Archive.
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