Monthly Archives: November 2016

The Last Man on Earth (1964) Review

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One from the re watch pile…
The Last Man on Earth (1964)


Film: Richard Christian Matheson’s I Am Legend has been translated many times for film, but I have only seen three of them, and in my opinion, only one that is really worth repeat watching. 

The most recent was in 2007, where Will Smith starred in a version given the same name as the book, and it was pretty dire. The basic concepts were there, but the execution of the monsters was a CGI nightmare… though I do like the fact that they were voice by Faith No More’s Mike Patton!

Before that was 1971’s The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston. This film, directed by Boris Sagal, is a heap of fun, and I did enjoy it. For a period of time as an early teen I had this, and The Ultimate Warrior starring Yul Brynner on VHS (copied off the TV) and watched them both regularly but as I got older I lost interest, either due to over-watching it, or maybe I became bored of Heston’s machismo and macho scientist. Maybe I’ll watch it again one day, but that day is not soon.

For me, this one, The Last Man on Earth, is the one. It’s easily my favourite, even though Vincent Price may have been miscast, but godammit, its Vincent freaking Price, and he can be in whatever the hell he WANTS to be in!!

The Last Man on Earth: Vincent Price as Robert Morgan


Originally slated as a Hammer film with a different cast, The Last Man on Earth had Matheson himself write the screenplay, albeit under an alias, and was directed by Italian director Ubaldo Ragona, with a predominantly Italian cast, so as one would expect, there is a fair bit of dubbing.

Our story is set slightly in the future world of the late sixties (the film being made in 1964) and we follow the memories and internal monologue of the survivor, Dr. Robert Morgan (Vincent Price) of a plague that has turned its survivors into strange creatures of the night, who hate garlic and their reflection, and are repelled by daylight.

He spends his days getting supplies, and going systematically through neighbourhoods killing sleeping infected people before throwing their bodies into a giant pit where their corpses are burnt by a fire that seemingly has been burning for years. At night, he hides in his battered house, trapped not only by the vampire/ zombie creatures, including his former friend and fellow scientist, Ben Cortman (Giacomo Rossi Stuart) but also by the memories of dead wife, Virg (Emma Danieli) and daughter, Kathy (Christi Courtland).

His loneliness after being alone for 3 years reveals a descent into madness, until he sees another living being, Ruth Collins (Franca Bettoia). Is she another survivor of the plague, or is she a part of something else… something that could lead to Morgan’s eventual destruction…

The Last Man on Earth: Vincent Price and Franca Bettoia


This story is a disturbing psychological drama where we are basically observing a mission-oriented psychopath, brought upon by the stressor of his wife and daughter’s death, and how he becomes sloppy and unstuck completely when his routine is changed by an interloper. A lot of the film sees Price going about his business with a constant monologue running over the top, and his history told through flashbacks.

This film was said to be an inspiration on George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead and you can really seen it in so many scenes! For me, I like this as much as Romero’s film and Price adds such a degree of class to the whole thing.

Score: ****

Format: This film, the Australian, region B Cinema Cult bluray is presented in a quite good 2.35:1 image with a decent DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 soundtrack. The film has frequent artefacts but not to the point that it becomes a distraction. It’s hard to bag a film of this age on its quality considering the vintage of the print.

The Last Man on Earth Cinema Cult menu screen


Score: ***1/2

Extras: Only a bunch of trailers that have been released under the Cinema Cult banner: The Killing, Paths of Glory, Dr. Phibes Rises Again and Masters of the Universe.

Score: *

WISIA: For me, this is the best adaption of Matheson’s I Am Legend. It may not be entirely faithful to the book, but it shows that the story can be told with quality acting, and subtlety rather than dreadful CGI or Heston heroics.

The Last Man on Earth: vampire/ zombie things attack!

Gnome Alone aka Legend (2015) Review

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One from the to watch pile…
Gnome Alone aka Legend (2015)

The Australian DVD release of Gnome Alone


Film: In the 90s there was this brief horrible period of horror movie-dom where it seemed every studio was trying to replicate the big franchises of the 80s like the Friday the 13ths and the Nightmare on Elm Streets. 

Particularly the Nightmare on Elm Streets. 

For a brief moment, glib one liners and ironic deaths were all the rage, and unfortunately, the makers of this film have decided that they should make a comeback. Something in which I firmly disagree. As much as I love Freddy, I prefer a more machine like, less chatty killer. I mean, a subtle threat here and there is one thing, but amusing taunts are another.

Gnome Alone: Kerry Knuppe as Zoe


Gnome Alone tells the tale of Zoe (Kerry Knuppe), who has a hard life. Other kids at school pick on her, her teacher make humiliating advances on her in front of other students, her step-dad is molesting her and her late night job is unpleasant. 

One night, a homeless lady, Ms. Mae (Willow Hale) who is a customer of the shop Zoe works in, is beaten up by a couple of local thugs but they, and we, the viewers, find out quickly that she has a curse where anyone who crosses her, gets their just desserts at the hand of a gnome (Verne Troyer).

Unfortunately for both Zoe and Ms. Mae, Ms. Mae dies after being hit by a car, and the gnome, who took a liking to Zoe, passes the curse on to her. Now whenever Zoe makes an idle threat, it comes horribly true!

The police start investigating some of the deaths and find the common denominator is Zoe, and they start to close in…

I have to say that I enjoyed pretty much well nothing about this film. The quips from the gnome were obvious and terrible, the effects average and the acting was of high school musical standards…and I don’t mean the movie High School Musical: that acting was fine in comparison.

Gnome Alone: Verne Troyer as the gnome


Verne Troyer plays the gnome like some kind of bizarre, and I hate to say it, Mini-me version of Freddy Krueger, but latter day Freddy with the bad puns and stupid asides. Most of his scenes seem to be shot separately and edited together to look like he is there, as he doesn’t actually interact frequently with many other cast members.

For me though, I feel sorry for Kerry Knuppe. Her acting ability seems to be leaps and bounds ahead of others in this film, and at times she almost looks like she is waiting for the people acting opposite to raise their games, but it never happens.

I’m not sure what the director was trying to do with some of the decisions made in this film either. For example, the female teacher, who is nothing short of a sexual predator on her students, is shown in a scene that makes her affair with a female student appear to be sexy. I’m not so sure it is.

That’s not to mention that police procedures that have been around for years, you know, like a little thing called ‘evidence’, have been thrown out the window in place of assumptions and bullying, and it’s quite hard for me to swallow a movie that shows all the police as buffoons. If you are making a film about corrupt cops, that’s one thing, but to have your entire police force in that manner in a film is just bad scriptwriting.

I paid $6.98 for this film at JB Hifi’s Halloween horror movie sale and was overcharged by about $111.68. Avoid like a herpes milkshake.

Score: *

Gnome Alone DVD menu screen: note lack of extras


Format: It’s one thing to make a shitty movie, but another to release it in a poor manner is unforgivable. This Australian, region 4 DVD release of the film runs for approximately 90 minutes (the cover says 85 minutes, but it’s wrong… another unforgivable crime). The film is presented in a 16:9 video of varying quality, mostly too dark, and in a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio that is far too quiet at some points. I’m not sure if that’s the film quality or the mastering of the disc, but it’s still pretty poor.

Score: **

Extras: Nothing to see here, move along…

Score: 0

WISIA: I doubt very much if this film will ever see the light of day in my house ever again.

Gnome Alone: didn’t I mention there’s a leprechaun? (Travis Eberhard)