I am legend (original cover)

While not technically about zombies or the reanimation of dead flesh, Richard Matheson’s third novel I AM LEGEND (1954) plows fertile soil for the roots of modern zombie fiction. Isolation and routine are the painful truths that accompany a world where the human race is, by all signs, extinct.

I am Lengend (second print)

Lead man Robert Neville struggles in a prison of his own home. Reinforced and decorated with garlic, Robert’s house takes a beating every night when the vampires come to scream and chuck rocks at him. If that didn’t suck enough, Robert has to wake up every morning to face daylight and the total absence of other human life. The cities are empty. All of the material products that human society had to offer before the monsters took over means nothing to Robert without companionship. No doubt, George A. Romero shared writer Matheson’s insight to a purposeless consumer society in his brilliant and heavy-handed DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978).

Omega Man (1971)

Robert Neville’s growing alcoholism and sexual frustration eventually takes a toll on his judgment. The endless daily errands and vampire defense measures wear on Robert’s commitment to survival, alone in a world of monsters.

Charlton Heston turns the acting knob up to 11 with his own brand of tweak out grimaces in the OMEGA MAN (1971). Sadly, this film stands the Hollywood quick-telling of Matheson’s masterpiece. Plus, someone replaced all of the cool vampires with creepy guys in robes, which is creepy but makes no sense.

Vincent Price was responsible for the most accurate iteration of Neville’s character in the original adaptation called THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964).

Last Man on Earth (1964)

Tragically, Hollywood’s third and worst version I AM LEGEND (2008) modified the original story beyond recognition, relying on sexy Scientologist Will Smith and slick CGI to tell the story. When will people learn that 3D animation is never 1/3 as scary as latex, chocolate blood, stop motion and creepy camera angles?

When compiling literature that explores the struggles of the post-zombie-holocaust, after the panic and smoke has settled, I AM LEGEND cannot be left out, along with WORLD WAR Z and the WALKING DEAD series of course. Both in narrative technique and social commentary, Richard Matheson’s enduring undead vampire myth has been referenced and ripped off by the even the best of zombie visionaries.