[Pun]

I Am Legend

I stumbled across this trailer on MySpace. Looks really good, even though I'm not a fan of horror movies.

[Lucky]

I'm game. I like Smith. I like vampires. I like post-apocalyptic stories. I'm always cynical when they stick big name actors without a history of horror into major studio horror films with big budgets. Lots of room for people who don't know the genre to get it wrong. Smith's got sci-fi history but... I think it kinda sucks.

Its actually a remake. Twice over. Actually its an adaption of a book that's been adapted into 2 films of different names. The first is a '60s horror film starring Vincent Price, The Last Man On Earth. I own it, I like it. But its slow and relies on Price as an actor and... Price wasn't the greatest actor.

Heston's Omega Man is the other one. Never seen it but I know it. Maybe I'll track it down now that I realize the connection.

Its directed by the guy who did Constantine. Constantine was a big(ger) budget horror starring an big name actor with no horror history. It was ok. I think that's what I'm gonna hope out of the film. An ok Hollywood horror. The film's gonna rely heavily on Smith's acting during the day when he's alone and he's likeable so might not be bad.

[creepy]

luckylopez said:

Its actually a remake. Twice over. Actually its an adaption of a book that's been adapted into 2 films of different names. The first is a '60s horror film starring Vincent Price, The Last Man On Earth. I own it, I like it. But its slow and relies on Price as an actor and... Price wasn't the greatest actor.

This is on that Horror Sampler DVD I have. I like it. But I love me some Vincent Price, so I'm biased.

If this new one is similar to that one, it can be pretty decent. I like WS depending on what he's in.

[Lucky]

Definitely looks faster paced than Price's and closer to Heston's Omega Men (or what I understand that film to be like). Its a vampire movie and Smith's an action star. They'll take advantage of the ability for effects and stick him into high action scenes, unlike Price who had b&w vamps plodding along and mostly just sat in a room scared. But the plot looks similar. Immune man to a plague that turns people into what appear to be vamps tries to figure out what's going on and explain the whys of the plague and the cure, rather than just presuming the supernatural. And I suspect from reading the cast list that the driving force/twist in I Am Legend will be the same as Last Man On Earth.

[Batman]

I like how it's Cast Away for fifteen minutes, then Resident Evil for fifteen minutes, then back to Cast Away. Could be good.

I should really seek out the book, I suspect I'd like it. Though I didn't care for the one Matheson story I've read, "Born of Man and Woman." But lots of writers have recovered from an over-acclaimed first short story to go on to write some decent fiction anyway. . . .