the vampire movie database
Ultimo Uomo Della Terra, L'
| AKA's: | Damned Walk At Midnight, The / Je Suis Une Legende / Last Man On Earth, The / Naked Terror / Night Creatures, The / Night People / Seres De Las Sombras / Vento Di Morte / Wind Of Death |
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| Release date: | 1964 Italy/USA | Running time: | 87' (cover 87') - Source: DVD (RC 1/NTSC) b/w | Rating: | Germ.: 16; US: NR | ||||
| Main Crew: |
Director: Ubaldo Ragona (Sweet Smell Of Love 1966) Sidney Salkow (The Great Sioux Massacre 1965; The Quick Gun 1964) Producer: American International Pictures / Produzioni La Regina SpA. Score: Paul Sawtell / Bert Shefter Writer: William F. Leicester / Furio M. Menotti / Richard Matheson (as Logan Swanson) (based on his novel "I Am Legend") Director of photography: Franco Delli Colli |
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Cast: |
| Summary: |
Vincent Price plays a scientist who is the last survivor on Earth after a plague turns the rest
of the population into vampires. He escapes contagion due to a jungle virus he had once. | While clearing away the dead bodies and driving stakes into the hearts of sleeping vampires, he falls for Ruth (Franca Bettoia), a vampire who claims to have found a temporary antidote. He tries to free her from the virus before her vampire friends find him and kill him. Note: |
- The movie was originally planned to be produced by British Hammer Films, titled "Night Creatures", but that never came off (the British Censorship Board stated the film as written would have to be banned in England) and passed the script over to their U.S. associate, Robert L. Lippert, who produced the film in Rome, Italy, and was directed by Ubaldo Ragona, with additional footage produced in the United States, directed by Sidney Salkow. |
- Based on the 1954 novel by coscripter Richard Matheson (who disliked the finished result so much that he wanted his name removed from the credits as a screenwriter, using a pseudonym instead, Logan Swanson), this Italian/US co-production was a direct influence on George Romero's later "Night Of The Living Dead" (apart from the obvious similarity, "Night Of The Living Dead" was released in 1968, the same time that the story about "The Last Man On Earth" was to take place).
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short review: This tragic tale of Sci-Fi author Richard Matheson is a real classic (a remake, "The Omega Man", featuring Charlton "Ben Hur" Heston was released in 1971). It's a dismal and depressing story about - as the titel mentions - the last "real" human living on a wasted earth, where zombie-like vampires stumble through the empty streets of the night. The vampires' characterization is the only point about this great film that annoys me a bit. They are dumb, slow and weak. Nevertheless, that explains some of the films sequences. But in its entirety it's really great and dark horror-fiction!  |
