Welcome to the last Vincent Price Tuesday…
A mysterious plague has either killed everyone on Earth or turned them into vampires. One man remains, Dr. Robert Morgan (Vincent Price), who seems immune to the disease. He spends every day scavenging for necessities to live and hunting down vampires to kill to make nights easier and safer for him.
After years of loneliness, Dr. Morgan comes upon a woman in the daylight, Ruth (Franca Bettoia). She seems to be suffering from the disease but it has not taken its full toll yet. Knowing he is immune, Morgan uses his blood to cure Ruth of her plague. When it works, Morgan and Ruth realize that everyone can be saved but what Morgan doesn’t know is that the vampires have created their own society, bent on bringing him to his demise.
If the The Last Man on Earth story sounds familiar, it should because it was remade several years later as I Am Legend starring Will Smith.
Vincent Price is perfectly cast as Dr. Morgan, a lonely man narrating his repetitive life of daily hunting and scrounging and fighting off the undead by night. We get to see glimpses of life just before the plague hit and the slow progression of how Morgan came to be the last of his kind.
He had to watch his wife and daughter die, as well as his best friend, whom Morgan has been forced to fight against as he was one of the people that turned. We see Morgan work on a cure over the years without considering that he, himself, might be the cure until it is too late.
The arrival of Ruth saves Morgan from his routine. Believing he has found another survivor, Morgan invites her into his home and sets to work on fixing her up. What he is unaware of is that Ruth and the other vampires have created a serum that allows them to walk in the daylight, making it easier to trick Morgan, the man who has been killing them off. But once Ruth is cured, she realizes that Morgan is not the monster they have all come to believe and that he holds their salvation, she is forced to protect him from her own kind.
Though it may feel slow and drawn out at times, keep in mind that life for his character is slow and drawn out with no one for him to talk to. You are forced to feel just how torturously alone he really is. Once you accept that, you will see just how amazing this film really is. So amazing, in fact, it inspired the infamous Night of the Living Dead.
So this is it, the last Vincent Price Tuesday of October. The Last Man on Earth only seems appropriate for such an event. I really hope you enjoy it and hopefully these Tuesday’s have caused you to venture out and try other Vincent Price titles. Not to make a pun here but Price is a legend in the horror world, and for good reason-he has no equal. Consider making him a bigger part of your viewing pleasure. I sincerely doubt you will be disappointed.
===========================================================================================================================================
Ann Hale is the horror editor for Pop-Break.com and a senior contributing writer, reviewing horror movies and television shows. She is also the American Correspondent for Lovehorror.co.uk. Ann attended East Carolina University, majoring in English Literature. She is a collector of Halloween (the film) memorabilia and is a self-admitted opinionated horror nerd. You can follow her, her collection and her cat, Edward Kittyhands on Twitter and Instagram @Scarletjupiter
===========================================================================================================================================
