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Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations

Reviews of vintage science fiction (1945-1985), book review: i am legend , richard matheson (1954).

Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend (1954) is an influential SF vampire/zombie novel that spawned three film adaptations (I’ve watched the first two) and inspired directors such as George A. Romero and Danny Boyle, game designers such as Tim Cain ( Fallout ), and countless authors. The subject of the novel–man attempts to survive an onslaught of vampires, caused by bacterial infection, that act like smart(er) zombies in a post-apocalyptic wasteland–normally isn’t my cup of tea. I’m the first to admit that I picked up the novel entirely due to its historical importance. And I’m somewhat glad I did! While the physical onslaught of vampiric zombies didn’t interest me, the main thrust of the narrative concerns the mechanisms of grief and sexual frustration in the burning wreckage of one-time domestic bliss.

The Rituals of Solace and the Path out of the Haze (*spoilers*)

Richard Neville, a tattooed war veteran mysteriously immune to the vampiric affliction sweeping America, spends his days lathing stakes, traveling short distances from his home killing vampires, hanging garlic, listening to Beethoven, and drinking. The female vampires attempt to cajole him from his house with lewd acts: “there was no union among them. Their need was their only motivation” (12). The facts about the vampires seem straight from gothic legends of the past: “their staying inside by day, their avoidance of garlic, their death by stake, their reputed fear of crosses, their supposed dread of mirrors” (16). Intermixed with Neville’s daily ritual are intense moments of disillusion and sadness as he remembers the domestic happiness before the disease within the same walls he still occupies. He deeply loved his wife Virginia and his young baby Kathy. When he dreams about Virginia his “fingers gripped the sheet like frenzied talons” (11). He remembers their final conversations. Her death. His grief. And her return… And when the despair builds he slips back into the routine again: “reading-drinking-soundproof-the-house” (21).

Two ideas jolt him from his alcoholic malaise: 1) the faint possibility that “others like him existed somewhere” (18). 2) a growing desire to uncover the scientific rationale behind the vampires, and perhaps, an ability to more effectively kill them. Neville, little educated in science, throws himself into his studies (i.e. an excuse for Matheson to divulge extensive mind-numbing passages of rudimentary bacterial theories that never make the “reality” of vampires any less scientifically inane). He uncovers the reason behind how the disease is spread, why vampires need human blood, and how they are able to animate a dead body.

The narrative gains intense emotional heft, if it didn’t have it already, when Neville comes across the emaciated shape of a dog in the middle of the day (vampiric dogs bark at night): “Why pretend? He thought. I’m more excited than I’ve been in a year” (82). He spends days and days domesticating the beast–which has developed its own ways to survive the predations of the vampires at night. And at its death, he is again crazed by grief. And then a woman appears on one of his voyages…

The Male Sex Drive in the Wasteland

I enjoyed I Am Legend as an allegory of nuclear terror. Matheson makes clear that the vampiric disease–spread by bacteria in dust clouds (i.e. paralleling fallout)—is a metaphorical (and mythological) manifestation of humanity’s fears of the end present in the 1950s. Virginia asks Richard whether the bombings caused the disease and Richard answers, “and they say we won the war” (43). Matheson implies a limited nuclear conflict in the near future that reflects growing knowledge of fallout after Americans learned about the “Ivy Mike” Hydrogen bomb tests in 1953 [1]. The vampiric disease represents America’s existential dread present in a rapidly changing post-WWII world and how the suburban American way of life is under threat. Neville’s discoveries of the nature of vampirism after the apocalypse suggests we too might understand the true impact of nuclear weapons on the wrong bank of the Rubicon.

Lima de Freitas’ cover for the 1958 Portuguese edition (below), and to a lesser degree John Richards’ cover with its staked nude female for the 1956 edition (above), reflect an omnipresent thread of sexual chaos amidst the incomprehensible horror of vampiric holocaust that runs through the novel [2]. Lima de Freitas’ figure of Richard Neville does not have his eyes on the burnt buildings of the surrounding city but on the suggestively splayed nude female body of a vampire. At night that body with rouse itself and mill around Neville’s house attempting to cajole him out with macabre parroting of female sexuality: “The women, lustful, bloodthirsty, naked women flaunting their hot bodies at him. No, not hot” (21). Neville, alone, is possessed by perverse sexual desires. In one instance he ponders why he always experiments on female vampire bodies he collects while they sleep during the day: “Why do you always experiment on women? […] What about the man in the living room, though For God’s sake! He flared back. I’m not going to rape the woman!” (48). But he can’t help but notice her “torn black dress” with “too much [..] visible as she breathed” (48). In another instance, consumed by the heat of his loins Neville finds himself removing the bars of his door in an effort to run out into the night–“Coming, girls, I’m coming. Wet your lips now” (21).

Elaine Tyler May analyzes the juxtaposition of sex symbols with nuclear devastation in American popular culture–think bikini bathing suit, an attractive woman as “bombshell” or “Bill Haley and His Comets singing about sexual fantasies of a young man dreaming of being the sole male survivor of an H-bomb explosion” [2]. The home provided a form of “sexual containment” [3] that would be released in terrifying forms in the case of apocalypse. If the home falls, society falls. And Richard Neville attempts to preserve his home in I Am Legend and avoid the endless temptation of flesh in the burnt wreckage of suburbia that surrounds him. And when he gives in to his sexual desires and lets a new woman into his house in a confused attempt to recreate what he had lost, the end has already been spelled out.

[1] For more on what Americans knew about nuclear testing–and saw on TV–and when they knew it, check out Robert A. Jacobs’ concise and fascinating The Dragon’s Tale: Americans Face the Atomic Age (2010).

[2] As I read I Am Legend as an allegory of nuclear fears, I used Chapter 4 “Explosive Issues, Sex, Women, and the Bomb” of Elaine Tyler May’s Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era (1988, revised edition 2017). I am riffing of some of her ideas.

[3] May, 107.

[4] May, 108.

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Matheson is an interesting case. The Matheson stories I’ve read showed a talent or skill — though either word is too strong, really — for writing a kind SF/fantasy/horror that entirely dispensed with the bother (for normie readers) of any science-fictional conceptualization — that in fact had dumb premises that didn’t make any sense at all and didn’t care about it.

It became a very successful genre in itself via Matheson’s — and his peer Charles Beaumont’s – adaptations of their stories for 1960s television series like The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits .

It’s the genre that Stephen King, who counts Matheson as a primary influence (though King is a far better writer) operates in today, and that Harlan Ellison (who actually sold some scripts to those shows) was also an upscale example of. Literally, there are King and Ellison short stories that are clearly re-writes of specific episodes of those shows.

So:significant from the POV of the history of the SF genre and culture as a whole. Not my thing, though.

I’ve never seen an episode of 1960s television series like The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits! Haha.

I mean, he tries to generate “science-fictional conceptualization” and those are definitely the passages that are far less impactful than the emotional toll Neville experiences. At its heart this novel tries to provide a scientific explanation of a historical myth.

But I do agree with the novel’s importance in the history of SF genre and culture. And how it’s not entirely my thing either…

“The vampiric disease represents America’s existential dread present in a rapidly changing post-WWII world and how the suburban American way of life is under threat.”

I prefer to think of the suburb itself as the true wasteland, made possible by the vampire of capital (to use one of Marx’s telling phrases): the American Dream as vapid, denatured, empty, etc. This, I feel, is the real fear of so much 1950s and 60s culture, that capitalism “at its best” is the end not the pinnacle of material want and success. Philip K Dick nails this sense of the doom of suburbia in works like “The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch”.

But it’s already there in “I Am Legend”–a novel I love by the way (how can you give it a measly “good”?!). In particular, it’s end–which has been botched by all of the film adaptations–underlines the dead end of the American Dream, and Neville’s hopeless wish to hold on to it.

Neville only remembers the suburban life fondly within the matrix of the story. Of course, he focuses his memories on the love of his wife and child. Hence the phrasing I used. But I take the point that Matheson’s critique might be directed at the suburb itself as in other stories of his I’ve read from around the same time — for example, the spectacular “Mad House” (1953) which I reviewed in his collection Third From the Sun (1955).

But the end… it fails because its not the genuine love he experienced before. It’s a charade and he knows it. And yeah, I guess a macabre charade of the American Dream in the last house standing. But could this not be a warning of what is to come if everything collapses? Neville’s final posturing is a final attempt at normality as it all fades away. I do feel the story does fit within common contemporary views of the dangerous sexual landscape that emerges after the apocalypse. The subversive sexuality isn’t really subversive in the context of fears of what would happen if the institution of the American family collapsed.

As for my rating, I adore the historical context of the novel and I point out its historical importance. But the entire let’s come up with some ridiculous point-by-point scientific explanation for Vampirism and revisionist interpretations of the Black Death and past plagues…. grated on me and muted its allegorical impact. There are counter arguments of course — Matheson is essentially stating that scientific knowledge won’t save us in the end. But everything else rates much higher in my book. And I HATE VAMPIRES AND ZOMBIES! hahahahaha. I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would.

Don’t get me wrong, I like your review and think your argument about “sexual chaos” is right on the money. I suppose I was struck by the idea of the phrasing of a “threat to suburban life”, given the threat that is suburban life. Speaking of sexual chaos, I read his “The Shrinking Man” last year, and was bowled over by its wonderful take-down of 1950s masculinity. Highly recommended.

No worries. I’m all for debate and counter argument. I revised my comment extensively. I hope I’ve clarified my views.

I found the suburb critique angle more muted here than in “Mad House” (1953) so I read the threat as a more general response to nuclear fears that will impact all — including suburban life. The review probably dodges how Matheson is also critiquing suburban life… at the same time.

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the “The Shrinking Man” movie at one point. I haven’t read the book. I’ll keep it in mind. Thank you! And I’m all for take-downs of 1950s masculinity.

The film is good but the novel is great. But can you trust me? I should check out ‘Mad House’. Like yourself and others I’ve had mixed results reading his short fiction. I’m almost certainly overstating the suburbia is wasteland line. It’s been a while since I read “I Am Legend”. Your review makes me want to reread it. Meanwhile, the wasteland that is my suburb is all too present and real. Inescapable dare I say? Roll on its destruction…

You know me, I don’t only read to find great pieces of literature. I’m bound to get something out of the novel even if it isn’t my favorite thing ever. Hence why I got so excited about this novel and Moudy’s “The Survivor” even if my ratings didn’t exactly reflect my excitement. The social history surrounding it excites!

For all I know I’m misremembering “Mad House.” Most of my memory of it is tied up in the short review I wrote…

Speaking of 50s takedowns of suburbia, I finished Sturgeon’s “And Now the News…” (1956) moments ago for my media series. He even identifies how suburbia diminishes interaction between people vs. life in a city (although he has his main character take a train to work vs. drive a car which is a bit off).

I have my own built in hatred of the suburb. I moved from rural Virginia to a suburb in Texas in my teens. I remember the almost existential diminishing of horizons. I was initially less horrified as the suburb wasn’t completed and there were tracks of land to explore but those were promptly bulldozed… Which made me hate it even more.

The Sturgeon has made it’s way to the top of my to read pile. Thanks! Tho I should probably read the Moudy while discussion is still relatively fresh. I read Charles V. de Vet’s “Special Feature” a few days ago on the back of its recommendation by one of your readers. It’s definitely up your alley, if perhaps not as wonderfully speculative about urban alienation as some of the stories we’ve read over the years. Sadly, I never had your good fortune to spend some of my youth in the country. I’m a city boy born and bred. Tho maybe I am luckier than you for not having known what I’m missing. Maybe…

De Vet turned the story into a novel — his only solo novel (he wrote a few with Katherine MacLean).

I quite enjoyed this novel when I read it, but it didn’t leave any real impression on me, probably because I had already read much better novels and pieces. It’s far from being great though. I don’t think Matheson is such an imaginative or original author. I know you like it for it’s themes though, but even they weren’t strong enough to take my attention.

I think this novel is the definition of an imaginative and original work. There simply weren’t zombie/vampire novels like this one at all. But the premise definitely is original. Maybe you meant to say its delivery was imaginative or original? Even then I don’t completely buy your argument — this is an intense case study of grief, not something terribly common in genre novels at the time.

It’s delivery probably was imaginative or original, and I think you’re right, there weren’t zombie/vampire novels like this one, and the premise is original, but it Isn’t memorable. It was influential on later SF though, such as George Martin’s “Ferve Dream”, which is also about vampires of a natural origin and contains cutting edge themes

Well, I’m never going to forget the dog chapter…. or Neville relentlessly obsessed with the zombie women outside his door…

FEVER DREAM, by the way, is exceptional. I am not a fan, in general, of vampire novels, but that one is really good.

Like I Am Legend, I don’t think it’s for me. But also like I Am Legend, there’s a chance the stars align and I feel the compulsion to give it a read!

“… And Now The News” is truly a great story, one of Sturgeon’s best. Having MacLyle (famously named for two of Heinlein’s pseudonyms as a nod to the help Heinlein gave Sturgeon) take a train to work is entirely characteristic of many suburban workers at that time (and to a lesser extent up until now.) It is not easy or cheap to park in a city downtown, so you take a train. My own home town (Naperville, IL) is the second to last stop on the Burlington Northern out of Chicago, and many people take the train to work. (The neighboring unincorporated village of Eola (now, I think, incorporated into either Naperville or Aurora) was named such as it was once the “End Of the Line”.)

As one who has lived in suburbs his whole life, and who has generally positive memories of his childhood, I find the somewhat cliched standard criticism of suburbs as soulless and arid etc. etc. to be just that — a cliche, a lazy trope. But Sturgeon’s story (which is about much more than that) remains powerful.

As for I AM LEGEND, I haven’t read it, and have little to say, and indeed I barely remember the Heston movie, THE OMEGA MAN, which I saw at a very young age.

I’ll talk more about the story when I review it.

I don’t find it be a lazy trope. There are of course lazy authors who parrot the basic points without much introspection. This historical background is so fascinating. The suburbs represent white flight and the abandonment of the cities (and the people who lived there), American equation of white home ownership vs. minority ownership, increasingly limited options for women (who were often trapped at home more than before especially if the father took the car to work and there wasn’t public transit), suburbs were 99% white and thus interaction with other races decreased (the race line was real!), etc. There’s so much historical background that it’s ripe for SF to explore. I am, of course, not saying there weren’t some benefits and that some didn’t enjoy them.

I live in the first suburb of Indianapolis (built in the late 1880s) — it’s now part of the larger urban center as the city has grown so much since then. The train (I guess more a trolly) was completely removed at the behest of the car lobby in the early 20th century, and it was a direct route downtown (4 miles) that I wish still existed. Of course, there’s a ton more space in Indianapolis than Chicago. Chicago, New York, etc. = rare American cities with a functional and extensive public transit system. No such thing exists in the rest of the once-industrial Midwest. Parking is never a problem. There is no metro system. There are only in the last few years a dedicated bus lane on one North/South route and one under construction East/West. It’s really really really sad that it’s taken this long.

i.e. maybe Sturgeon is thinking public transit in New York/Chicago vs. the average American suburb in the average American city.

To be clear — there is plenty of criticism — or examination — worthy of being done of suburban life; and most acutely the divisions it exacerbated between white people and black people is one serious issue. And the whole car culture thing is interesting too — and how public transportation was actively suppressed, most famously in LA, but in other places too (and I didn’t know that about Indianapolis) is a scandal.

But my problem is not interrogations of such things. It is the sort of default view — that it seems to me is supposed to be taken as axiomatic, not even worthy of proving — that life in the suburbs is (or was) dehumanizing, and everyone there had no inner life etc. etc. I know I’m exaggerating, and I know I’m oversensitive, but that’s how it seems to me often.

I grew up in a house where I could go out my backyard and over the road behind it and walk, it seemed, all the way to Champaign without hitting signs of civilization — and that’s not possible now — it’s all subdivisions! So I did have access to open country, to creeks and field and copses and all. And lots of people didn’t.

I dunno, guys. Is there anything significant left to be said in 2022 about the soullessness of the American suburbs, given that it’s 1950s-era American mainstream lit’s primary — almost one and only — theme.

From Richard Yates’s REVOLUTIONARY ROAD and John Cheever’s stories like ‘The Housebreaker of Shady Hill’ (all the men ride the train in to Manhattan) at the high end, to Sloan Wilson’s THE MAN IN THE GREY FLANNEL SUIT and J.D. Salinger, and early Vonnegut, it’s almost like they didn’t write really write about anything else. It’s even all over Nabokov’s LOLITA, though a lot more is going on with that novel.

Cheever’s stuff is still great; he was a real artist and a weirdo, with his WASP facade covering his barely repressed homosexuality and serious alcoholism. But a lot of other 1950’s American mainstream lit comes over as a bit of a bore these days. Maybe the most interesting thing about it is what it leaves out — which is the stuff Cheever hinted at.

I came over to the US in the early 1970s because my father went to work for an American corporation. So I saw some of the tail-end years of that generation of ostensibly straight white guy executives and middle-class types. And what struck me was that many of them drank like — well, not like fish, but the three (or five) martini lunchtime every day really was a thing. My sense was that many of these men were either deeply effed-up or there was a void inside, and they drank to repress it or cover it up. In quite a few cases, what they specifically never talked about — and never wanted to talk about — was what had happened to them in WWII and the Korean War, because they had what we’d now recognize as post-traumatic stress disorder. Consider, for instance, Gene Wolfe’s hints about his condition after his return from Korea.

I’ve gone some ways away from I AM LEGEND, I admit. Sorry.

In academic study there’s plenty to be said. I recently read the Dianne Harris’ brilliant Little White Houses: How the Postwar Home Constructed Race in America (2012). And her arguments about how the American consciousness when it came to formulations of ownership were new at the time. https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/little-white-houses

Note: My parents are architects so all this stuff is extra fascinating to me.

The criticism of post-war suburban life as empty and soulless is certainly a cliché if such a “criticism” is left merely at the level of assertion. But being a cliché isn’t proof of its falsehood. Indeed, it’s often demonstrative of precisely the opposite.

I grew up in suburban Sydney in the 1970s and 80s, and by the time I was in my mid to late teens was chaffing at the bit to escape the real boredom that I experienced in this setting. Did I imagine this? Not at all. Indeed, I recall not only its representation in broader culture (this was the time of punk rock after all), but also how this experience was shared not only by many of my teenage friends, but also older and younger siblings and relatives. My experience was of a widespread malaise and frustration with suburban life, particular among youth. Which is not to say I had never enjoyed this life, nor that I had been able to find corners of it that appeared to resist this (to name only two: my nerdish discovery of role-playing games and second-hand bookstores). But such experiences, at least retrospectively, appeared to cut against the grain of suburban experience rather than exemplify it.

I think Joachim’s caveats about the structural problem of the suburb is probably the best way to try and flesh out this claim. Then we can examine suburban development empirically with an eye to its conscious and unconscious results: i.e., how the expansion of suburbs was carried out deliberately, in the sense of various states and instrumentalities trying to sculpt a particular class and racial order, and haphazardly, in the sense of the unforeseen problems that surfaced as a result of just such an ordering (unforeseen, that is, by the self-same states and instrumentalities).

Mark, you are quite right, it was a very ’50s thing — and your suggestion that it was influenced to a perhaps considerable extent by what happened in the war (especially WWII) is intriguing and probably right.

I don’t know the alcoholism stats or any of that but it sure does seem like there was a LOT more drinking in those days. (In a way, did more driving eventually reduce drinking? — much easier to pour yourself into a train car and sleep it off on the way home than to drive home drunk.)

My Dad was in Korea, got there late and spent about three months in combat, in an artillery unit. He didn’t talk much about it — he did say he was offered a chance to go to Officers’ training but he didn’t take them up on it partly because as far as he could tell the casualty rate among newly minted artillery Lieutenants was astronomical (as they were often assigned forward spotter duty.) Of course, as it turned out the War would have been over by the time the training was done, and he’d have been a peacetime Lieutenant for however long they required (I dunno? Three years?) instead of being mustered out right away. And I probably wouldn’t be here!

He was never a drinker to any extent — I saw him drunk once in my life. He would have one martini when he got home from work and that was it, maybe a (crappy — he liked bargains) beer or two on the weekend after mowing the lawn. And I never really tried to draw him out about the war — I wish I had now, but it’s too late. But he was (or seemed to me) a happy man, and stayed active in various things (civic, such as zoning boards or volunteering for the census, plus lots of travel) all his life.

I learned right before my grandfather died that he served in Korea — briefly. He finished training, was sent to Korea, and then the war ended moments later. I never figured out if he went to college because of the GI bill. Maybe his lack of actual service meant he never wanted to talk about it (maybe his friends saw actual combat).

But my grandparents were the definition of a suburban 50s family. Lived outside of Philadelphia, grandmother went to college and shifted majors to home economics (I think at the instigation of her parents but I’m uncertain), got married in college (I think)… she never held a job. Had meals on a week rotation (the 50s classics including salad with cottage cheese and jello), and was profoundly unhappy (I won’t get into it too much). She wrote poetry relentlessly–my dad still has all of her volumes–with her omnipresent box wine and cigarettes.

Born of Man and Women is one of the most brilliant debuts in the genre.

II: Vampires? Carmilla! Am in Love!

I reviewed “Born of Man and Woman” a few years back. I thought it was solid and effectively creepy. https://sciencefictionruminations.com/2015/03/22/book-review-third-from-the-sun-richard-matheson-1955/

To clarifiy about the novels of Katherine MacLean and Charles de Vet — they only actually collaborated on one novel, which I think is best called SECOND GAME. That novel appeared in three versions, each longer than the one before. These were the novelette “Second Game” (Astounding, March 1958), the short novel COSMIC CHECKMATE (Ace, 1962), and the somewhat longer novel SECOND GAME (DAW, 1981).

I don’t know who did what on those three versions, which are all the same basic story, but if I had to guess, MacLean and de Vet collaborated fully on the novelette; and they MAY have collaborated on the expansion to COSMIC CHECKMATE, but mostly likely (and this is purely my speculation) the expansion to the DAW 1981 version, SECOND GAME, was mostly or entirely by de Vet.

The sequel, THIRD GAME (DAW, 1991) was entirely by De Vet.

De Vet, as you note, published one other novel, SPECIAL FEATURE (Avon, 1975).

Thank you for the clarification. I need to read more of MacLean’s short fiction. I adored her novel Missing Man (1975) (an expansion of her Nebula-winning short fiction by the same name): https://sciencefictionruminations.com/2011/10/08/book-review-missing-man-katherine-maclean-1976/

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I Am Legend

By richard matheson.

'I Am Legend' is an excellent novel that exposes Richard Matheson's idea of an apocalypse and the effect it would have on someone fortunate to survive it.

Article written by Fave

B.A. in History and International Studies from University of Ilorin, Kwara State.

‘I Am Legend’ is a story of tenacity. It tells the tale of Robert Neville’s solitary lifestyle. He mourns the loss of his family, experiences the despair of being alone, carries out careful research on the cause and cure of vampirism, and fights off violent creatures that have become all too real. Exquisitely employing the use of allusions, metaphors, and irony, Matheson analyzes the nature of mankind. He categorically explores the consequences of loneliness on human psychology.

The world surrounding Robert is a perfect nightmare without ease. This may disturb a lot of readers. However, his life also has a positive side that shows how surprisingly strong humans can be in a bleak situation where all hope is lost.

‘ I Am Legend ‘ was incredibly influential in the years after it was published and spawned three film adaptations. The novel is responsible for creating the zombie subculture in film and literature.

Protagonist’s Daily Life and Crushing Despair

In ‘I Am Legend , ‘ the fight for survival in a dangerous and uncertain world is told. The plot is simple as it tells its story from the perspective of a former plant worker, Robert Neville.

As the last man standing after a worldwide plague, he strives to survive. He is immune to the plague because he was bitten by a bat when he was abroad during a war. Robert speculates that he is infected by a mutated version of the vampiric bacteria from the bat. He spends his days traveling short distances from his home, killing vampires, hanging garlic, listening to Beethoven, and drinking. The female vampires outside his house attempt to seduce him into leaving the house and his infected friend, Ben Cortman, yell for him to come out.

Mixed up in Robert’s daily life are intense moments of despair and depression as he remembers his dead family and how happy he used to be. He thinks about his wife and young child, who he still deeply loves. He remembers the final moments they shared and the conversations they had. He remembers their death. When the despair builds up, he slips back into the routine again.

The Motivating Power of Hope

‘I Am Legend’ uncovers how motivating the feeling of hope can be. The belief that there may be survivors like him and his growing desire to discover the scientific rationale behind the vampires keeps Robert going. He also expects to discover a method to quickly and effectively kill the bacteria controlling the plague. His optimism jolts him from his period of depression and despair. Robert is not a scientist but studies the science behind the plague and its cause. He uncovers the reason for the spread, why vampires need human blood, and how they can animate a dead body.

Also, joy temporarily comes into Robert’s life in the form of a sick puppy he discovers on his front lawn. He spends weeks trying to get the dog comfortable in his presence. Meeting the dog slowly builds his belief that his days alone are finally over. Unfortunately, the dog dies from infection, throwing Robert again into a state of crazed grief.

Psychological Effect of Sexual Frustration

Although a short book, ‘I Am Legend’ delves deep into morality, mental health, science, coping mechanisms, and survival intuition. Another aspect the book addresses is sexual frustration. Robert is tormented by his need for sexual relations, which has been impossible since the plague wiped out the human population. When the female vampires taunt him by taking lewd positions while he watches them, he feels the pressure. During one of his low moments, Robert contemplates giving in to the temptation and finds himself removing the bars on his door, intent on going out to the vampires. When he starts his experiments on the cause and effect of the vampire plague, he notices that he experiments solely on women. He tries to convince himself that this has nothing to do with his sexual urges.

Violence Breeds Violence

In ‘I Am Legend,’ there are many instances of violence. Perhaps, the most important is the war between America and the unnamed superpower that ended in the two countries resorting to using nuclear weapons that led to the dust storms that spread the plague. The vampires’ ever-vigilant thirst for Robert’s blood shows another instance of violence. Throughout the book, Robert experiences several incidents of direct violence from the vampires. They throw stones at his house, assault him when he opens the door, and also attack him when he returns home late. They also destroy his washing machine and his generator. During the day, Robert spends time fixing the damage they made at night time.

Quickly, Robert learns to fight back. He kills them by driving stakes through their chests. He also uses them to test his hypotheses: he drags them into the sun to see its effects on them and injects them with his experimental potions. The vampires also attack themselves. Most mornings, Robert wakes up to find a dead vampire on his lawn. These victims are usually female. The dog that attacks him when he tries to get close and his initial treatment of Ruth also portray savagery. The book closes on a brutal note as the society of conscious vampires attack Cimarron street on the night of Robert’s capture. They massacre the dead vampires in front of Robert’s house, shoot up Ben Cortman, and eventually storm Robert’s home to capture him.

A Sad Conclusion

Thin in volume but strong on the engulfing feeling of dread, ‘I Am Legend’ ends on a sad note. When Ruth realizes Robert is not the monster others believe he is, she tries to save him by imploring him to hide before the conscious vampires arrive. He refuses, however, and dies by the poison Ruth graciously offers him.

What is the most prevalent message of ‘I Am Legend ‘ novel?

The most prevalent message of ‘I Am Legend’ emphasizes the necessity of human emotions and relations with others. The reader is taken through the feelings of loneliness, sadness, hope, resignation, and anger of Robert Neville. In this novel, Richard Matheson reveals the importance of companionship.

Is ‘I Am Legend’ a good book to read?

Yes, it is. ‘I Am Legend,’ published in 1954, is one of the most prominent vampire novels of the 20th century. It is not very scary, nor does it possess mentally-threatening scenes, yet it often appears on the list of the best vampire novels.

How does the violent actions of the vampires influence Robert?

Aware that the vampires crave his blood and will kill him without a second thought, Robert learns to fight for his life. Although he initially struggles with sympathy, he quickly convinces himself that killing them was for his benefit. Asides from killing them, he tests his experiments on them.

How does Sexual unavailability affect Robert Neville?

To cope with the memories of his past and the present menaces of his life, Robert Neville deals with his problems through experiments and alcohol. He also suffers from sexual unavailability. This affects him so much he contemplates succumbing to his temptations and going out to the vampires who hunt him.

I Am Legend Review

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson Digital Art

Book Title: I Am Legend

Book Description: In 'I Am Legend,' Robert Neville navigates a world where a plague has turned humanity into vampires, struggling with survival and despair as the last living man.

Book Author: Richard Matheson

Book Edition: First Edition

Book Format: Hardcover

Publisher - Organization: Fawcett Publications

Date published: July 1, 1954

ISBN: 978-0440208112

Number Of Pages: 160

Writing Style
Lasting Effect on Reader

Robert Neville is the last man alive after a bacterial plague spread across the human population, killing millions and turning the rest of its victims into living vampires. The dead did not stay dead, however, but return to the living to haunt their living families and loved ones. After Robert’s family succumbs to the plague, he must struggle for the chance to survive, fighting off vampires and soul-crushing despair alike.

This book greatly influenced the creation of the vampire/zombie genre.
‘I Am Legend’ draws you into itself and makes you feel Robert’s despair and loneliness.
The book tells an innovative story from a fresh perspective.
‘I Am Legend’ struggles with prose.
The book discusses the topic of suicide at length.
Contains descriptions of nudity.
contains several scenes of violence.

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I Am Legend

Richard matheson.

162 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 1954

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"Full circle. A new terror born in death, a new superstition entering the unassailable fortress of forever. I am legend.”

"And suddenly he thought, I'm the abnormal one now. Normalcy was a majority concept, the standard of many and not the standard of just one man."

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I Am Legend: Book Review

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

Today, we will be reviewing the classic novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. Find out what we thought of the post-apocalyptic horror novel that has influenced many zombie and vampire novels as we review I Am Legend below!

I Am Legend Summary

The setting is on Cimarron Street in 1976 Los Angeles in a post-apocalyptic war where dust storms are common. We meet Robert Neville, who has barricaded himself inside his home against vampires that appear outside his home at night. An outbreak has turned humanity into vampires and Neville seems to be the last human alive.

Neville hunts vampires during the day and tries to search for another living person while trying to stave off insanity and loneliness. That leads to Neville researching the outbreak as he tries to understand what it actually is. But an unexpected turn of events throws his life into chaos as everything he has done to survive catches up to him.

I Am Legend Commentary

Imagine reading this novel when it was first released in 1954. The zombie /vampire genre wasn’t thriving as it is today. But the impact of this novel has been felt ever since as it has influenced the zombie and vampire genres.

And while the creatures in the novel are vampires, they act like zombies so much that the novel is considered a zombie novel. This novel helped popularize the zombie apocalypse idea that has become common over the decades. And it also popularized the idea of a bacteria causing an outbreak, giving it a scientific explanation.

Like most people, you have seen or heard of the I Am Legend movie starring Will Smith released in 2007. The novel changes the setting from Los Angeles to New York and changes the ending as well as borrowing elements from the 1971 movie Omega man, which was influenced by I Am Legend.

I enjoyed the novel and it felt like going backwards as you realize how different the original “zombies” were. The fact that they were vampires but not in the true sense of what a vampire is makes this fall under the zombie category.

But the novel wasn’t a zombie novel as we know it. The plot is about Neville’s descension into hopelessness and loneliness as well as depression. You can feel his heart breaking in the novel and feel for him.

A Must Read Zombie Novel

If you are a fan of zombie novels, then this is worth reading. Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend has come to shape the zombie genre and while he couldn’t have predicted the impact of this novel, his influence can be seen in hundreds of books. Happy reading!

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Review "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson

Thread starter Doctor Omega
Start date Mar 24, 2018

Doctor Omega

Member: rank 10.

Just so well written... Pulls you in and keeps you reading. You can see how many other works have been influenced by it.

Maybe we are still waiting for the "best adaption" of this influential work?

On the Screen Reviews

The New Orleans Film Critic

Book vs. Movie: I Am Legend

Last night I finished reading I Am Legend . I picked it up mostly because I read about the alternate ending of the Will Smith movie, which some criticized for not following the spirit of the book.

I have mixed feelings.

(warning: spoilers for both the book and movie follow)

In the pro-book corner: Conceptually, I’d argue it’s vastly superior to the movie. Robert Neville is an ordinary guy coming to terms with the fact that he may be the last (uninfected) human on the planet. In between bouts of depression and alcoholism, he visits the library and attempts to teach himself about blood disease, infection, and germ mutation, clinging to the weakest threads of hope that he might find a cure.

For three long years he is alone with the vampires, deadly but slow-witted blood-suckers who surround his home by night. As part of his daily routine, he travels from one home to the next, searching bedrooms and closets and chimneys and freezers, destroying the vampires as they sleep.

Eventually, he sees the unthinkable – another human person, a woman, walking around in the daylight. While he’s still suspicious of her, he takes her in and explains his progress towards finding a cure. But soon she’s revealed to be “one of them” sent to spy on him, and this is where the most interesting theme is presented: Who’s the real monster here? He’s been traveling from house to house, slaughtering these “vampires” – people with an ugly but apparently manageable disease – in their sleep. He is the creature society now fears; he has become legend to them in the same way vampires are legend to us. He recognizes this fact and stops fighting, deciding they should be allowed to rebuild the world in their own fashion.

The movie in many ways is over-simplified; the vampires look like monsters and act like monsters, and in the theatrical version, you never have a clue that they’re anything else. The alternate ending shows a slightly more human side, as the pack leader is shown trying to rescue the woman Neville has experimented on; but the moral ambiguity of Neville’s quest to rid the world of vampires is lost. The reference to “legend” is reduced to the heroes-as-legends trope already palatable to audiences, and we’re left with the implication that the survivors will now manufacture a cure.

Where the movie wins is with Will Smith’s performance, which has an emotional resonance entirely lacking in the book. Additionally, Neville’s connection with the dog and his subsequent loss adds a sense of hope followed by a devastating blow the viewer feels keenly ( assuming said viewer is not a ROBOT, that ish is poignant as hell ). In the book, Neville’s solitude and his dry detachment from even his own memories makes it hard to relate, or even feel much sympathy.

( sidenote: I completely forgot Will Smith’s dog’s name was Sam. My dog’s name is Sam. This movie works on SO MANY LEVELS )

Ultimately it’s hard to say which is better, the book or the movie. I’d argue that they’re different enough in tone and intention that you could enjoy them as two completely independent stories.

Rumor has it there will be an I Am Legend 2 (sequel or prequel, TBD) soon, which I think is a huge mistake. We’ve seen plenty of outbreak movies, and this one would essentially be another take on 28 Days Later. A sequel wouldn’t make much sense either, as Neville’s dead. The movie-verse would probably show echoes of themes seen in The Walking Dead. A sequel to the book’s events wouldn’t leave much to work with either: vampires are building a new society, and without a protagonist grounded in reality, it would devolve into a fantasy.

Presumably the screenwriters know that as well, so maybe they’ll surprise us. As the 6th highest paid actor in Hollywood Will Smith probably doesn’t need to take jobs just for the money, so hopefully any sequel he participates in will be worth watching.

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16 thoughts on “Book vs. Movie: I Am Legend”

Without taking sides on which is better because I’ve never read the book, people just need to realise that there’s always going to be differences, even major ones. It seems that adaptations will always upset someone. Anyway, nice review here!

I agree that people get too angry over tiny differences, but sometimes it’s interesting to examine them (if you can avoid being overly emotional about your favorite). I felt like these were two completely different takes on the same basic story

I like Will Smith’s work in the film but comparing to the book in terms of story it’s completely retarded. Also the CGI – one of the worst I’ve seen.

That’s pretty harsh! The CGI was bad, but I thought the movie itself was a good watch. They did an excellent job of building suspense, and it was otherwise respectable as a (somewhat by the numbers) post-apocalyptic movie.

I haven’t read the book, but it sounds quite different from the film. Based on what I remember about the movie, the book sounds darker and more morally ambiguous. I’ve forgotten a lot about the movie, though. The main thing that stands out in my mind is the death of the dog. That was devastating. That and the scene where the helicopter exploded with his family inside. 😦

That’s the thing: the book is morally ambiguous, but the movie is so much more emotionally effective that it FEELS darker. The book was more clinical and detached, so you were able to examine the moral argument with objectivity.

That’s why it’s almost impossible to say which is “better;” they’re completely different interpretations of a similar idea. I really enjoyed experiencing the thoughtful progression of opinions in the book but ooooh that dog…. it’s like a punch to the GUT. 😦

I barely remember I Am Legend, except when he has to kill himself to rescue that other family. Here’s my Book Vs. Film: http://randomfilmbuff.com/2012/08/02/d-6/

For all the people saying books and movies are different, that’s not really the point. Of course they are different. This isn’t about the movie leaving out something; it’s about the movie leaving out the entire point of the story, including where the title comes from. The whole realization in the book about the fact that HE is the monster is great. The movie completely eliminates that, which eliminates the reason for the story to exist.

I haven’t seen them, but I have heard the original movie adaptation I Am Legend is more faithful, while Charleton Heston’s The Omega Man is not.

While I take your point – learning the true meaning behind the title was what drove me to read the book – I think this is an interesting choice of words: “which eliminates the reason for the story to exist.”

The movie is telling a completely different story in a completely different manner. It’s asking viewers to emotionally connect with a person and experience his regret, hopelessness, and determination under extraordinary and nightmarish circumstances. It’s certainly less thoughtful and original than the book was, but does that mean it’s not a story worth telling?

I think a sequel has the potential to run parallel to the story from the first one, rather than a direct sequel/prequel. That would be my preference anyway. Probably too intelligent for Hollywood these days.

I’m hoping they scrap those plans after World War Z comes out, since they’re so similar in concept. Plus word has it the script for WWZ is incredible, Walking Dead-meets-Children of Men. That one’s also based on an amazing book but leaves room for a lot of interpretation

I don’t think theres ever a point when Hollywood says “no” to growing a franchise atm. Also Will Smith being attached should guarantee production. Then again i see he is attached for Independance Day 2 so……

As for wwz i heard a lot was left out from the book which could definitely lead to franchise potential without having to resort to creativity.

That’s one I’d actually be open to! Whereas I Am Legend, Jericho, The Walking Dead, etc show a post-apocalyptic world from a single perspective, WWZ offers glimpses into different experiences of the epidemic all over the globe. Definite franchise potential there, I’d love to see that world explored in depth.

[…] with any book-to-movie adaptation there will be some changes, and the results will be mixed. But I can’t imagine anyone, having read the book or not, will be satisfied with this […]

i enjoyed both the book and movie very much

I enjoyed the book a lot. The movie..I watched it way back when I was 8 years old, a scaredy cat back then.

I Am Legend – (the best vampire) Book Review

Review of I Am Legend by author Richard Matheson

I think I’m a rarity for the I am Legend audience. I’ve actually never seen either of the movies and knew very little about this book going into it. In full honestly, I thought it was just some last man standing post apocalypse story . I was surprised to find out it’s a vampire book! So I went into this one nice and fresh and was very pleased with the outcome.

Since I knew so little about this one going in it was shocking to discover how many things I now recognize have ripped it off. I had no idea! But now I’m sure to be seeing I am Legend in so many books and movies from now on. I honestly don’t know how this one flew over my head for so long, it’s weird the gaps that we have in our cultural knowledge sometimes.

The premise of the horror novel is simple and familiar. A man is alone after everyone else he knows of has turned into a vampire. He spends his days surviving and his nights trying to drown out the cries of the undead. But there are some key differences which separate the man of this book, Robert Neville, from heroes of other similar stories .

First of all, Neville isn’t actually handling his situation very well. In apocalypse story after apocalypse story we see people summoning all of their strength to become a survival warrior with a master plan. Neville does what he needs to do to keep himself alive but then succumbs to getting absolutely black out drunk to forget the day before starting the next one. Honestly, this is far more realistic.

He’s depressed, lonely, scared, annoyed, likely has survivor’s guilt, and gets angry at himself for not being better or doing more. He talks to himself a lot and has an inner turmoil surrounding his personal ethics in his new world. It’s actually one of the only cases I can think of with a vampire book blatantly addressing the issue of wanting to get laid in an apocalypse but having to talk yourself out of taking advantage of a dead girl. It goes there and I greatly appreciate it.

This kind of honesty seems to be getting rarer and rarer in today’s book market. Everyone wants a best seller and nobody wants to piss anyone off. It’s flaccid creativity and isn’t worth my time. Cross some lines, the books will be better.

Second of all, he struggles with the concepts of myth versus reality. He is fully aware of vampire lore and can see what does seem to be true and what doesn’t. But he wants to know why. He uses the scientific method to figure out why garlic keeps the vampires away and how crosses and mirrors and stakes come into play.

I am Legend is a very short book but it gets deeper into morality, mythology, science, mental health , coping mechanisms, and survival instinct than entire multi book vampire series. It does a lot with only a few pages. In fact, if one part had caught me on a worse day I could’ve cried like a baby. It summons deep emotions, instinctual emotions.

The third reason I am Legend stands out against its “peers” is the ending. It is unexpected, complex, and absolutely perfect. Without spoiling too much it has to do with the evolution of society and how myths become reality or vice versa. How someone can become a legend.

I strongly recommend reading I am Legend regardless of whether or not you’ve seen the movies or think you know all about it already. It’s a vastly underrated classic. It’s so much better than that stupid Dracula. What an absolute bore that one is! And this one is about an eighth of the length!

So go, read I am Legend, you wont be disappointed.

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What’s the difference between the I am Legend book and the movie?

With a little help from the internet here’s a short list of differences between Richard Matheson’s novella and the film adaptation starring Will Smith.

Setting : LA, California

Time Period : 1970s

Protagonist : Robert Neville, average middle aged dude

Monster : traditional vampires with supernatural abilities akin to standard lore

Character development : Neville struggles with daily survival, psychological issues, loneliness, alcoholism, and suicidal thoughs

Ending : Neville is executed and will become the new lore for young Vampires to hear stories about

Setting : New York City

Time Period : 2012

Protagonist : Robert Neville, esteemed military scientist and super fit Will Smith

Monster : basic infected fast moving zombie

Character development : action star survives heroically

Ending : hope oriented ending with the possibility of a cure, essentially erases the meaning of the title and the core themes.

I am Legend FAQ (Spoilers, of course)

I am Legend (2007) is based on the novella of the same title, I am Legend. Other film adaptations include The Omega Man (1971) and The Last Man on Earth (1964).

Yes. Unfortunately the dog dies die in the original book. A heartbreaking plot point that makes Neville even more lonely than he was prior to befriending the dog. He tried to make the cure but couldn’t achieve it fast enough to save his friend.

Richard Matheson

The book’s ending is a tragic commentary on scientific advancement and what it means to be “human.” Neville is executed by the vampires for his crimes against them. They are the dominant species now and he has been trying to eradicate them. As he is dying he comes to the conclusion that he will be the villain they tell their children about, he is Legend.

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How i am legend's ending is different in the book.

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Francis Lawrence's 2007 film I Am Legend had not one but two endings, and while both are different from what happens in the original novel by Richard Matheson , the alternate ending not shown in theaters is a lot closer. The movie stars Will Smith as virologist Robert Neville, the apparent sole uninfected survivor in a post-apocalyptic version of New York City where most people are dead, and the remainder have been transformed into monsters that hunt at night.

In the original ending for I Am Legend , Robert is cornered in his basement laboratory along with fellow survivors Anna (Alice Braga) and Ethan (Charlie Tahan), with the hemocytes having broken into the house. When the leader makes the symbol of a butterfly on the reinforced glass, Robert connects it to the butterfly tattoo on the female hemocyte he's been experimenting on. He realizes that the leader only wants the return of his mate, and that the hemocytes - whom Robert believed incapable of higher brain function - can experience attachment, love, and even restrain themselves from committing violence. Looking at the wall of photographs of his past experiment subjects, Robert understands that he is the monster in the eyes of the hemocytes: a predator who has been capturing and torturing them.

Related: Why I Am Legend Is NOT A Zombie Movie

The ending did not go down well with test audiences, who were unhappy with the implication that the hero of the movie was actually a villainous figure. It was replaced in I Am Legend 's theatrical cut with a more traditional Hollywood ending, where the hemocytes remain mindless savage zombies and Robert dies a hero after discovering a cure for the virus. The original ending, however, is much more in line with what happens in the I Am Legend novel. In fact, without the original ending, the movie's title of I Am Legend doesn't actually make much sense. In the book, " I am legend " are the final words that Robert thinks on his deathbed, as he realizes that in death he will become a terrifying legend just like vampires once were.

Yes, in the book version of I Am Legend the hemocytes are explicitly labelled vampires and come packaged with many vampiric traits, including not only a deathly aversion to light but also a fear of garlic and religious iconography. They are also, besides their pale skin, very difficult to distinguish from regular humans. They retain all their intelligence and can still talk, coming out at night to taunt Robert outside his house and tempt him to leave. As in the movie version of I Am Legend , there's a pivotal moment in the book where Robert meets a woman who appears to be another human survivor, Ruth. Her ability to walk around in the sun seems like clear-cut evidence that she's not a vampire, but he becomes suspicious of her aversion to garlic and her unconvincing story about how she's survived all this time.

Sure enough, it's revealed that Ruth is actually a vampire and was sent to spy on Robert after he killed her husband. She reveals that some of the vampires do not die and return as undead monsters, but have discovered a pill that controls their bloodlust and prevents the infection from killing them (though it's implied that this may actually be thanks to a mutation in the bacteria that causes vampirism, rather than the drugs). With their condition stable they have begun to rebuild society and exterminate the undead vampires. In a note, Ruth says that her new species is likely to kill Robert along with the undead and begs him to leave, but instead he stays behind and tries to fight, becoming mortally wounded in the process. Before he dies, he looks out of the bars of his cell and comes to the same conclusion that Smith's version of the character does in I Am Legend 's original ending:

They all stood looking up at him with their white faces. He stared back. And suddenly he thought, I’m the abnormal one now. Normalcy was a majority concept, the standard of many and not the standard of just one man. Abruptly that realization joined with what he saw on their faces - awe, fear, shrinking horror - and he knew that they were afraid of him. To them he was some terrible scourge they had never seen, a scourge even worse than the disease they had come to live with. He was an invisible specter who had left for evidence of his existence the bloodless bodies of their loved ones... Robert Neville looked out over the new people of the earth. He knew he did not belong to them; he knew that, like the vampires, he was anathema and black terror to be destroyed... A new terror born in death, a new superstition entering the unassailable fortress of forever. I am legend.

There's a strong argument to be made that I Am Legend 's alternate ending , in skewing closer to the ending of the book, is better than the version that ended up in theaters. It completes the story's arc from Robert Neville being portrayed as the sole surviving hero in a world of evil, to the revelation that he's actually the boogeyman that has been preying on a new, emerging race of intelligent beings. Many of the best villains in fiction believe that they are the hero, but I Am Legend is a book that makes the reader believe it too.

More: I Am Legend’s Biggest Change From The Book Broke The Movie

SR Originals
I Am Legend (2007)

I Am Legend Explained (Alternate Endings Vs Book)

I am Legend is a 2007 sci-fi thriller that tells the story of a military virologist trying to find a cure for a contagious virus that has turned people into vampire-like creatures. It’s based on the book I am Legend (1954) by Richard Matheson, to which Warner Bros has had the rights since 1970. In fact, in 1971, the company had already made a movie ( The Omega Man ) based on the book. The 2007 movie has two endings and differs quite a bit from the book. Before we get into that, let’s explore the story and the themes. Here’s the plot and the alternate endings of I Am Legend explained in comparison to the book; spoilers ahead.

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Where To Watch?

To find where to stream any movie or series based on your country, use This Is Barry’s Where To Watch .

Oh, and if this article doesn’t answer all of your questions, drop me a comment or an FB chat message, and I’ll get you the answer . You can find other film explanations using the search option on top of the site.

Here are links to the key aspects of the movie:

– Plot Explained
– The creatures
– Robert’s immunity
– Flashback #1, the lab, and loneliness
– First interaction with the Darkseekers
– Flashback #2 and RIP Sam
– Revenge, Flashback #3, and Anna
– Robert’s family
– Ending Explained (Theatrical)
– Alternate Ending
– The Butterfly
– Book Vs Movie

I Am Legend: Plot Explained

The movie begins with an off-screen voice that later reveals to be a TV. The news seems to announce the discovery of a successful cure for cancer derived from genetically modified measles. The woman talking on the TV is Dr Alice Krippin (Emma Thompson), the scientist who unintentionally brings humanity to its knees.

What are the creatures?

The creatures are infected humans. Later, as the movie reveals more and we connect the dots, we discover that the Krippin Virus (KV, as called by the protagonist) is highly contagious through all bodily fluids, touch, and is airborne. To worsen the situation, the KV affects animals too.

Once contaminated, the person (or animal) starts to lose all hair, and their skin becomes highly UV light sensitive, just like a vampire. They socially de-evolve and become mere animals of prey thirsty for blood and living in packs, or so we’re made to think. They’re incredibly violent and powerfully screech, which isn’t the best thing if you’re wearing headphones while watching the movie.

In I Am Legend, why is Robert immune?

Though the virus is highly infectious, some people are naturally immune to it, just like our protagonist. Such is the case even with a wide variety of viruses in real life.

Some people might ask an interesting question: “Why would it derive from measles? Wouldn’t it be more accurate to use rabies as the support for the new virus since the illness exhibits symptoms closer to the ones we see in the movie?” It’s an insignificant detail, but it might be a valid question to which we don’t have an answer unless we contact the writer.

Post-apocalyptic NYC

The scene cuts to three years later, where we see shots of a desolate city: the post-apocalyptic New York. The squares, metro stations, streets, and houses are empty.

The only human presence we see is the protagonist, Robert Neville, a military virologist. He’s in a fast car driving with his loyal German shepherd, Samantha. They try to race a herd of deer running through the city. The scene is spectacular as the protagonist desperately tries to follow the herd and shoot one of the animals. The first attempt fails as the pack enters an abandoned traffic jam, where Robert is forced to stop.

He gets out of the car and starts looking for a deer. He’s slowly preparing to shoot the deer when a lioness steals his kill. Robert retreats when seeing the lion and two cubs approaching. But something more critical sends him home empty-handed, the watch beeping.

As he returns home to eat and bathe the dog, the watch on his wrist beeps again. This time, the protagonist slips into a brief moment of staring into the void, mute, deaf, and motionless. Thankfully, the barking snaps him out of it. He closes all the windows and doors with special steel panels and locks.

Why sleep in the bathtub?

I believe Robert wanted to ensure he slept lightly, as he’s always prepared for the worst. A cramped, cold, hard surface like a bathtub makes for a perfect place to get enough rest but not overdo sleeping. He sleeps with the dog and his trusty ole Automatic Riffle.

What is the watch for, and why is it essential for Robert?

The digital watch is an alarm to go home (if not already there) and barricade himself. The vampires are called Darkseekers because they seek the dark and avoid UV rays. So, when the night approaches and the last ray of sunshine disappears, they come out to look for food and ravage anything they can find. So, the clock reminds Robert to go to his safe place before night comes.

Flashback #1, the lab, and loneliness

Here’s where we have a brief flashback of when he picked up his daughter, wife, and dog to take them out of NYC as the island was being quarantined. We understand that the heart of the pandemic was NYC (“This is ground zero”, as the protagonist says) and that Robert was working on a solution. As he was driving his family to safety, a Darkseeker slammed himself against the car, causing his daughter Marley to scream.

This memory dream wakes Robert up, and after a workout, he descends into his underground laboratory. We find out that he’s trying to develop a cure for this disease. He’s recording the results of previous antidote trials on rats, but the results are awful. Nevertheless, one antidote seems to be successful: compound number 6. The rat didn’t die or continue to be a vampire. It simply returned to its normal state. Robert thinks the next step is creature trial.

Later, he’s stepping out to return a CD at the empty record shop where there are mannequins instead of people. He proceeds to talk to them as if they were alive.

He then goes to a desk on a pier overseeing the destroyed Brooklyn Bridge, where he records a message that he airs on the radio. The transmission encourages survivors who might hear it to come to the pier and join him as he can provide food, shelter, and other necessities.

In this segment, we find one of the film’s themes, loneliness. Societal collapse is a nightmare because humans are social animals and need to be with their kin. The entire movie conveys a sense of solitude that seeps through all the seems of the scenes.

How does the protagonist deal with that? Well, he speaks to his highly intelligent dog and replays news and TV recordings. The record shop scene is quintessential to understanding how loneliness is corroding the protagonist’s heart. For instance, he salutes the mannequins and even creates sceneries in his mind with one of the female mannequins pretending to be interested in her but too shy to say hello.

Also, music is a critical companion. Robert constantly plays “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley, which he later reveals as one of his favorite artists.

First interaction with the Darkseekers

Robert goes on another deer hunt which almost ends up grim as Sam follows the deer into a dark building. Robert goes into the block slowly, sweating profusely and quietly, calling out to Sam. He knows he’s in the lion’s den. Robert finds the dog and fights off a Darkseeker while waking others up. He runs and jumps off a window, landing on the vampire who previously jumped him. Robert then sets a trap to catch a monster for his lab trials. He captures the alpha female of the pack as the alpha male watches.

The specimen is taken to the lab, where Robert tries his antidote, but it doesn’t work. So, he brings her back to life as he records the results on videotape. Here we find that he’s been living on his own for 1001 days.

Flashback #2 and RIP Sam

Another flashback opens, and the evacuation of the city continues. At the island’s border, people get scanned by soldiers—Robert and his daughter test clear but not his wife. A second scan reveals that she’s negative, so they move along. They say goodbye, and Robert wakes up from his memory dream.

The creatures possess intelligence

He goes out with Sam and finds one of the mannequins moved. Robert shoots at it, but when he steps closer to investigate, he falls into a trap similar to the one he created earlier to catch the alpha female.

He passes out, wakes up, gets hurt, and fights off vampire dogs with Sam. Unfortunately, Sam gets infected and is killed by Robert as she transforms into a Darkseeker. He tries to save Sam with the antidote, but it doesn’t work.

Revenge, Flashback #3, and Anna

Robert goes on a purge of dark seekers with his car and almost doesn’t come back alive. The twist is that another survivor, Anna, who heard his message, came to save him.

What Happens To His Family? Why does the helicopter crash?

Robert’s family dies in an accident. The last flashback reveals that Robert’s daughter and wife died right at take off from the pier because of a collision with another chopper.

When Robert wakes up from his memory dream, Anna and the little boy with her, Ethan, look like his wife and daughter. While Anna tells him about the survivor reserve in Vermont, Robert is confused, angry, and hostile. The protagonist refuses to believe her and retreats upstairs.

Later that night, he explains to Anna that he’s trying to fix the damage the virus has caused. Quoting Bob Marley, Robert says he can’t take a day off as long as others won’t take a day off from making the world a bad place.

I Am Legend: Ending Explained (Theatrical)

The theatrical ending of I Am Legend shows Robert sacrificing himself to allow Anna and Ethan to escape with the cure, and they reach Vermont.

The Darkseekers follow the scent and trail of blood to Robert’s house, where he tries to deter them with powerful lights and bombs. He fights with the alpha male and retreats into the lab as the hoard of Darkseekers invades his home.

Robert, Anna, and Ethan retreat into the glass chamber, where the alpha female previously captured is heavily sedated. The Darkseekers try to break the window, and Robert realizes it’s over. But then, he discovers the antidote is turning the female into a person again. He’s found the cure!

He takes a vial of the female’s blood and gives it to Anna as he closes her into a little iron chamber.

What happens at the end? What happened to Anna?

Robert quickly looks at a family photo and clutches a grenade killing himself and the attacking Darkseekers. The next day, Anna and Ethan reach the reservation and give the vial to military officials. Humanity is saved.

I Am Legend: What is the alternate ending?

The DVD released in 2008 offers a new ending, where the Darkseekers retrieve the female specimen and leave Robert alone, who goes into the reservation with Anna and Ethan. Here Robert understands that these creatures have created their own society, and he represents a villain for them.

Now, if you’re a cinephile and spend some time on review channels, college paper help sites, and forums, you might notice that a percentage of people say that the book is much better than the film and that this ending is much more intellectual .

What does the butterfly mean?

The butterfly the Darkseeker draws on the glass is the tattoo on the Darkseeker woman’s arm. This scene shows us that Robert is the one who has been traumatizing them, kidnapping the Darkseeker’s mate.

They are not mindless zombies; they live in groups and have families. It’s the next stage in human evolution brought about by medical accidents. And Rober is the Urban Legend that has been their boogeyman. This ending is closer to the book and also explains the name I Am Legend.

I Am Legend: Book Vs Movie

The book’s plot differs from the movie, as many adaptations change the story a bit to fit specific audiences better.

The novel starts with the assembled group of survivors, and the vampires aren’t as troglodyte as the movie depicts. In fact, the vampires are humanoid and can easily blend into the human population. There’s a character, Ruth, who later reveals to be a vampire spy sent to destroy humanity from the inside.

At the end (similar to ending 2.0 of the movie), Robert understands he’s become the villain. The protagonist sees that he’s killed and tortured many of the loved ones of these hemocytes. Fatally wounded, he mutters the words “I am Legend” to indicate that he’ll be remembered negatively.

So why change the original so drastically?

Director Francis Lawrence revealed that they tested the 2.0 version (later released in 2008), and the test audience didn’t love it. They much preferred that the hero, in a typical Hollywoodian style, sacrifices himself for the good of humanity, thus remaining a positive character until the end. Meanwhile, the Darkseekers remain the antagonist group to be destroyed or reverted back to humans. Sad, isn’t it?

But the people who read the book found the ending much more intellectually stimulating because of the narrative changes in the novel. Hence the book’s ending makes much more sense, and it could be a psychological moment of self-reflection. The point where the hero is seen in a different light, from the vampire’s perspective, might have been more interesting.

Closing Thoughts and I Am Legend 2

Whether you liked the novel, the movie, or the 2.0 ending better, it’s clear that I am Legend is an experience. Moreover, thinking about where cinema was in 2007, having a movie that pushes you to dive deep and change your perspective, is quite innovative.

Lastly, Will Smith, now the producer, has planned a sequel to I am Legend in the indefinite future. But because of the ‘Chris Rock incident’ at the Oscars and the various projects excluding him, we might get I am Legend 2 sooner than we thought.

Did you like the film? What were your thoughts on the plot and alternate endings of the movie I Am Legend and the book. Drop your comments below.

Barry is a technologist who helps start-ups build successful products. His love for movies and production has led him to write his well-received film explanation and analysis articles to help everyone appreciate the films better. He’s regularly available for a chat conversation on his website and consults on storyboarding from time to time. Click to browse all his film articles

#BookReview of I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

(Blurb for I Am Legend from Goodreads) Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth… but he is not alone. Every other man, woman and child on the planet has become a vampire, and they are hungry for Neville’s blood.

By day he is the hunter, stalking the undead through the ruins of civilisation. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for the dawn.

How long can one man survive like this?

I Am Legend is an interesting if somewhat depressing novel written by Richard Matheson. Set in Los Angeles, it tells the story of Robert Neville who appears to be the sole survivor of a pandemic which has turned the victims into vampires. At night he locks himself in his home out of reach from the vampires, playing loud music and getting drunk before eventually falling asleep. By day Neville has much to do such as patching up his house after overnight attacks, creating wooden stakes which he uses to kill dormant vampires and scavenging for supplies. Neville uses the traditional means of keeping the vampires at bay: garlic, crucifixes and mirrors.

Although the story is quite short, it’s a fairly difficult read. We learn about Neville’s daughter who had to be taken to the government fires after being claimed by the disease. His wife whom he buried but rose again from the dead as a vampire had to be killed, and his bouts of depression and alcoholism. He attempts to investigate the disease by foraging books from libraries, and microscopes from laboratories theorising that the disease is a strain of bacillus.

Neville does eventually get some company in the shape of a dog and later a female, but they are all too fleeting and the feeling that there is no hope exists throughout. The end of the novel in itself is quite prophetic given the title of the book. For me though, I prefer something less depressing.

Film/TV Adaption

I am Legend was written in 1954 and was adapted into three movies The Last Man on Earth (1964) , The Omega Man (1971) and more recently I Am Legend (2007) as well as inspiring a host of others including George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Reading the book you can also see shades of The Walking Dead series.

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Fafnir – Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research , Volume 7, Issue 2, pages 121–124.

Book Review

Marjut Puhakka

Book review: i am legend as american myth: race and masculinity in the novel and its film adaptations.

Ransom, Amy. I Am Legend as American Myth: Race and Masculinity in the Novel and Its Film Adaptations . McFarland, 2018. ISBN 978-1476668338.

Although Ransom’s previous work in Canadian SF has won the Pioneer Award offered by the Science Fiction Research Association, I Am Legend as American Myth unfortunately lacks the same ambition or cohesiveness. Still, it offers a wonderful opportunity to follow through on the changes in the many adaptations of Richard Matheson’s novel I Am Legend (1954), which Ransom examines using gender, race, and adaptation theory. Ransom’s study is a timely one due to Richard Matheson’s great influence on North American SF – in fact, George Romero wrote the screenplay for Night of the Living Dead (1968) after encountering the novel; Matheson’s story may thus be considered the starting point for the modern zombie genre. Yet, even if Matheson’s con-tributions to the genre are clear, fewer studies on Matheson have appeared than one might expect (despite a slight uptick of interest since the Will Smith film version in 2007). Ransom’s book is therefore a welcome, detailed comparison of Matheson’s novel and its four full-length film versions.

I Am Legend as American Myth situates Matheson’s original narrative in the historical context of time it was created: World War II and the Cold War period immediately following. Ransom analyses the novel and the four films in chronological order. Because the novel was published in 1954, it would be natural to consider it a Cold War text; instead, Ransom reads it as a result of the trauma evoked by World War II and the Korean War. Chapter 1 therefore examines the original novel within the context of post-war America while keeping in mind the fact that Matheson served in Europe. This is a refreshing approach, as most 1950s SF is read – forgetting the traumatised veterans of the previous war – as a product of the Cold War atmosphere. Some of Ransom’s better observations include how Matheson’s experiences in the army are reflected in the story, including how the protagonist’s behavior resembles that of a traumatised veteran. This shows, for instance, in the detailed descriptions of Neville’s vampire-hunting scenes, which reflect how trained soldiers might have reacted in a similar situation.

This focus on historical context remains the most successful part of I Am Legend as American Myth . Unfortunately, the other theoretical perspectives that Ransom brings to the text lack the same depth. Ransom probably brings these other theoretical elements to her reading because early scholars on Matheson, such as Kathy Patterson, mostly concentrate on racial and gender issues through the concept of the Other; in contrast, Ransom seems to feel that these issues must be addressed as well in order to write a full analysis of Matheson’s novel. However, mixing historical context, gender theory, race theory, and queer theory together does not leave enough space for Ransom to build a solid argument from any of her chosen theoretical perspectives. For instance, one of Ransom’s more controversial readings concerns the latest movie adaptation, I Am Legend (2007), which combines a superficial and old-fashioned Freudian theory with an emphasis on the lead actor’s skin color. For example, in the movie, Neville (played by Will Smith), hoping to find a cure, gives one of the monsters an injection to turn her back into a human woman. Ransom repeatedly interprets this needle-based injection as symbolising rape. As she writes, “Bakke specifically likens Neville’s injection of the female dark seeker with a phallic needle to a form a rape, an accomplishment of the sexual intercourse …. If we note that the legendary large penis of the black man is substituted with a needle … a metaphor for a small penis ….” (168), and so on. Ransom cites previous work by Gretchen Bakke, but she also takes Bakke’s interpretation without a grain of criticism, even though this would have been a wonderful opportunity to further examine binaries like black/white and male/female in greater depth. Unfortunately, Ransom’s core idea simply needs more argumentation than a passing reference to Freudian interpretation (needle = penis) or racial stereotypes (black man raping a white woman). These kinds of notions and flippant references to other studies can ruin an otherwise good analysis. If not proven otherwise, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

In her analysis of the novel and the adaptations, Ransom pays the most attention to the lonely protagonist, Neville (or “Morgan” in The Last Man on Earth ). To examine the protagonist in the films, Ransom employs scholar Richard Dyer’s star theory, which emphasises the actor playing the lead role. In this case, the leading men are Vincent Price in The Last Man on Earth (1964), the ultra-masculine Charlton Heston in The Omega Man (1971), and Will Smith in I Am Legend (2007). These three actors are thus icons, symbols of the last man. The fourth film, I Am Omega (2007), is less well known; so is its leading actor, Mark Dacascos. Ransom taces how the main character changes from one adaptation to another. For Ransom, the key is to examine race and race relations, the contrast between masculinity and femininity, and even the idea of closeted queer sexuality. Still, although it would be interesting to reflect on how lesser-known films and actors fit into star theory, I Am Legend as American Myth does not attempt to answer that. Instead, Ransom focuses on the two older films, The Last Man on Earth and The Omega Man , linking the former to the Cold War. Because The Last Man on Earth stars Vincent Price, who was rumored to have had relationships with both sexes, Ransom considers an application of queer theory appropriate. Yet, although the Cold War context seems quite acceptable to a modern reader, why base an entire argument on rumors of a leading actor’s sexual orientation? While such rumors might be interesting in a historical overview, it is here merely confusing to combine older methods of biographical studies with more contemporary theoretical paradigms that involve gender, race, and sexuality. The mixture ends up reinforcing old stereotypes instead of trying to evoke new ways of thinking. For instance, contemporary theoretical paradigms might have done highly interesting things with the two more-recent film adaptations, but these chapters are Ransom’s shortest, and Ransom only focuses on the race of Will Smith’s character, whom earlier film adaptations had identified as the last white man on earth.

Overall, Ransom’s book promises to fill a critical gap by studying Matheson’s most influential work, I Am Legend , as a contemporary American myth, and the monograph certainly succeeds as the secondary literature’s first full-scale attempt to examine how adaptations of Matheson’s text reflect cultural change. Methodologically, I Am Legend as American Myth is an inclusive attempt to follow one narrative changing over time and through multiple (re-)interpretations. The narratives’ historical context, the author’s biography, historical events such as wars, and the backgrounds of each movie are explained in minute detail. Ransom starts out by asserting that her “study’s goal is to reassess Matheson’s significance as a major figure in SF, fantasy, and horror literature, film, and television” (4). At some points, she hits this ambitious goal, but at other points her analyses lack nuance when it comes to important issues like race and gender. The I Am Legend narratives could just as easily be read as telling “universal” stories about loneliness and paranoia. Although Ransom does mention that the narrative’s mythic background resembles the story of Robinson Crusoe (186), one would expect her to address the idea of a contemporary myth in more detail than one mention. There is no solid definition of I Am Legend as a myth; instead, Ransom sees the narrative as achieving a mythological status to be read from its surrounding context. Perhaps it would have been more fruitful to read I Am Legend as a represent-tation of an older myth or a text that creates its mythopoeia.

Likewise, since Matheson’s novel undoubtedly played a role in creating the zombie genre, perhaps Ransom could have paid more attention to the post-apocalyptic and mythical dimensions of the story, studying its lonely protagonist as a mythical hero or observing Neville’s journey as an example of the monomyth (or hero’s journey). To some extent, we can read this kind of argument between the lines of Ransom’s text, but the idea of Neville as a mostly white (except for Will Smith) and mostly heterosexual (except for Vincent Price) mythic hero gets sidetracked by all the fascinating details of actors, filmmaking, and authorial biography. As political and controversial as Ransom’s reading may be, it does not highlight – as Ransom wants – the im-portance of I Am Legend . Rather, it uses the narrative to express the imbalances within the time period and society American Myth should be considered an indispensable study for anyone interested in Matheson’s novel and its adaptations. Not only does Ransom succinctly summarise previous studies on Matheson, but she shows an admirable ambition in analysing how a written narrative can interact with film narratives, and how those narratives can be affected by cultural context.

Biography : Marjut Puhakka is a PhD student at the University of Oulu, Finland. In her upcoming thesis, she studies the concepts of subject and consciousness in transmedia stories about self-aware zombies, I Am Legend , The Girl with All the Gifts , iZombie, and Metro 2033 by examining the border between human and monster. She has been interested in horror fiction since she was a child, and her previous work combines philosophical theory and literature studies. Currently, she works as a literature teacher.

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Thoughts on I Am Legend by Richard Matheson : r/books
Thoughts on I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. - To begin, this was my first exposure to Matheson and his 1954 post-apocalyptic work. I had seen the movie with Will Smith, and was expecting something along the lines of the same plot. And, wow. I have never seen a Hollywood adaptation of a novel so grossly different, that it felt like the novel ...
Discussion of I Am Legend by Richard Matheson and its ending
Either you like the story enough to gloss over it's flaws or you don't. I most certainly do. The book was written in 1954 by someone who wasn't a scientist. It seems kinda silly to complain about scientific inaccuracy in something 70 years ago about a vampire virus. I think the ending in particular is great.
ok i seriously need this answered, I Am Legend. how did they ...
They were obviously not trying to adapt the book 100%. They didn't get it completely wrong...at first. The original ending had Smith discover that one of the "monsters" had come to retrieve his mate, showing it has emotions, and that Smith had been experimenting on sentient beings not mindless creatures.
How do we feel about "I Am Legend"? : r/movies
I've always really liked the movie, especially the first two acts, and the images of an abandoned NYC are even more eerie now than when the movie was first released in December of 2007. The CGI dark seekers however...man. I'm still stunned they didn't go the practical effects route here. It's truly a damn shame because thats really the only ...
Book Review: I Am Legend , Richard Matheson (1954)
4/5 (Good) Richard Matheson's I Am Legend (1954) is an influential SF vampire/zombie novel that spawned three film adaptations (I've watched the first two) and inspired directors such as George A. Romero and Danny Boyle, game designers such as Tim Cain (Fallout), and countless authors.The subject of the novel-man attempts to survive an onslaught of vampires, caused by bacterial infection ...
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson: Book Review
Neville's reactions felt very real to me. I experienced all of his emotions with him. The vampires were scary at first, and then they just sort of become background noise. Then there's the rage, despair, curiosity, really the whole gamut of emotions that you would feel in that position.
I Am Legend Review: A Story of Tenacity
Book Title: I Am Legend Book Description: In 'I Am Legend,' Robert Neville navigates a world where a plague has turned humanity into vampires, struggling with survival and despair as the last living man. Book Author: Richard Matheson Book Edition: First Edition Book Format: Hardcover Publisher - Organization: Fawcett Publications Date published: July 1, 1954 ...
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Hm. Honestly, this is a tough book to review. I did like the story, but one of the biggest bothers for me here was not fully understanding why the world has gone to shit & why everyone is now a vampire. The book just drops you right in the middle of Robert Neville's situation, which is a day to day existence of killing vampires during the day & hiding in his house during the night.
I Am Legend: Book Review
Today, we will be reviewing the classic novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. Find out what we thought of the post-apocalyptic horror novel that has influenced many zombie and vampire novels as we review I Am Legend below! I Am Legend Summary. The setting is on Cimarron Street in 1976 Los Angeles in a post-apocalyptic war where dust storms are ...
BOOK REVIEW: I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson https://amzn.to/2SgotTtSupport me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ThePerksOfBooksAmazon Wish List: https://www.amazon.com...
Review
BOOK OF THE WEEK: 1 I AM LEGEND by Richard Matheson.... Your thoughts on this book and tale - and what of the numerous adaptions of it? I Am Legend is a 1954 science fiction horror novel by American writer Richard Matheson.It was influential in the development of the zombie-vampire genre of fiction, and in popularizing the concept of a worldwide apocalypse due to disease.
Book vs. Movie: I Am Legend
This movie works on SO MANY LEVELS) Ultimately it's hard to say which is better, the book or the movie. I'd argue that they're different enough in tone and intention that you could enjoy them as two completely independent stories. Rumor has it there will be an I Am Legend 2 (sequel or prequel, TBD) soon, which I think is a huge mistake.
"I Am Legend" Book Review
"I Am Legend," while rooted in horror and science fiction, echoes Matheson's recurring theme: exploring the human condition amidst otherworldly scenarios. However, the depth of isolation, introspection, and the intertwining of horror with heartbreaking realism make "I Am Legend" a standout even within his illustrious body of work.
I Am Legend
Book. Setting: LA, California. Time Period: 1970s. Protagonist: Robert Neville, average middle aged dude. Monster: traditional vampires with supernatural abilities akin to standard lore. Character development: Neville struggles with daily survival, psychological issues, loneliness, alcoholism, and suicidal thoughs. Ending: Neville is executed and will become the new lore for young Vampires to ...
Review: I Am Legend
Review: I Am Legend. In the end, the decision to make the dark seekers wholly computer-generated proves ill-advised. by Nick Schager. December 12, 2007. In I Am Legend 's finest scene, military scientist Robert Neville (Will Smith), the last human survivor of an apocalyptic virus, visits a Manhattan video rental store and begins talking to ...
How I Am Legend's Ending Is Different In The Book
By Hannah Shaw-Williams. Published Apr 18, 2020. I Am Legend's book ending is different to both versions of the movie, but skews closer to the controversial alternate ending of the film. Francis Lawrence's 2007 film I Am Legend had not one but two endings, and while both are different from what happens in the original novel by Richard Matheson ...
I Am Legend Explained (Alternate Endings Vs Book)
I am Legend is a 2007 sci-fi thriller that tells the story of a military virologist trying to find a cure for a contagious virus that has turned people into vampire-like creatures. It's based on the book I am Legend (1954) by Richard Matheson, to which Warner Bros has had the rights since 1970. In fact, in 1971, the company had already made a movie (The Omega Man) based on the book.
#BookReview of I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
My Review. I Am Legend is an interesting if somewhat depressing novel written by Richard Matheson. Set in Los Angeles, it tells the story of Robert Neville who appears to be the sole survivor of a pandemic which has turned the victims into vampires. At night he locks himself in his home out of reach from the vampires, playing loud music and ...
Book Review: I Am Legend as American Myth
ISBN 978-1476668338. Although Ransom's previous work in Canadian SF has won the Pioneer Award offered by the Science Fiction Research Association, I Am Legend as American Myth unfortunately lacks the same ambition or cohesiveness. Still, it offers a wonderful opportunity to follow through on the changes in the many adaptations of Richard ...
Amazon.com: Customer reviews: I Am Legend: And Other Stories
Written in 1954 by Richard Matheson "I Am Legend" takes a close look at what it means to be human and what it takes to become inhuman. Robert Neville is the last man on Earth, but he is not alone! The rest of the human race has died, victims of a mysterious plague that has infected everyone and has a 99% fatality rate.
I am looking for an epic poem book like Dante's Inferno / The ...
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What are the creatures?

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The creatures possess intelligence

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I Am Legend: What is the alternate ending?

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