The Book

“I Am Legend” – Richard Matheson (1954)

In one of the best post-apocalyptic novels ever, Robert Neville, the sole survivor of a bacteria-spread disease, fights his own battle against both vampires and his crushing loneliness.

Neville’s inner monologue is stunning, as readers feel like they are actually inside his head, watching a man slip from sanity in a world that is no longer his own.

The book deals with not only battles between Neville and his enemies, but also with the ideas of “normalcy” and his struggle to embrace the past.

Matheson’s amazing wordplay frightens the readers, but also compels them and, if read in one sitting, can bring forth a severe bond with Neville.

The Films:

“I am Legend” (2007)

“The Omega Man” (1971)

“The Last Man on Earth” (1964)

There is no doubt that Will Smith is a great actor. He outperforms himself in the latest film adaptation of Matheson’s book, released to wide critical acclaim last year.

His deadpan job of re-creating a man driven to the brink of insanity was the highlight of the film, which almost makes up for the altered ending. Bear in mind that the book’s ending is not a “Hollywood” ending, so the directors had to come up with something different, with mediocre results.

Before, there was “The Omega Man,” starring Charlton Heston, which was a cinematic waste of time. First of all, this man could not act, and secondly, Matheson’s book was almost completely neglected. Heston’s love of killing is evident in this adaptation, which loses all of the psychological aspect of the book.

Vincent Price, however, was not a terrible actor. His version, 1964’s “The Last Man on Earth,” stands up as the best film adaptation of Matheson’s novel for several reasons.

The most obvious is that Matheson himself wrote a lot of the screenplay, though he would eventually take his name off the credits after the editing changed his vision.

And the winner is: The book

The book is hands down the best version of the “I Am Legend” story. The survivalist is present in the book’s Neville, and his struggles take the center of the story. Also, it should be noted that Matheson’s Neville listened to classical music to drown out the sound of the vampires screaming his name, and Will Smith’s Neville plays Bob Marley to try to reclaim his sanity, or maybe just “chill out.”

Also, Matheson weaves different types of causes of the plague into his story, and carefully makes distinctions between the undead and the infected, something absent in all films.

The book, “I Am Legend,” is an undeniable work of genius that helped the survivalist literature genre expand, and his book serves not only as a scary short story, but also a reflection on our society. In 2008, the reader still feels the same connections that were made by readers over 50 years ago, which is truly something to be amazed by.