10 Movies You Didn’t Know Were Remakes

I Am Legend – The Last Man On Earth

I Am Legend pitted Will Smith against vampire-like zombies (or zombie-like vampires) as he stood as the (apparently) lone bastion of humanity in a post-apocalyptic world. But Smith was not the first to stand alone – the original film version of Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend starred Vincent Price in the titular role as The Last Man on Earth.

An English/Italian co-production, The Last Man on Earth jumps back and forth between the horrific present, as Price wanders the dead city searching for vampires to stake, and his memories of the past. The Last Man on Earth created the zombie genre before there were zombies, and became a major influence on George Romero’s creation of his living dead. While I Am Legend upped the ante of violence and explosions and provided our hero with a basically happy ending (kind of), The Last Man on Earth is the truly iconic work. A far bleaker and less badass film, The Last Man on Earth actually goes the distance in questioning what makes real monsters.