Will Smith’s latest paycheck has made a bestseller out of Richard Matheson’s classic 1954 novel I AM LEGEND, so whether the movie is awful or awesome, at least one good thing has come from it.
Even most who’ve never read it or seen the various movies are at least familiar with its now-famous plot: Robert Neville leads a structured but solitary life, since he is – as far as he knows – the last man on earth. Oh, but there are vampires, and every night they surround his home and yell at him to come out, to give up, to become one of them. It’s enough to drive a man insane.
But Neville is a fighter, not about to go down easy. He pines for his lost love Virginia while enduring the taunts of the vampires, led by one Ben Cortman. Attempts to make pals with man’s best friend goes awry, another victim of the bacteria that has turned the population into monsters. He’s not as alone as he thinks, but ensuing events only will heighten his feelings of isolation.
It’s easy to see why I AM LEGEND is, well, legendary: It’s short, tense and frighteningly relevant, perhaps more so today than ever. Mass-extinction and bioterrorist themes equal longevity these days. If you’ve never picked up this novel before, the current tie-in releases from Tor give you ample reason in a couple of formats; all come loaded with nearly a dozen of Matheson’s short stories from the era, including the famous woman-vs.-doll “Prey,” best known as the basis for the good third of the ’70s TV-movie TRILOGY OF TERROR. It’s one of his best. –Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• BLOOD LINES: RICHARD MATHESON’S DRACULA, I AM LEGEND, AND OTHER VAMPIRE STORIES by Richard Matheson
• RICHARD MATHESON’S THE TWILIGHT ZONE SCRIPTS: VOLUME TWO edited by Stanley Wiater
• WOMAN by Richard Matheson
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Could this be the “good” version of the book I’ve been waiting for all my life? Probably not, but it’s probably going to be stupidly entertaining, so I’ll cough up my bucks for it.
Will they keep the dog, though? I don’t know. It was the saddest thing I’d ever read, and likely a focus group will have it removed.
I heard they had to reshoot the ending. But I’ll be there also Corey.
Don’t hate on “The Omega Man”–Charlton Heston is 10 times the post-vampire-apocalypse sole survivor that Will Smith could ever be.
Hi Rod:
I’m a fan of Matheson, but I don’t think “I Am Legend” is one of his best (although the new book with the extra short stories is worth the buy). I think Matheson didn’t explore the “new world” Neville finds himself in enough. The book is too internal and would have been better with more external.
Anyway, here’s my full take on it:
http://darkpartyreview.blogspot.com/2007/11/literary-sketch-richard-mathesons-i-am.html
I meant the short story “Prey” was one of his best.