Helpful Score: 3
The basis for the 1971 movie The Omega Man (which I haven't seen, but from plot summaries, doesn't seem to follow the book very closely), and also the basis for a 2007 release starring Will Smith (!?). This wasn't my pick; it was my book club selection for the month. I was unaware that Matheson was such a prolifically commercial writer, as well... He's the pen behind The Incredible Shrinking Man, The Legend of Hell House, the Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" (and many others) and one of the worst Star Trek episodes ever: The Enemy Within (good vs. evil Kirk!). The list goes on...
"I Am Legend," although ostensibly a sci-fi/vampire story, is pretty much every zombie movie you have ever seen. I feel it was worth reading just because I never knew that the basic plot (collapse of society due to people 'turning', man holed up & attempting to survive through ingenuity vs. legions of ravening, slavering undead) had been invented so early - 1954. ('Night of the Living Dead' didn't come out till 1968.)
However, innovative and influential as the story may have been,it's not really a particularly good novel. The writing style felt very dated, to me, and, short as it was, it was rather boring. Much of the book has our last-man-on-earth (?) holed up in his apartment, feeling alternately self-pitying or self-congratulating, constantly whining about being horny, and acting macho. The story's a great idea - but it's subsequently been done better.
"I Am Legend," although ostensibly a sci-fi/vampire story, is pretty much every zombie movie you have ever seen. I feel it was worth reading just because I never knew that the basic plot (collapse of society due to people 'turning', man holed up & attempting to survive through ingenuity vs. legions of ravening, slavering undead) had been invented so early - 1954. ('Night of the Living Dead' didn't come out till 1968.)
However, innovative and influential as the story may have been,it's not really a particularly good novel. The writing style felt very dated, to me, and, short as it was, it was rather boring. Much of the book has our last-man-on-earth (?) holed up in his apartment, feeling alternately self-pitying or self-congratulating, constantly whining about being horny, and acting macho. The story's a great idea - but it's subsequently been done better.
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