Science Fiction Discussion 2/11/2016

This month we read Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, which many people will associate with the Will Smith movie of the same name. A few people may associate it with the cheesy 1970's-era Charlton Hesston movie Omega Man. In fact, the book has been made in to a movie three times. The oldest version stars Vincent Price and is called The Last Man on Earth.

Our group compared and contrasted the book with the Price film. I think the overall decision was that The Last Man on Earth followed I Am Legend very closely. The other two movies did so to a lesser degree. Personally, I really liked the Matheson story. I thought it was paced well and kept me interested. While it felt very much a product of its time (1954) in moral sensibilities, it is still very readable. Price played the main character pretty true to the book. The only problem for me was that no matter what, it was still Vincent Price. Kind of like the Charlton Hesston version, Robert Neville (main character of the book) was there in name only - it was Charlton Hesston the whole time.

All-in-all, I would recommend the book. I liked the Vincent Price version of the movie - very low-budget, but I thought it was true to the novel.

Next up: Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Join us on March 3rd at 7pm here at the library!