Review of The Omega Man (1971) by Ryan V — 24 Jul 2016

Charlton Heston plays a military scientist who seems to be the sole human spared from a germ bomb that has killed most of the human race while reducing the rest into vampiric mutants. His idle efforts to develop a cure turn into something more than a vanity project once he discovers a small community of human survivors, but a cabal of fundamentalist mutants refuse to make it easy for him to save mankind from itself.

The Omega Man is the film adaptation of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend that is the most reflective of the time period it was produced in. Sadly, its fast and loose relationship to its source novella results in the elimination of much of the moral nuances of I Am Legend.

Still, the movie does have some striking visuals and some of the performances can be pretty fun.