Review of The Omega Man (1971) by Nathan P — 24 Mar 2008

It astounds me every time I see a movie based on a classic and very popular book that completely changes the storyline and characters and makes it into nothing more then a cheap imitation. The Omega Man is one such film. Based on a book of great influence by Richard Matheson, I Am Legend, the only true similarity between the book and this film is the fact that the ghouls, or "the family," can not come out during the day; after that the similarities end.

The film starts out with our hero, Neville, driving down the streets of an abandoned city in his bright red convertible, dodging stalled cars and overturned trashcans. The empty are very early and manage to set up the apocalyptic feel very early on. For the time it was made the abandoned street scenes during the day were actually quite good. The problems with this film start once night falls and Neville is caught outside in the dark as the "zombies" started to come out. he gets into a few fire fights with the ghouls, and then goes inside as if staying out after dark weren't such a big deal.

The biggest disappointment I found with this extremely silly film were the ghouls themselves, if you can call them that. In the book they were real vampires who sucked blood, were repelled by garlic and crosses, burned to death almost instantly in sunlight, and needed to be killed with a stake as opposed to a gun. The vampires in this film have absolutely no vampire qualities, except the hatred for sunlight. Think of them like the borg from Star Trek who share a common mind, live as a family, and like to go around killing people. These vampires are the silliest movie monsters I have ever seen in my life. They where black robes and sunglasses, play with fire, and (I kid you not) build catapults and fire rocks at Neville's house. They aren't mindless blood thirsty vampire creatures like in the book, their just a bunch of emo goths who don't like technology. sunlight doesn't even do them much harm; in many instances you could see them walking around in bright light with only a slight sensitivity.

This film does just about everything badly, from the script, to the annoying music, to the horrendous acting, nothing goes right. The characters actions will have you scratching your head in confusion and asking "okay, now, why did they just to that?" and no answer will come to mind. This is one of the most incomprehensible and flat out silly films I have ever seen in my entire life. I'm not a fan of the new film I Am Legend (Widescreen Single-Disc Edition) with Will Smith, but given the choice I'd take it any day over The Omega Man.