COME OUT, NEVILLE!

[thehefner]

Will Smith has just been signed to star in a new adaptation of I AM LEGEND.

For those who don't know, I AM LEGEND is a novel by a man named Richard Matheson. Matheson is one of the greatest and most influential horror/suspense writers of the 20th century, but whose name is generally only known to the big flaming geek dorks like me and Stephen King. He adapted a number of his stories for THE TWILIGHT ZONE, including the legendary Shatner-fest, "Terror at 20,000 Feet" (you know... "There's! Some... thing... onthewing!" Seriously, though great episode).

Matheson's novel I AM LEGEND is about the sole survivor of a plague that swept through the world, turning everyone into vampires. The last human has boarded up his house and has to defend it every night from the mindless vampire hordes, and then in the day he gets some stakes, kills a few in their sleep, gets some supplies, and the cycle continues for months as he tries to maintain his humanity. It's a brilliant book. Maybe the best vampire novel I've ever read.

It's been adapted to film twice already. Most famously as the cheese-fest THE OMEGA MAN, with Heston, and before that in the much better THE LAST MAN ON EARTH with Vincent Price. It's also worth noting that it was hugely influential to George Romero to make NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Even though they're vampires, I AM LEGEND is the spiritual godfather to the Zombie Apocalypse genre.

And now Will Smith's in the lead. Now, Smith is an excellent actor when he bloody wants to be and not just some cocky action variant of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air (I really disliked SIX DEGREES... but thought he showed amazing talent). The film will be directed by the helmer of CONSTATINE, which I understood was actually damn good, and I will see it eventually once I get over the utter complete wrongness of Keanu as Johnny-boy (and the gum at the end, I will never, ever forgive that). The screenplay is by Akiva Goldsman, Oscar-winning writer of A BEAUTIFUL MIND as well as the writer of BATMAN FOREVER and BATMAN AND ROBIN. Insert your own comment here.

Will it be good? I hope so. It deserves to be. I mean, I sincerely doubt they'll have the guts to do the ending (which they did faithfully in the Vincent Price version back in the 50's), which is at the very heart of why and what I AM LEGEND is. Read the book, though. It's excellent.

It's funny I should be reading this now, as just yesterday I picked up Stephen King's CELL, his own take on the Zombie Apocalypse, dedicated to Richard Matheson and George Romero. So far it's utterly riveting.

Comments

[irish-caffeine.livejournal.com]

Don't forget, I am Legend is also the novel that made Stephen King want to become a writer.

[suburbfabulous.livejournal.com]

Will Smith? Well, it'll put butts in seats.
I reread that book about eight times last summer.
I also saw the Constantine movie at about the same time.
The book is excellent.
I have no idea what to say about CONSTANTINE. I don't even know if I liked it or not.
Now I want an icon of Anthony Zerbe from THE OMEGA MAN, with the text "Zerbe is my copilot"...and I don't know why.

[heleneotroy.livejournal.com]

I love the Vincent Price version. But then, I'd watch him wear a trash bag and read the phone directory. . .
Somehow, I don't think they'll have the guts to kill off Will Smith, but I have a nagging feeling that he'll want them to. (He's a nice guy, I was in one of his music videos.)
Whatever. I'll still wait for it to come out on DVD. I don't dig the whole zombie thing, they give me the creeps. I love every other horror genre but zombies turn my stomach. *shrug*

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Yes indeedy, a factoid to which I alluded above but did not outright mention. I guess I was afraid I was being too long-winded as it was.

[kali921.livejournal.com]

I love the Vincent Price version. But then, I'd watch him wear a trash bag and read the phone directory. . .

I don't know you, but I immediately respect you for that statement.

[kali921.livejournal.com]

Okay, as usual, you get massive props for liking:

1. Vincent Price.
2. Richard Matheson.
3. The Twilight Zone.
4. Good horror.

Wow. I know Matheson's work. I hope to god they stay true to the book. I'm not sure frankly if Will Smith is up to taking on that role, but I hope he does justice to it.

You know what other show was great? The Outer Limits. OMG, that show can be terrifying at times.

I'm remembering an incredible episode of the The Outer Limits called "Demon With A Glass Hand," written by Harlan Ellison. Premise: aliens invade a future Earth, thousands of years in the future, and the space-time continuum suddenly gets altered during the invasion, with every person on Earth disappearing. The aliens travel back in time, somehow figuring out that one man is key to this, and find the man, who has a glass hand and no memory of why he does. They chase him, find him, interrogate him, and eventually find out that future humanity, at the beginning of the invasion, found a way to distill the souls/essences of humanity into a physical object, made this object a glass hand, and sent our poor hero back in time to do stuff to eventually preserve humanity's legacy if all of humanity is wiped out.

The episode is sooo well done. Although it may look a little dated by today's standards, it still stands up to scrutiny: it's still chilling, with just incredibly scary and dark ambience. For some reason, I think you'd love it.

I highly recommend viewing Outer Limits. Still scares me.

A very iconic and famous line from that episode is: "There were seventy billion people on Earth. Where are they hiding? Where are they hiding?" That line was sampled by Caberet Voltaire, a really great (and famous) British experimental industrial/danceish band.

Vincent Price - man, I can watch him in anything. Theater of Blood, anyone?

I'm a total horror geek, btw.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I've actually heard about Demon with a Glass Hand, but I've never seen it!

OUTER LIMITS is great, but there's a coldness to it, a detatchment, whereas TWILIGHT ZONE has a humanity to it. Which certainly attributes to much of what made OL scary as crap at times. I need to see more episodes, for sure. I just love TZ's warmth (if that's the right word), humor, and that dark, sick irony.

I love love *love* THEATRE OF BLOOD. Shakespeare and Vinny-P all in one movie. The Titus scene? Awesome. And for god's sake, you have a gay lisping Vincent Price in an afro! Worth the price of admission right there!

Total horror geek here too. Have you seen the one in my icon here? It's one of my all-time favorites, crappy studio intervention or not.

[heleneotroy.livejournal.com]

Why thank you! I'm pretty nifty, if I do say so myself. ;)

[yancentric.livejournal.com]

Dude, Constantine sucked. I can totally look past having Keanu as the lead, though he wasn't particularly good. It just wasn't that good of a movie. It had a handful of good scenes mixed in with an uneven feel overall and a general sense of "this just isn't that good of a movie"-ness that hung over the whole thing. As you actually care about the characters, I recommend it even less.

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

Modest and good taste in icons, too.

[kali921.livejournal.com]

...what film is it? I can't see the dude's face in your icon. ;_;

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I'll give ya a hint, it's Brad Dourif in the icon. If it helps, he's in a straitjacket.

[heleneotroy.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :) Actually, Feathers McGraw was the very first icon that I chose when I was first talked into getting myself an LJ. Its gone through several changes since then, but I always like to keep him around. I'm a huge pengin fan.

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

I passively collect penguins, i.e., people give them to me. My latest acquisition is a lovely thing made of cow horn my dad brought me back from Cuba.

[covenhouse-cat.livejournal.com]

I loved "I Am Legend" when I was little.

And "Dude" above me is right. I finally got the gumption to see it, and oh, the pain. Keanu is horrid as Our Man John. The gum is unforgivable, and the only redeeming quality is that woman who plays Gabriel is really good at it, despite the crappy direction and lousy screenplay.

They all but cut out the demoness from the theatrical release, and don't even get me started about Chas. Not for the fans.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Tilda Swinton, the White Witch of Narnia! God damn, she is so creepy-evil-hot.