My Name is Jason Lockard and I love Classic Cinema…. Halloween is my favorite time of the year! TV networks play all kinds of horror films, it’s endless! Well, this month I’m bringing you a true horror classic featuring the single most recognizable actor in horror cinema history, the incomparable Vincent Price.

Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was born on May 27, 1911 in St. Louis, Missouri, to Marguerite Cobb and Vincent Leonard Price, Sr., who was the president of the National Candy Company. His grandfather, Vincent Clarence Price, invented "Dr. Price's Baking Powder", the first cream of tartar baking powder, and secured the family's fortune. Price attended St. Louis Country Day School and later furthered education at Yale in art history and fine art. He was a member of Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity and the Courtauld Institute, London. He became interested in the theater during the 1930s, appearing professionally on stage in 1935, but little did he know he would become known for his eerie horror films.

Price's first venture into the horror genre was in the 1939 in Boris Karloff’s film Tower of London in which his character was murdered by Karloff's. The following year he portrayed the title character in the film The Invisible Man Returns (a role he reprised in a vocal cameo at the end of the 1948 horror-comedy spoof Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein). He went on to star in such great horror classics as 1953’s House of Wax, the first 3-D film to land in the year's top ten at the North American box office, 1958’s The Fly and 1959’s House on Haunted Hill…. Price shed his horror facade to star in Cecille B. Demille’s Epic The Ten Commandments in which he played Baka. He even showed his comedic side in guest appearances on Batman TV Series as the villain Egghead and on The Muppet Show, but to his fans he will always be known as the horror icon and this month we are bringing you a tale that has been done over and over and over again but Vincent Price’s version stands alone as the greatest of all of them!

The Last Man on Earth was released in 1964 based on the Richard Matheson novel I Am Legend. The film was directed by Ubaldo Ragona and Sidney Salkow, and the script was written in part by Matheson, but he was dissatisfied with the result and was therefore credited as "Logan Swanson". William Leicester, Furio M. Monetti, and Ubaldo Ragona were the other writers. Filmed in Rome, Italy, it was later released theatrically in the United States by American International Pictures.

Every day is the same for Dr. Robert Morgan (Price): He wakes up, gathers his weapons and then goes hunting for vampires. Morgan lives in a world where everyone was infected by a plague that turned them into vampire creatures. Morgan is immune to the bacteria because he was bitten by an infected vampire bat when he was stationed in Panama, which introduced diluted plague into his blood.

The vampire creatures would love nothing more than to kill Morgan if they could, but fortunately, they are weak and not very smart. At night, Morgan locks himself inside his house; during the day, he kills as many vampires as he can, burning the bodies. The story of his life is told in flashbacks explaining how his wife and daughter succumbed to the plague. Quite a lonely life!

One day, a dog appears in his neighborhood. Morgan seeing a chance for company he chases after the dog, but does not catch it. Later, the dog appears at Morgan's doorstep, wounded. Morgan takes the dog into his home and treats its wounds. Morgan now has a new friend, but he quickly discovers, that the poor animal has become infected with the plague. Morgan is later seen burying the dog, which he has impaled with a wooden stake.

While out on his daily activities, Morgan spots a woman in the distance. The woman, Ruth, is terrified of Morgan at first sight, and runs from him. Morgan convinces her to return to his home, but is suspicious of her true nature. When Ruth becomes ill after Morgan waves garlic in her face, she claims that she has a weak stomach. Is Ruth Infected with the plague?! If so can Morgan save her?! These answers and more are played out in the original version of Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend.

There are some differences from the novel to the screen; The hero’s name was changed Robert Neville to Robert Morgan. His occupation was changed plant worker to medical researcher. In the novel the dog that shows up on Neville's doorstep is timid, and comes and goes as it pleases. Finally in the novel the vampire plague is a result of environmental destruction caused by nuclear wars. The origin of the disease is not explained in the film! While these are just some of the changes from novel to film. The film is still a tremendous adaptation!

The film has fallen into the public domain. MGM Home Video, the current owners of the AIP film catalog, released a digitally re-mastered widescreen print on DVD in September 2005. Legend Films has also released a brand new colorized version of this classic!

This film has been remade three times The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston, I Am Legend starring Will Smith and most recently I Am Omega starring Mark Dacascos as Renchard all of which fall short of this classic tale!

In the early 1970s, Price hosted and starred in BBC Radio's horror and mystery series The Price of Fear. He also accepted a cameo part in the children's television program The Hilarious House of Frightenstein. He appeared in The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) and Theatre of Blood (1973). Price also recorded dramatic readings of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories and poems, which were collected together with readings by Basil Rathbone.

He greatly reduced his film work from around 1975, as horror itself suffered a slump, he made many guest appearances in a 1970 episode of Here's Lucy showcasing his art expertise and in a 1972 episode of The Brady Bunch, in which he played a deranged archaeologist.

In 1989, Price was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame. His last significant film work was as the inventor in Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands (1990). Price was a lifelong smoker and had long suffered from emphysema and Parkinson's disease, which had forced his role in Edward Scissorhands to be much smaller than intended. He died of lung cancer on October 25, 1993. He was cremated and his ashes scattered off Point Dume in Malibu, California.

So on Halloween night turn the lights down low, pop some popcorn and load this classic in the DVD players and enjoy the original classic The Last Man on Earth! Until next month when we recommended another classic for you this Jason saying if you want a good film check out a classic! Happy Halloween!

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Moral Rating: Violence and Murder
Audience: Not Suitable for small children
Genre: Sci-fi Horror
Length: 87 min.
Year of Release: 1964
Our Rating: A+