I Am Legend (2007) – source: Warner Bros. The dog and the woman make some appearance in each film, but there are added elements to enhance Neville’s isolation from the life he once had. The novel chronicles Neville’s day-to-day routine, a rather mundane one, and what happens when both a dog and woman enter his life. The three films, though different in quality, each succeed in capturing the loneliness of the protagonist. The three films selected succeed and fail in various areas, but some were more successful in certain parts than others. With any page-to-screen adaptation, some onscreen elements keep with the source material, while others fail to capture what made the source great. The novel received three well-known adaptations with big stars such as Vincent Price in the first adaptation The Last Man on Earth, Charlton Heston in the second adaptation The Omega Man and Will Smith in the third, I Am Legend. With all survivalist stories, a feature film is likely to get made. In the end, Neville loses the good fight for survival. He spends his days coping with loneliness/isolation and fighting these vampires, led by former neighbor Ben Cortman, from entering in his well-protected home. Protagonist Robert Neville is the last man standing. Science is often used to explain the existence of and how to destroy vampires. With the future setting (well, Los Angeles of 1976) and the result of vampires is due to a disease pandemic, as the sci-fi element. Vampires, and frequent jump scares, are the horror elements. I Am Legend blends Science Fiction and Horror by allowing readers to dive into a futuristic world overrun by vampires. What exactly is the appeal of this slim (my paperback copy is 170 pages long) novel? As a reader, it’s the novel’s genre balance and themes of loneliness that leave a lasting impression. Stephen King considered this an important book in his development as a writer, and the use of a hero trapped indoors fending off the undead inspired George A. Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel I Am Legend, though not a massive success when first published, grew over time to be an influential piece of fiction.
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