The Omega Man (DVD)

Advantages: Good 70's stuff.
Disadvantages: Slightly dated of course.

You will be aware of the latest blockbuster movie called I am legend, and may know of a film from years ago, that someone said was similar. Well, the original film was called The Omega Man, and it was based on a book called "I am legend". The story is simple enough, one man (Charlton Heston) is the sole survivor of a germ war that either killed off the worlds entire population, or turned them into killer mutants called "The Family". The modern version ...
...a very good copy, considering the Omega Man was 37 years ago, and the art of special effects has improved no end. Personally I actually prefer the original. It was gritty, '70s stuff, with Heston gunning down the baddies like there was no tomorrow. Actually there may not be if he didn't gun them down. Heston is known for his pro gun attitude, and has been quoted as saying you could "Take my weapon from my cold dead hand" I do realise this was a quote ... Read review

Advantages: Good Premise, well filmed and enjoyable
Disadvantages: dated and could have been better

...again its futuristic sci-fi where the world has gone wrong and only our hero Charlton Heston can save the day. I might add that I enjoyed the irony of "Mr National Rifle Association" running around shooting zombies and philosophising over how the world could have destroyed itself. Heston is under the impression that he is the last human left alive, the only other creatures left dwelling the planet being mutated human beings, victims of a plague ...
...save himself but not the rest of mankind. That is until one day he sees a woman, Rosalind Cash, in a shop who is clearly not suffering from the plague as she does not look like Casper the ghost. He chases her but eventually he losses her and once again he is alone. The mutants, rather like something from a Michael Jackson video only come out at night as light hurts their eyes so Heston spends the days looking for food and supplies then races home ... Read review

Advantages: A perfectly adequate film in its own right
Disadvantages: A crap adaptation of a classic sci-fi text

...than it is. Having read the amazing source novel by Richard Matheson, "I Am Legend", the night before, I was eager to see how it had been transferred to the screen. Not very well, is my conclusion. As with the book, the "last man on Earth"(TM) on Earth is called Robert Neville...and that's pretty much it. Pretty much everything else has been bastardised for a Seventies' audience. Gone is the ordinary hero, struggling for survival against his own ...
...grimly for an antidote for the plague that has wiped out most human life. What we get instead is Charlton Heston (obviously unaware that he has been typecast as a nihilistic antihero/action-man after his turn in Planet of the Apes), crashing his sports car by day and talking to himself. You never root for him, just feel indifferent. Gone is the tiny little house with boards on the windows as Neville's only defense against the bloodthirsty vampires, ... Read review

Advantages: Good Story, novel idea
Disadvantages: Over the top on costumes....

This film from the seventies, was the writers attempt at trying to show mankind what could happen if the cold war didn't stop in time. This film is about germ warfare and not nuclear war as one would imagine when you talk about the cold war. Based on the book by Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend", this adaptation, is not as good as I feel it could have been, but never the less Charlton Heston plays a very good part. Directed by Boris Sagal (Mosquito ...
...is the only person who is not infected by the biological germ used in the Worlds briefest of Wars. Within days of the use of the weapon, millions die. Neville survives by scavenging in the day and returning to his penthouse flat which is barricaded and heavily protected from the 'Family' at sun down. The 'Family' led by zealot named Matthias (Anthony Zerbe), are the citizens at different stages of the biological disease left behind after the attack. ... Read review

Advantages: chuck is awesome
Disadvantages: too few extras

...it's sheer brilliance. made in the 70's good old Charlton Heston and his Doc Savage chin and chest just rob Chuck in every scene. The film is so silly now it's just a case of watching it without trying to involve your brain in any way at all. Chuck dying at the end of the film I totally forgot about (I told you it contained spoilers!) all the scenes of newscasters and scientists on television stank of romero's "Dead" movies so I can see how the book ...
...been re-cut or included all the cut scenes (like the now infamous woman in crypt on the cutting room floor). It would have been nice to see the context those scenes were in. We got a tiny thing about "making of Omega Man" which was really bad and didn't add to the DVD in the slightest. Can't someone ask Charlton to get off his gun toting backside and make a few commentaries. No-one should even consider re-making this. Like Logans Run (HERESY!) certain ... Read review

Advantages: Chilling, different, thought provoking and British
Disadvantages: Plot holes, shaky camera work, violent

...This film is apparently based on the cult 60s movie 'The Omega Man'. It is directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Shallow Grave) and written by Alex Garland (The Beach). The DVD cover has the quote "The best British Horror film for 30 years" which sounds impressive until you try to identify another British horror film from the last 30 years (yes - OK, there is 'Dog Soldiers' which has some passing similarity to this film). But really I would put it more into the Sci-fi category even though horror is something it has plenty of. The film opens with a scene in a laboratory showing a chimpanzee strapped to a table being forced to watch TV footage of horror and violence. Then a group of animal liberationists break in and discover many other chimps in cages. A lab technician comes in and pleads with the liberationists not to free... Read review

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