Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

*cue catchy jingle*

Seven days to Halloween, Halloween, Halloween.
Seven days to Halloween - Silver Shamrocks!

Welcome Boys and Ghouls to Month of the Living Dead, my thirteen day (and then some) tribute to that most wonderful of holidays ever - Halloween! Join me, wont you, as I watch the sinister and the silly, the morbid and the macabre, the violent and gruesome in a two week bloodletting that comes to a boil on the eve of all saints.

*cue thunder and lightning effect*

So sit back, turn the lights down low and get ready for today's presentation of. . . .

THE OMEGA MAN! Bwah-hah-hah-hah-hah!

*cue commercial break*

It it’s the futuristic year of 1978, two years after a war between Russia and China that resulted in the release of a biological weapon that have devastated the human race. Meet Our Hero, a military scientist named Robert Neville who finds himself in the unusual position of being The Last Man On Earth. The down side to his existence? The Last Man On Earth is not alone.

You see, the other faction in this little microcosm is The Family, a group of disease-altered mutants (and not vampires or FLESH EATING GHOULS!, as often advertised) who want to kill Neville. Matthias, the leader of The Family sees Neville as the last vestige of the technological evil that led the world to ruin. Wipe out Neville, save the (new and improved) Human race.

When its light, Neville forages for food and hunts the sleeping Family. At night The Family attempt to break into Neville's stronghold and exterminate him. And so it goes day after day, year after year - until Neville runs into Lisa and Dutch, two additional survivors who are caring for a group of kids. Unlike Neville, they are all infected - but unlike the family, they've not yet changed. And so while Neville races against time to prefect the cure and save the survivors, the Family step up their campaign against their mortal enemy. Can Neville create a serum, providing hope for the future, or will it be another one of those paranoid '70s endings where all hope is lost.

The short review - take everything that was good in The Last Man on Earth and replace it with 70's sensibilities.

The longer review: remove everything that was good in The Last Man on Earth - subtle acting, a thoughtful introspective script - and replace it with Chuck Heston's overacting (Tho you gotta hand it to him - nobody says "My GOD" like Charton Heston), a vastly inappropriate soundtrack by Ron "I wrote the Doctor Who theme and you didn't" Grainer, a healthy dose of seventies blaxploitation, and some heavy handed imagery and symbolism and you'll have The Omega Man.

Based loosely (very loosely) on Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend, The Omega Man is the second of three remakes of that story. First was the superior The Last Man on Earth, a low budget Italian film with Vincent Price in the Neville roll, and the third is the soon to be released (as of this writing, at least) Will Smith vehicle I Am Legend.

While I don’t hold out much promise for the '07 adaptation (far too many explosions for such a sedate story) and I think the Price version is a solid (yet flawed) film, where does that place The Omega Man? Doesn’t fare very well, I'm afraid.

For starters, you can always judge a man by the quality of his enemies - or so I've been told. And The Family could make a perfect foil for Neville - but the afros, sunglasses and black cloaks kill the mood for me. And calling out Neville in childlike singsong from the shadows is less creepy more campy. And for a group of neo-luddites who are all about shunning technology and "the wheel" (something Matthias drones endlessly on about) they seem pretty happy to use both later in the film. Oh, and for a bunch of folks who can't stand light, they seem to spend an awful lot of time waving around torches and setting fire to things.

Although really, if I scrutinized my movies as closely as I did the above Omega Man nitpicking, I'd never enjoy a movie again. So I'll let that all pass.

To be fair, The Omega Man does get quite a bit right. Director Boris Sagal does a top notch job of selling the post apocalyptic Los Angeles. The vegetation overgrowth, the masses of cobwebs, the overall decay really reinforces the illusion of the isolation and abandonment. It is rare when his abandoned streets and empty shops feel like the Warner Brothers back lot. Also, the first ten or fifteen minutes are really strong, with Heston's red convertible driving the streets in empty downtown Los Angeles, going about his business, watching a private screening of Woodstock and so on.

Ah, but that Woodstock bit is the major flaw with the film - or at least typical of the type of flaws. The film is not very subtle. Take the peace and love message specifically quoted in the Woodstock segment, or the very end when Heston is stabbed by Matthias and collapses in the fountain outside his home in an utterly ridiculous Christ on the crucifix pose. Yeah, I think we get the point - thanks guys.

When you get right down to it, The Omega Man works best on the inner child level. One man (and his gun) against a world full of bad guys, one man with no rules to abide by, no boundaries, nothing to do all day long aside from whatever whim struck you at the moment. Got a flat? Don’t change it - get a new car! Want the ultimate home theater system by having a movie house at your beck and call? There you go. It's just a shame that they didn’t play up that childhood fantasy more and leave the Ghouls to George Romero.

TOTAL BODY COUNT: Millions (off-screen) one (on-screen)
MOST MEMORABLE KILL: Balcony dive off the 3rd floor onto a bed of spikes! Yowch!
GALLONS OF BLOOD USED: 2 (mostly squibs from gunfire)
SPRING LOADED CATS: 0
THE MORON OF THE MOVIE AWARD GOES TO: Richie, for veering dangerously close to Godzilla's Kenny territory.
BREASTS ON DISPLAY: 2
BEST LINE: "Definition of a scientist - a man who understands nothing until there was nothing left to understand."

THE DVD -
Warner Brothers presents The Omega Man in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. As you know, the print is 30 years old, but the print quality here is pretty nice. Certainly not every aspect is without flaws. However, this presentation looks pretty decent. Grain shows up in dark scenes, and there are many, but it’s not very distracting. Daylight scenes look good in general.

THE EXTRAS -
Warner Bros. put together a small roster of extras, but they’re very generous. Listed first is an All-New Introduction by Co-Stars Eric Laneuville and Paul Koslo, and Screenwriter Joyce H. Corrington. They reminiscence about the film, and Laneuville recounts his first encounter with Charlton Heston. Clips of the film are interspersed throughout. This is a one-time affair, but nice to have.

Next up is a documentary, entitled The Last Man Alive- The Omega Man, going behind-the-scenes of the production. There are some neat footage and film clips, as well as Heston interviewing some kind of professor. It’s nothing great, but good to have. Also included is a Charlton Heston Sci-Fi Movies Essay and the film’s Theatrical Trailer.

THE BOTTOM LINE -
The Omega Man is a flawed film, but presents acceptable sci-fi material and a startling look at the future. There are some silly moments, but the first ten minutes are quite strong. Video/audio is decent at best, and extras are nice to have if forgettable. Rent it if sci-fi is your genre.

Join me next time for another journey into the macabre. Until then. . . pleasant SCREAMS! Bwah-hah-hah-hah-hah!

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My Month of the Living Dead reviews:
* THE EVIL DEAD
* NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
* PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE
* THE FOG
* REVELATION OF THE DALEKS
* DAWN OF THE DEAD
* THE LAST MAN ON EARTH/HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL
* DAY OF THE DEAD
* RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD
* THE OMEGA MAN
* NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 3D
* THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES WHO STOPPED LIVING AND BECAME MIXED UP ZOMBIES
* LAND OF THE DEAD
* MASTERS OF HORROR - HOMECOMING
* 28 DAYS LATER
* WHITE ZOMBIE
* HALLOWEEN



Recommended: No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older