Panic in Year Zero / The Last Man on Earth

This post-nuke survival story features Ray Milland (he also directed) as an average middle-class American father who fights to protect his family from pillagers, rapists, and murderers. Forced into brutal resourcefulness and often required to make snap moral decisions, the real challenge that Milland and family face is the struggle to maintain their traditional values in the face of chaos. Yes, it's one of many SF-ish cold-war dramas, but what sets this one apart from others is Jay Simms and John Morton's intelligent script, which is gritty and relentlessly unsentimental. Unfortunately, it is somewhat hindered by Milland's mediocre direction and often stilted performance, but it's still a better-than-average flick. And it's refreshing to see Frankie Avalon--who here does a fine job playing Milland's son--in a setting other than a beach.

THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964)

This first cinematic incarnation of Richard Matheson's novel I AM LEGEND--the second was the 1971 Charlton Heston vehicle THE OMEGA MAN--features Vincent Price as the sole survivor of a global pandemic that has transformed the rest of mankind into vampire-like zombies. While more loyal to the novel than the Heston film, the pace is often excruciatingly slow. Still, Price's performance is as entertaining as ever, and the scenes that flashback to the origin of the plague are very well done and chockfull of grim imagery. Worth a look if for no other reason than to see why George Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) is often compared to it. Actors: Franca Bettoia, Antonio Corevi, Christi Courtland, Emma Danieli, Carolyn De Fonseca Directors: Ubaldo Ragona Format: Black & White, Color, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen Language: English (Mono) Subtitles: English, French, Spanish Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.) Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Number of discs: 2