Final Movie Grades
Note: The "faithfulness" and "effectiveness" scores reflect each movie's average score for all the previous categories, but is not exact. "On My Usual Scale" is what I grade the movie using my normal method.
LM: Of the three movies, this is clearly the most faithful to the book. Of course, that should be expected since Richard Matheson himself churned out the original screenplay. It was revamped enough that he decided to remove his name, but his fingerprints are still all over it. LM takes a number of passages and applies them to the screen almost exactly as they are on the page. Its conclusion maintains the ideas the book conveys. It is also the only movie to show us Robert's relationship with Ben Cortman, a co-worker before the outbreak who is now the first vampire outside his door every night. Cortman remains simultaneously symbolic of what once was and what currently is. Perhaps due to the era in which it was made, LM almost completely removes sex from the equation while Matheson's novel often reminds us that Neville has gone without for quite a while and feels the urge strongly. Still, this movie's overall commitment to its source largely pays off. The only real drawback is that the vampires come off as rather lame. Unfortunately, this is a sizable detriment to a movie that otherwise works rather nicely as thought-provoking horror. The tone is slightly off from what we expect from the genre and it doesn't have any of what we think of as "scary" moments, but its a solid movie.
Faithfulness:
Effectiveness:
On My Usual Scale: 7.5/10
OM: Here, we have a movie that tries to do too much of its own thing in an effort to update what was then twenty year old material. The irony of this is that the novel is actually set during the mid 1970s. OM is particularly mindful of the fact that it was made during an era when revolution was in the air. After all, the turbulent sixties was barely in America's rear view mirror and The Black Panther Party was still a prominent organization. In fact, they were a heavy influence on how the character Lisa is portrayed. More importantly, they were a big reason the vampires were changed into a revolutionary type sect, instead of mindless wandering creatures. Without question this is the most politically charged (and right wing?) of the three films. By itself, that doesn't make it any less of a movie. More of an issue is how goofy many of the changes come off. They may have worked back when OM first came out, but they haven't aged well. The whole thing is steeped in 70s silliness, not all of it in a good way. It also loses points by omitting some elements completely and coming across more as an action flick than horror.
Faithfulness:
Effectiveness:
On My Usual Scale: 5.5/10
IL: Like OM, IL does plenty of its own thing in the name of updating the material. In the case, the majority of it works. Most important is the tone of the movie and the creatures themselves. It is effectively dreadful and worrisome. Our hero is a legitimately scared guy who has a set schedule for everything to ensure he is back home by dark. What he is hiding from is truly dangerous, something lost in the Vincent Price movie. They're stronger and faster than our hero and made purely of aggression. This time, however, the presence of the woman and the little boy is as much a negative as it is a positive. She's more transparently a plot point while the boy is pretty much a prop. They also create at least one plot hole: if the creatures are able to follow her home as she sped away in Neville's vehicle, how is this not so big lady able to drag this six foot plus, two hundred something pound man up a flight of outdoor steps, unlock and push open the heavy door and get her, him and the child to safety? Of course, once inside she apparently carries him up a much longer flight of stairs and puts him to bed. And how did she know how to get there anyway? Presumably, she's not familiar with the area since she's from Brazil, and somehow made her way to New York via Philadelphia. Honestly, this doesn't ruin the movie for me, but definitely earns it a demerit. Lastly, our big finish also chooses to go the OM route and showcase our hero's benevolence by having him sacrifice himself. However, it's sacrifice born more Robert's sense of civic duty than of any romantic inclinations since, like LM it removes sex from the proceedings all together. In the end, we have a movie that's more faithful to the spirit of the main character than to the novel itself, but is the best functioning as a horror pic and most exciting of the three.
Faithfulness:
Effectiveness:
On My Usual Scale: 7.5/10
