Omega Man: The Last Man on Earth

The movie “The Omega Man,” is based on Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend,though Matheson himself thought the movie was far removed from the book. They do have quite a few differences; while Matheson’s vampires were more or less animalistic until the bacterium evolved, the ones in “Omega Man” were all sentient. Though, the Family in the “Omega Man” isn’t vampiric at all. They don’t drink blood, they aren’t afraid of crosses. In fact, the only thing the plague ridden members of the Family have in common with Matheson’s vampires is the aversion to light, though it’s more because their eyes are unable to deal with it then the fact that sunlight kills them.
Since they aren’t vampires, the Family in “Omega Man” is after Neville for a completely different reason. Because he is still thought to be the last ‘man’ on the planet, the Family consider him to be part of the evils that destroyed the human race to begin with. And technically, Neville is. He was one of the doctors who created the antidote, if not the virus itself. The Family are complete Luddites, terrified of and out to destroy any remaining technology or knowledge from the old world, ransacking museums and burning books. They have an almost religious zealotry about them as they “cleanse” the world of the past, thinking themselves chosen “to bury what was dead,” or to finish off the old age and usher in a new one. Neville, as the last remaining human, is a symbol of what they hate, and as such they have demonized him, calling him everything from “The Thing” to the “Angel of Death, to the “Lord of the Infernal Engines.” In “Omega Man,” Neville is already legend before the movie even really begins.
One thing both the movie and the book have in common is Neville’s loneliness. In the movie, Neville has been alone for two years already, his only companion the bust of Julius Caesar in his living room and his extensive collection of alcohol. The only way he keeps himself going, just like in the book, is to hunt Them down during the day, searching for the Family’s nest. He talks to himself, using dark humor to keep himself amused, and it he’s to the point where even seeing pin-up poster in a car dealership is unbearable to him.
No wonder that he more or less freaks out at the possibility that other people might have survived the plague, that he might not be the last human being on the face of this planet. He chases down the woman he finds, not sure if she’s real or a mirage. Later, he is absolutely ecstatic to find that there is a group of survivors, still human, hiding in the hills like refugees. It gives him a reason to keep going; to find that cure for the plague and more or less save the world. It gives him a reason to live a little longer, and later, a reason to die.