Search - Vincent Price Double Feature: The Last Man on Earth/House on Haunted Hill on DVD

A Touch of Shakespeare

Marshall T. Schwartzman | 01/11/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Vincent Price brings a thespian elegance to everything he does, especially "The Last Man on Earth," which is basically a soliloquy for the first half of the film (except for the flashback sequence, which effectively conveys the back-story through the use of a newspaper clipping). Adding to the eerie atmosphere are the B&W cinematography, vintage 1960s cars, and the deserted streets of Rome (where the movie was filmed). The zombies predate "Night of the Living Dead" and are said to have inspired George Romero. Both movies are decent prints reasonably free from artifacts and not too dark, which makes this budget double-feature from Acme DVD Works something of a bargain, although the Midnite Movies double-feature, while a little more expensive, has a nice pairing of "The Last Man on Earth" with "Panic in the Year Zero" starring Ray Milland---another end-of-the-world epic that carries on the post-apocalyptic theme. UPDATE 8/09: I've recently had the opportunity to see the new colorized version of "The Last Man on Earth" from Legend Films. While the restoration was meticulously done, it does lose a little bit of creepiness in color. On the other hand, the enhancements are subtle and reasonably natural (and it comes with the original B&W version), making this a good alternative to consider too."