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The Omega Man

Play trailer Poster for The Omega Man PG Released Aug 1, 1971 1h 38m Sci-Fi Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
65% Tomatometer 34 Reviews 53% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
Led by a former TV newscaster (Anthony Zerbe), light-sensitive mutants stalk the last normal man (Charlton Heston) on Earth.
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The Omega Man

The Omega Man

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Critics Consensus

It may not live up to its classic source material, but The Omega Man transcends its limitations often enough to offer some mildly entertaining post-apocalyptic thrills.

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Critics Reviews

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Ian Nathan Empire Magazine In adapting Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend, the film loses the original's quiet paranoia and rethink of the vampire theme, but it has quite a lot of gritty flair. Rated: 3/5 Apr 29, 2008 Full Review Chicago Reader Not bad, but far from a classic. Dec 10, 2007 Full Review Variety Staff Variety An extremely literate science-fiction drama. Sep 19, 2007 Full Review Sean Axmaker Stream on Demand The second screen adaptation of Richard Matheson’s haunting novel ‘I Am Legend’ stars Heston as the last man on Earth (or so he believes) after a plague turns the populace into night-dwelling albino vampires. Aug 19, 2023 Full Review David Nusair Reel Film Reviews Filmmaker Boris Sagal, working from a script by John William and Joyce H. Corrington, delivers an erratically-paced yet generally entertaining sci-fi endeavor that benefits from Heston's commanding, ingratiating performance... Rated: 2.5/4 Feb 11, 2020 Full Review Chris Alexander Alexander On Film The film s a pretty terrible direct translation of what is one of the easiest-to-adapt-to-screen books I've ever read. But it doesn't want to be the novel. It has something else on its mind. Dec 16, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Blu B So it's basically I Am Legend 60's/70's style. This BLEEDS late 60's/early 70's for better or for worse. From the blaxploitation vibes, campy makeup, and the setting. The music is ok but it's the biggest problem. It's never really moody or tense but rather very 60's and it doesn't really fit the tone, is out of place, but it's kind of catchy and upbeat which clashes. It defintely needed like a John Carpenter style or Apocalypse Now style tracks which would help huge. Everything else is half decent though. Charlton Heston does a fairly good job carrying the first half by himself but it does start to run out of momenum fairly quickly. He never comes across as dry or boring though. It feels like he's just wandering aimlessly doing random stuff that doesn't really add up. It should've opened with him being pursued rather than cruising. The camerawork is kind fo basic and the action scenes which this has quite a bit of suprisingly, could have been shot better. This has a low budget feel to it but it is cool seeing the city empty. The zombies are...very unique also, or rather Cult Zombies which I can't say I've ever seen before. The makeup, sunglasses, and mannerisms are very odd and campy. It's unique I'll give it that, but they definetly could be more intimdiating. I do kind of prefer them to the I Am Legend ones though just because there not generic looking and real. Once Robert finds survivors this gets a lot more interesting and it explores a lot of cool ideas. The blood serum, morality of the zombies, the love interest isn't bad, and the one guy is pretty good actually. It does get a little muddy with how Lisa becomes a zombie or if she was one but it's still interesting ideas. This needed better music, a darker tone, more menacing zombies, and a sharper first half. Anyone who is a big fan of Charlton Heston should check this out. This comes significantly closer to being good than I am Legend, but the odd tone really weighs here. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 06/06/24 Full Review kevin o ...Heston is perfect for this kind of role, and the film not perfect is very good start to finish. Corny sure, so what, if you like the description you ll love it. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/05/24 Full Review Steve D It has lost most of its effectiveness and is now cheesy. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 08/01/23 Full Review Anthony J A barely B-level picture with a major star trying not to look embarrassed. Truly awful, post-apocalyptic pic with terrible script, plot and special effects. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 07/30/23 Full Review Taylor L The Omega Man is one of three film adaptations of the classic Richard Matheson novel I Am Legend, and somehow none of them have really delivered on the source material's cutting premise - an apocalyptic survivor with a final revelation that in trying to save the world, he's essentially become a reverse Dracula. Granted, The Omega Man is the only version that gives the changed survivors some actual intelligence (the others are basically just zombies), but they're treated more as goofy cultists than as a living reminder of humanity's mistakes; they're not much more tan nocturnal psychos that look like albino Jawas, and they don't have enough empathy to make them much more than scrapped antagonists for a Mad Max ripoff. It's a shame, because the early scenes of Charlton Heston stumbling his way through an abandoned LA, struggling to find some sort of normalcy in his routine, is pretty great and a lot of it was done practically with several city blocks shut done and scattered with debris. There's some solid production value in the smaller sets (Heston's reinforced townhome in particular) and the action late in the game, but once the other characters roll in there's just a generic romance (with the '70s standard weird age gap) and unfocused action, plus Lisa's heel turn is just silly. Someday we'll get a really compelling iteration of this story that involves all the self-reflection and unusual perspectives of the novel, but until then decent production value is probably the best we can hope for. (2/5) Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Pierre L the model : the reality in big cities, not a fiction Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Read all reviews
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Movie Info

Synopsis Led by a former TV newscaster (Anthony Zerbe), light-sensitive mutants stalk the last normal man (Charlton Heston) on Earth.
Director
Boris Sagal
Producer
Walter Seltzer
Screenwriter
Richard Matheson, John William Corrington, Joyce Hooper Corrington
Distributor
Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Home Vídeo, Warner Bros. Television
Production Co
Warner Brothers
Rating
PG
Genre
Sci-Fi
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 1, 1971, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 6, 2010
Runtime
1h 38m
Sound Mix
Mono
Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)
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