is infected. Neville is not captured in the novel until many months later; even then he barely fights back. The novel ends shortly before Neville is to be executed; Ruth returns to give him suicide pills and finds it ironic that he has become as much of a legend to the new society as vampires once were to Neville's world (hence the title). The novel implies that the vampire plague resulted from a biological disease, an origin echoed in The Last Man on Earth when scientist Morgan discusses a newspaper clipping that reads "Plague Claims Hundreds: Is Europe's Disease Carried On The Wind?" Release Although the film was not considered a success upon its release, it later gained a more favorable reputation as a classic of the genre. As of September 2021, The Last Man on Earth holds an 81% rating at the film review aggregator Web site Rotten Tomatoes from 26 reviews. Phil Hall of Film Threat called The Last Man on Earth "the best Vincent Price movie ever made". Among the less favorable reviews, Steve Biodrowski of Cinefantastique felt the film was "hampered by an obviously low budget and some poorly recorded, post-production dubbing that creates an amateurish feel, undermining the power of its story", while Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader remarked, "Some would consider this version better than the 1971 remake with Charlton Heston, The Omega Man, but that isn't much of an achievement". Among the film's creators, Price "had a certain fondness for the film" and felt it was better than The Omega Man. Richard Matheson co-wrote the film's screenplay, but was unhappy with the results. To keep receiving residual income from the film, though, he had to be credited, so he used the name "Logan Swanson", a combination of his wife's mother's maiden name and his mother's maiden name. Matheson said: "I was disappointed in the film, even though they more or less followed my story. I think Vincent Price, whom I love in every one of his pictures that I wrote, was miscast. I also felt the direction was kind of poor. I just didn’t care for it." See also List of American films of 1964 Vampire films I Am Legend (2007 film) starring Will Smith The Omega Man (1971 film) starring Charlton Heston References External links Audio transcription of the film (Part 1) (Part 2) at the Internet Archive. Audio commentary of