Premise - It's 1977 and two years ago a war between Russia and China caused the devastation of the human race through germ warfare. Only military doctor Robert Neville (Charlton Heston) and a group of mutated humans led by the charismatic Matthias (Anthony Zerbe) survive, or so Neville thinks............... I'm a sucker for a cheesy sci-fi flick and The Omega Man is just that. The added bonus being that this film has the kind of storyline that I find incredibly interesting. I love stories that cover doomsday scenarios and the 70's spewed out more than it's fair share of such movies. Films like this one and 'The Andromeda Strain' amongst others are a great source of entertainment for me. So it's with this in mind that I can forgive The Omega Man it's many glaring flaws, just. For a start the look of the film is incredibly dated. Yes, the film was made in 1971, but other, older films don't look as dated as this film does. The fashions scream 70's at you from nasty, gaudily coloured track suits to ridiculously large afro's. The film wear's it's decade on it's sleeve. Aside from the inner city exteriors (which have an awful lot of cars driving around in the background for a supposedly deserted city..........) the film seems to have been completely filmed on a sound stage. This gives the movie an incredibly cheap look that is not a million miles away from an old Irwin Allen TV show. Adding to the 'cheap' feel of the film is the downright terrible make-up and costume for the mutated humans, or 'The Family' as they're known. The make-up consists of some talcum powder on their faces with some rice crispies glued over and a white fright wig. The costumes are nothing more than a black nylon cloak, not unlike the one that the killer in the 'Scream' movies wears. Anthony Zerbe really hams it up as head of 'The Family' Matthias. It's a performance that would really not be out of place in a pantomime. Very over the top and overly theatrical. Charlton Heston isn't much better, sure it's not as hammy as his work in 'The Planet Of The Apes', but it's in the post. So The Omega Man has all this going against it, but for all it's flaws I still enjoy the film to a certain degree. Primarily because of my interest in the story, I enjoy seeing how a single man reacts to being the 'last man on earth'. Also my love of cheesy sci-fi films clouds my mind when I watch such movies. Not a terrible film then, but a pretty poor one all the same. I recently read a new script based on Richard Matheson's original novel 'I Am Legend', also called 'I Am Legend'. It played out a good bit better and I'm led to believe that it sticks closer to the original book than The Omega Man did. I enjoyed the script and hope that it could see the light of day as a movie someday.

5/10 for The Omega Man. Poster Quote - Damn you, you blew it up.............. Oh, wait. Wrong film.