http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/03/05/must-watch-i-am-legends-original-ending-this-is-amazing/

I like many others liked the movie, but the ending ruined the entire thing for me. The original ending is so much better and makes much more sense.
Why WB chose to go with the other, who knows..

I liked that one better
they still could have shown them arrive at the "camp"

Whether this is considered the "original" ending, it's not the correct ending. But of course not much about that movie is correct anyway. It's as if they intended to disappoint on every level.
They remake I Am Legend every 20 or 30 years. Maybe next time they'll get it right..

Movies very rarely satisfy adaptions from books.

Whether this is considered the "original" ending, it's not the correct ending. But of course not much about that movie is correct anyway. It's as if they intended to disappoint on every level.
They remake I Am Legend every 20 or 30 years. Maybe next time they'll get it right..
Let it go man...just let it go... the past sucks.

yeah, that ending would have made the movie much more enjoyable. i like the the movie right up to about the last ten minutes.

Let it go man...just let it go... the past sucks.

Alright there Gene Siskel, you can sign off a turd if want.

But really CC, would you not be bored if it followed the exact writings of the book? The movie would be pointless to watch if it did. (considering you've read the book at least).
So they've gotta change it. People are too hard on movies based on books they liked.

Lord of the Rings followed the books pretty much completely and it is one of the most watch films of all time.

But really CC, would you not be bored if it followed the exact writings of the book? The movie would be pointless to watch if it did. (considering you've read the book at least).
So they've gotta change it. People are too hard on movies based on books they liked.

Good for you Gloat. I bet if they cast Bugs Bunny in Animal Farm you'd be there with popcorn in hand...

With I Am Legend, you have the one story that has inspired an entire subculture. Romero and Fulci, who are considered the godfathers of the zombie genre, and have had influence on every zombie movie, TV show, comic book, video game, tattoo, horror-band, T-shirt, skateboard deck, etc. stole all of it from I Am Legend.

It's fair to update the story to make it current and it's fair to cast a Hollywood golden boy as Neville. But what in unforgivable is to keep the name of the story and the name of the main character then erase every other important aspect of the story in lieu of the mindless Hollywood screenplay. Toss in some wretchedly un-scary CGI cartoon creatures some carefully placed commercial advertisements and you have turned the classic into just another turdlet for the cover of Premier Magazine.

It's amazing that a 200 page short story could still be 10 times more effective in telling a tale than a zillion dollar craptacular and that folks who didn't bother reading the book would defend it all along..

This movie didn't need to be called I Am Legend..

Lord of the Rings followed the books pretty much completely and it is one of the most watch films of all time.
Yeah, but nerds will watch anything over and over. See: Star Wars.

Count me in the group that would rather see a more novel inspired film rather than the typical hollywood packaging. Gloat, many of us have read the book and all of the hollywood attempts have "gone thier own way" so to speak, you would think that in at least one attempt the factory would just let the novel be the path, rather than trying to "make it thier own". Gloat just curious, have you read the book?

Yeah, but nerds will watch anything over and over. See: Star Wars.

Typical idiotic post when proven wrong. Why would I expect anything less. :rolleyes:

Lord of the Rings followed the books pretty much completely and it is one of the most watch films of all time.

Lord of the Rings is an outstanding example of a filmaker who loved the book so he took special care to bring what was special about the book to the films. His passion for the book shines through in the trilogy.

Its an example of a director being lazy and making money on someone elses entire story. That's how I see it at least. If you're going to rip something off, at least try to make it your own, a bit. Cover bands suck, so do cover directors.

So movie versions of famous books should be dramatically changed by default?

Not dramatically, but interpretations shouldn't be carbon copies.

Gloat that line of reasoning is what makes most of the crap that comes out of the hollywood factory. I am Legend, novel, some would say spawned an entire genre of films and novels. The fact that all of the hollywood attempts have fallen short in satisfying the fans of the novel speak to how unsuccessful those attempts were. If you read the novel you would know that the "origninal ending" that started this thread would have been better than the pre-package out of the blue ending we were given in the theatres but, because we as the audience were not given any of the background between Neville and the head vampire/mutant it would have still fallen short. In the novel Neville and Ben Cortman knew each other, and although not friends, the fact that they had a prior knowledge of each other added a lot of depth to the story. In the movie attempt all we know is the head vampire/mutant wants him dead in the worst way. BTY, in the novel Neville does die as the vampires/mutants have figures out a way to "live with" the disease and they view Neville as on out of date life form so to speak.

Its an example of a director being lazy and making money on someone elses entire story. That's how I see it at least. If you're going to rip something off, at least try to make it your own, a bit. Cover bands suck, so do cover directors.

Lord of the Rings wasn't a direct copy which is why some people are disappointed in some of the changes made and parts left out.

BIG TT, it's just that people these days are far more critical of anything dealing with horror, or monsters.
Like people say scary movies these days aren't scary. Yet, when we watch every single old scary movie, they're just plain hilarious and so cheesey it's hard to imagine anyone at any point finding them scary. But they claim they were true great horror movies.

BIG TT, it's just that people these days are far more critical of anything dealing with horror, or monsters.
Like people say scary movies these days aren't scary. Yet, when we watch every single old scary movie, they're just plain hilarious and so cheesey it's hard to imagine anyone at any point finding them scary. But they claim they were true great horror movies.

Specifically?

Gloat, maybe you are refering to slasher movies as I call them. In truth hollywood doesn't really produce true horror anymore because the youth of today have grown up with seeing the violence/horror in extremes. True horror often doesn't show you the actual act per se but rather leads you up to it and then lets your imagination take care of the rest. Slasher on the other hand can only succed by being more and more grusome than the last attempt. The first two Alien films, The Shinning(only King novel that translates to film IMO), and more recently Darkness Falls and the Ring fall into what I would call Horror.

Specifically?
Most old horror/scary films. Halloweens, Texas Chainsaw Massacres, and especially the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Streets.

Most old horror/scary films. Halloweens, Texas Chainsaw Massacres, and especially the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Streets.

I'm with you on the II's III's etc., but the originals (esp Halloween and TCM) still hold up today and in their day they, before kids were totally desensitized by video games etc. those movies terrified the piss outta folks. Fake blood is always scarier than CGI blood.

Cgiftw!

Cgiftw!

Guess I'm not 100% on text-speak.. What's ftw?

for the win!

for the win!

Really though?? Cartoons make for scarier scenes than prop scares?

Its an example of a director being lazy and making money on someone elses entire story. That's how I see it at least. If you're going to rip something off, at least try to make it your own, a bit. Cover bands suck, so do cover directors.

It's more the scriptwriter, but I digress. I think someone being able to recreate the feel of a book - whichever it may be - takes a certain skill to do in itself.

Really though?? Cartoons make for scarier scenes than prop scares?
Most definitely. Being the reason they use it now rather than corn syrup.
Gotta upgrade. Color TV is better than black and white too.

It's more the scriptwriter, but I digress. I think someone being able to recreate the feel of a book - whichever it may be - takes a certain skill to do in itself.
word.

Most definitely. Being the reason they use it now rather than corn syrup.
Gotta upgrade. Color TV is better than black and white too.
Alfred Hitch would probably have disagreed. He chose to film Psycho in black and white because he liked the way you could use shadows and light in B&W vs color. Also, everyone knows that the black and white Andy Griffith show were some of the best TV ever, but it sucked when they went to color. Of course Don Knotts not being on the show then didn't help.

Most definitely. Being the reason they use it now rather than corn syrup.
Gotta upgrade. Color TV is better than black and white too.

http://jeanoroid.com/wrong.gif
That is not the reason they use CGI blood vs prop blood..
It's far cheaper for big studios to animate blood or animate creature FX etc. in post prod than actually making real prop action work on camera. Prop action takes more set prep time, actor's time and safety etc. and often needs to be re-shot if it doesn't go off as planned so its. It's widely acknowledged that CGI looks more fake and is quite a bit less effective than prop FX in these situations.
CGI is a compromise based on $ plain and simple - same reason they GCI entire backdrops etc., it's far cheaper than shooting on location or huge sets.

So you actually think the zombie creatures in Legend are scarier than the ones in 28 Days Later?

My 2 cents on why modern horror is poor.

Studios aim at the young & go for the shock factor. What isn't seen & a chilling score create a scary mood that really make you jump.

They seem to have forgotten how to do that lately.What Lies Beneath with Harrison Ford & Michele Pfeiffer is the last spooky movie I can remember that gave me that crawling sensation on the back of my neck.

So you actually think the zombie creatures in Legend are scarier than the ones in 28 Days Later?
Just as realistic looking. The design may have been better in 28 days, but they were no better looking. Then again, one was supposed to be the walking dead, and the others were supposed to be infected with something that made them something else.
So much more is possible with CGI, than props. But you're in to those classic zombie and gore flicks that come off as extremely cheesey to me anyway though. So it's all preference.

I don't like this 'original' ending at all. One of the reasons I liked this movie was because it didn't have the usual Hollywood ending where the good guy saves the day and everybody lives happily ever after.

So much more is possible with CGI, than props.
So much more is possible per dollar with CGI, than props.

I don't like this 'original' ending at all. One of the reasons I liked this movie was because it didn't have the usual Hollywood ending where the good guy saves the day and everybody lives happily ever after.

As bad as the theatrical ending was, this alternate ending makes Neville even less of a Legend. Matheson wrote Neville as a desperate God-villain amongst a world of post apocalyptic vampires. Last Man on Earth and The Omega Man both stick to the spirit of the book in that sense, but foe whatever reason when they finally use the name I Am Legend for the movie, they remove the Legend aspect completely. With the butterfly ending now they just want to rescue the girlfriend of main creature? Just makes the story that much smaller..

Was Legend even meant to be scary? The "creatures" were fake looking. They were kind of cartoony. I like actors and make up compared with CGI nonsense. Most American "horror" films are not scary at all. The Japanese remakes they keep craping out are not scary either. The best horror movie I've seen this year is the Orphanage hands down. Spanish film produced by Guillermo Del Toro. It was a good story and was shocking enough. It did not result to gore or cheap scares to get you. After that I would say the Decent was pretty good. I'm afraid to watch the 28 days sequel. I loved the first one so much and I no it will just suck.

^I find some video games are scarier than movies these days.

^I find some video games are scarier than movies these days.
Amen. Play the Fatal Frame sequels. Bioshock had a couple moments. There is always system shock 2

Silent Hill.

Who can ever forget the Dog through the window in Resident Evil 1?

Neville is the legend to the monsters, not humans. (with this ending)

As he was in the book, still left a lot of things undone in the film but this ending would have been better than the studio release.

As he was in the book, still left a lot of things undone in the film

Yeah, there really wasn't anyone else around to be a legend to.

I couldn't agree more about the things left undone. They skipped or condensed the most dramatic elements of the story in the movie - the decline of the daughter, the decline and "resurrection" of the wife, Ben, who was cast to be played by Johnny Depp (he probably saw the script and bailed), and most importantly the introduction of the stray dog, which really drove home Neville's loneliness and despair..

Just got done watching the DVD with my dad and came on here because I knew there was a thread running about this ending.. and wow. Why did they not use this ending? It makes no sense at all. This was so much more powerful then the ending they chose... man. That sucks

Yeah. I enjoyed the movie up until the last 10 minutes or so, and it seemed like the director just told will smith to improvise or something and come up with an ending on the spot while he headed out the door.
But this ending actually would have closed the movie well. I wouldn't have regretted watching it if they chose this ending.

Just read Rue Morgue Magazine's review of the movie and they nailed it right on the head.. The opening line "The last man on earth is a douche-bag" had me rolling on the floor. "The CGI creatures are so poorly animated that they look like something right out of a SciFi Channel TV Movie of the Week"
Perfect!

Sounds like more that decided to hate it before watching it. Just like you did CC. :)

Sounds like more that decided to hate it before watching it. Just like you did CC.

Actually I'm pretty liberal about giving movies a chance and I don't miss too many flicks - including the bad films like this one.
I read this script long ago and saw who who was making the movie and that they had cast Mr. Hollywood one-liner as Neville but I was still there with bells on to see it hoping to be surprised, but it turned out even worse than expected.
Bottom line, I Am Legend deserved better than the treatment these filmmakers gave it.
Good for you Gloat that you liked it. The filmmakers were counting on you..

I didnt think it was great, but it was a solid movie. Entertaining and worth the watch. I just think you were too hard on it, mostly due to liking the book. Without knowing the book, you'd probably have a different opinion on the movie. Right?

Without knowing the book, you'd probably have a different opinion on the movie. Right?

I would have thought it was another typical Hollywood Will Smith joint with at best maybe two creepy scenes, bad CGI creatures and a completely forgettable ending. I Am Legend can't be disassociated with the original tale though and to use a modern phrase in regard to an old story, they should have done their best to keep it real..

Just watched this movie and remembered the thread. I like this ending better.

Overall, the movie was ok, but didn't live up to the hype it got. Maybe Cloverfield will live up to that blockbuster title.

PS (spoiler....kinda, sorta, maybe) I hated the dog scene :grrr: