Yesterday I saw I am Legend. It’s a decent film, and (having recently read The World Without Us) I loved the shots of a post-plague, abandoned Manhattan.
It’s basically a zombie movie. One thing I noticed was that a year with very little film and television watching has re-sensitized somewhat to horror. I was more nervous and tense than I usually would be watching this film. I would, however, attribute some of that tension to Will Smith’s excellent performance.
Once you see them, the Legend zombies pale in comparison to, say, 28 Days Later. They’re pasty, hairless and mostly CGI. They looked like distant, uh, noseful cousins of He Who Shall Not Be, Under Any Circumstances, Named.
You know, Lord Heathcliff Montgomery Voldemort (to apply his rarely-used family name). And both Voldemort and the zombies bear a resemblance to that other Lord, the Prince of Darkness, in The Passion of the Christ (who, to many people’s surprise, was played by a woman):
Like scary, dirty water and big-eyed pale children, is this a movie trend? Can you think of other movies where people are pasty and hairless?
DarrenBarefoot.com 
Anything with Evan Handler in it.
I can remember when the last couple MATRIX movies came out that the “albino community” was protesting the use of albino characters as evil in the movies. It came back up during The Da Vinci Code, too.
Lord of the Rings (Gollum among others), Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi (Darth Vader was pasty and hairless when the helmet came off), anything with Vin Diesel or Bruce Willis in it.
Dark City.
Sure, the best bad guy in a movie, Pale Man of The Labyrinth of the Faun. Great movie, btw.
Uhm. The creatures from the descent.
Anything with vampires in it. The Underworld series. City of Darkness. Dracula?
Also just saw I Am Legend last night and was also struck by how much it reminded me of World Without Us. Honestly, they could have used a screencap from the movie as a cover for the book. Oddly the copy I read simply had a shot of Van/Coal harbor circa 2005.
Pan, from Pan’s Labrynth.
Oh, and some of the Wraith from Stargate Atlantis.
I guess they get no sun in hell.
I’ve read I Am Legend and loved the book, but was concerned to learn that Will Smith was cast in the central role (not a fan!), but have read good reviews of his performance including yours so will remain open minded.
Has anyone who has seen the movie also read the book? If so, does it diverge from the book much? From the book, it doesn’t exactly have a happy ending..
I saw it on Sunday. I haven’t read the book but from what was posted on IMDB for the movie (see the FAQ section), the ending in the film sounds a lot… well, not happier, but satisfying
I yelped loudly a couple times during the film, but at least the Dark Seekers weren’t as scary as I expected — that they’re CGI helped a lot. As for pasty hairlessness, what about Lex Luthor in Smallville? Would a hairless Odo from Star Trek DS9 be freakier?
My bf’s granddad was just given World Without Us and my bf has since requested it at the library. All 4 copies are out! It sounds interesting…
As a bald Englishman, I scare myself every time I look in the mirror.
The Pale Man from Pan’s Labyrinth.
This is the first movie where I liked the movie more than the book 😉
Other pasties – 30 Days of Night – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389722/
Full on Vamps.
Just finished The World Without Us as well – I’m in a post-apocalyptic funk this month.
🙂
Saw the movie too and on this point…
“One thing I noticed was that a year with very little film and television watching has re-sensitized somewhat to horror. I was more nervous and tense than I usually would be watching this film.”
I had the same reaction actually, I’m usually pretty immune to horror movies but this one definitely got to me!