I am Legend (story spoilers)

Over New Year's Eve/Day this year I was very sick, so I decided to read something. When I was Wal-Mart that morning, I saw the book "I am Legend" by Richard Matheson. The first thing I found was that it was written in the '50s. I also quickly found that it was a book about vampires, which was good. I hadn't seen the new movie yet, but I already knew that it wasn't about vampires. Anyway, I read the book that night and the next morning and enjoyed it very much. After doing some research, I found out that other movies had been made based on the book. The first was available for free online and it starred Vincent Price. It's called "Last Man on Earth." Of all of the movies made (there are now 4), this one is the closest to the book, partly because Matheson wrote the script under a pseudonym. The second movie is the famous Charlton Heston film "The Omega Man." Not very close to the book, but somewhat entertaining. Then we have the Will Smith version "I am Legend" and a really bad B-version called "I am Omega" with martial arts actor Mark Dacascos (of Iron Chef America fame). Neither does the book justice.

So what is the point of all of this? I'm not sure, but part of it is that movies based on history and or novels sometimes take too many liberties for me. One of the reasons that Vincent Price's version of the story is the best is that it is the only movie that leaves in two of the most important parts of the story. 1. The infected people become vampires, not zombies. 2. Not all of the infected people that the main character goes around killing have become vampires yet. To me, these are the two most important parts of the story. So, here's to Vincent Price for making a film that is almost just like the book (besides the ending).