I Am Omega

Behold the inevitable straight to video incarnation of Matheson's now thrice adapted "I Am Legend" which effectively combines the titles of the two latest ("Omega Man" and "I Am Legend") into one that will fool the unsuspecting movie renter/buyer. As with most knock-offs available from The Asylum, the much labored over box art promises a far more interesting and far more expensive film (it may be a tragedy that these are some of the last examples of good movie-related graphics). But since this is from The Asylum I'll assume you all also know what sort of inexpensive film to expect.

Trashing the straight-to-DVD industry aside, it is hardly the worst movie of its kind (that honor belongs to "Forsaken" with turns the story into a vampire road movie). "I Am Omega" has pretty good location use and competent production value. The editing is fairly stellar and the zombies weren't that laughable (although they were no substitute for the cloaked mutants of "The Omega Man"). And mercifully there are no bad video after effects like a lot of these low budget movies do.

The main problem is the slowness. The flashbacks in this version of the story (which cause the first 30 minutes to drag badly) choose to explain Dacascos' character as a tortured soul rather than unfold the explanations for the world being near over. The decision to use mindless zombies rather than intelligent mutants makes the action a little repetitive and doesn't actually help much with the horror. Red necks and the token female are added to give our heroes someone else to deal with. Director Furst and writer Meed add an explosion count down to move things along as well.

It won't hurt you too much if you keep your expectations low. If you're new to The Asylum, this is perhaps one of the better examples you'll find.