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.

And that is saying a lot, as the rest of what I've seen(which is a good twenty plus so far) have been utter rubbish. By all means it is not perfect, starting with a first thirty minutes that drags far too much consequently everything takes too long to get going and ending with a rather dumb finale. The music also could've been less generic, and I wish I could have learned more about the characters in general. However, while they aren't going to win many awards the photography is decent, likewise with the effects and there is some atmospheric scenery. The script may have some moments of repetitiveness but is amusing yet serious on the whole(for The Asylum that is an achievement), and while derivative the story does have some suspenseful moments, some exciting action and the hilarious zombie in the dumpster sequence. The acting is not bad either, Mark Dracascos is actually very good in a role that has allowed him to do much more with what he's got. All in all, surprisingly decent, and by far the best of The Asylum movies I've seen so far. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Starts of nicely. Mark Dacascos kills some wicked zombie thingies and plants some bombs to create havoc. In the mean-time he starts going mad and hears voices after the prolonged period of isolation.

This part of the movie actually works with Dacascos hearing stuff that is not there, talking to himself and doing an adequate acting job to go with it.

Unfortunately it goes downhill when new characters arrive and Mark ends up going on a rescue mission into the heart of the zombie manifestation. Plot-holes start appearing galore and no logic is really given behind the actions of main protagonists.

Not terrible, mildly adequate piece of fun, but to be quickly forgotten.

Yet another remake of I AM LEGEND has Mark Dascasvcos as one of very few humans left on our planet after some major catastrophe. Everyone else is now a flesh-eating zombie. Mark D. plays a former military type who is planting bombs around the city to take out as many zombies as possible. He also shoots and beats to death as many as his schedule allows. In the middle of everything, a distress call comes in and he finds a lone survivor in the heart of the city, a young female. He reluctantly embarks on a mission to save her, in the company of two other ex-military guys who show up seemingly out of the blue. Lots of decent fight scenes, as befitting the film's legendary kickboxing star. OMEGA is moody, well photographed and has a great first half that loses some steam in the second. The gore is cartoonish, and the goofy-looking zombies are clearly played by stuntmen in rubber monster suits. No harm done, assuming you can accept the lead in this umpteenth version of the Richard Matheson story being a kickboxing machine.

I Am Omega (2007)

** (out of 4)

The Asylum hits back with their own cash-in on Will Smith's I AM LEGEND. This adaptation of the Richard Matheson story features Mark Dacascos as Renchard, the last man on Earth who has had this title since an unknown thing happened which caused everyone to die (the cause is never made clear in the film). Thanks to the internet that is still working for some reason, Renchard manages to find out about a woman living nearby and she just happens to know where a colony of survivors is. First the two must destroy the zombie creatures that are stalking them. Anyone who knows anything about The Asylum knows that the company truly has turned out some of the worst movies in recent memory and it's rather shocking how good I AM OMEGA turned out. It's far from being a good movie and it's certainly not in the same league as the Smith version (or the Price and Heston ones) but at the same time it really does seem that the filmmaker's hearts were in the right place. For the most part the subject matter is taken very serious and we're given a pretty good look at someone who is all alone in the world. I thought the early scenes building up the situation of the lead character were handled very well and I thought that there was some nice atmosphere to be found as well. Another good thing were the actual monsters as they looked very good and I thought they made for great villains. They seem like a cross between your typical zombies and the monsters from THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE but either way they look fine. The performances are decent but they're really not asked to do too much. The main problems with the film is that we've simply seen this story so many times before and nothing new is done with it here. I'd also say that some of the CGI gunshot wounds look very bad and at 90-minutes things start to drag towards the end. Still, I AM OMEGA is a masterpiece when you compare it to other films from the studio but this still remains only for those interested in seeing every version of the original story.