I Am Legend
Daniel Salgado
HUM3321-18
December 12, 2011
I am Legend (Film Genre Essay) When thinking of horror films, simple features come to mind for what you need to produce a good movie. Monsters are always a big plus in order to get a good scare factor. A good horror film will have drama that usually leads to the death of a main character or other supporting characters. I believe I Am Legend is a good contender for a low-key horror film. Under the direction of Francis Lawrence was a film written by Mark Protosevich. In 2007 this movie was a big hit in the theaters, for its incredibly gritty and strong story line. Actor Will Smith played the part of the Main character Robert Neville, who thought he found the cure for cancer but in fact spread
a disease out through the world. The whole movie is played in New York City, were David a scientist announces he has a cure for cancer when in fact it is a plague that turn the people into monsters. So the plot of the movie is David Surviving in New York by himself, trying to test rats for the cure to the virus. That catch to the movie is that all the monsters are contagious and only come out at sun down to find other humans to spread the virus. In this movie you had a lot of glimpses and scenes that would show that this movie could be a horror film. The two examples of horror films I used in the first paragraph are shown in many scenes of I Am
Legend. The virus that spread through the people made them monsters and in a good horror film you need a scary, deadly, nasty monster to be the antagonist. The monsters in I Am Legend are the typical creature for a horror film. They are not easy to look at which gives into a scarier character. They are very mean and ruthless and show no mercy. The last feature that is a main feature is that they will kill with no questions. The drama part of a horror film usually ends with death and the scene usually has a lot of anticipation on it to put you on the edge of your seat. In I Am Legend when David is out doing his rounds and gets baited into a booby trap he gets knocked out and wakes up in the trap a little too late. The monsters are waiting for the sun to come down to attack and infect David. In a showing of great effort but significant downfall David’s dog (Sam) is attacked and becomes infected. Almost turning on its own owner David is forced to kill his only sort of companionship and is left alone for the time being. The director did a good job with this movie because he produced a good storyline built with a lot of anticipation. I believe that he did try and put in that scary horror effect with the darkness of the movie and the frightening creatures. Even though I Am Legend is characterized as a “dramatic thriller”, in most instances it can definitely be considered a horror film.
HUM3321-18
December 12, 2011
I am Legend (Film Genre Essay) When thinking of horror films, simple features come to mind for what you need to produce a good movie. Monsters are always a big plus in order to get a good scare factor. A good horror film will have drama that usually leads to the death of a main character or other supporting characters. I believe I Am Legend is a good contender for a low-key horror film. Under the direction of Francis Lawrence was a film written by Mark Protosevich. In 2007 this movie was a big hit in the theaters, for its incredibly gritty and strong story line. Actor Will Smith played the part of the Main character Robert Neville, who thought he found the cure for cancer but in fact spread
a disease out through the world. The whole movie is played in New York City, were David a scientist announces he has a cure for cancer when in fact it is a plague that turn the people into monsters. So the plot of the movie is David Surviving in New York by himself, trying to test rats for the cure to the virus. That catch to the movie is that all the monsters are contagious and only come out at sun down to find other humans to spread the virus. In this movie you had a lot of glimpses and scenes that would show that this movie could be a horror film. The two examples of horror films I used in the first paragraph are shown in many scenes of I Am
Legend. The virus that spread through the people made them monsters and in a good horror film you need a scary, deadly, nasty monster to be the antagonist. The monsters in I Am Legend are the typical creature for a horror film. They are not easy to look at which gives into a scarier character. They are very mean and ruthless and show no mercy. The last feature that is a main feature is that they will kill with no questions. The drama part of a horror film usually ends with death and the scene usually has a lot of anticipation on it to put you on the edge of your seat. In I Am Legend when David is out doing his rounds and gets baited into a booby trap he gets knocked out and wakes up in the trap a little too late. The monsters are waiting for the sun to come down to attack and infect David. In a showing of great effort but significant downfall David’s dog (Sam) is attacked and becomes infected. Almost turning on its own owner David is forced to kill his only sort of companionship and is left alone for the time being. The director did a good job with this movie because he produced a good storyline built with a lot of anticipation. I believe that he did try and put in that scary horror effect with the darkness of the movie and the frightening creatures. Even though I Am Legend is characterized as a “dramatic thriller”, in most instances it can definitely be considered a horror film.