Zombies or vampires? Richard Matheson’s legendary novel I AM LEGEND is about both.

May 20, 2024 Chris Well

A look at how the impactful novel influenced two whole different strains of horror fiction.

One of the most influential writers in history, iconic author and screenwriter Richard Matheson (1926-2013) was best-known for writing horror, fantasy, and science fiction. He was named a Grand Master of Horror by the World Horror Convention, and received the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement. He has also won the Edgar, the Spur, and the Writer’s Guild awards. In 2010, he was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

“Our world is in profound danger,” the accomplished author once said. “Mankind must establish a set of positive values with which to secure its own survival.”

One of his most impactful novels is I Am Legend, published in 1954. This post-apocalyptic horror tale has influenced modern vampire fiction and zombie fiction and apocalyptic fiction. It has been adapted several times—including the 1964 movie The Last Man on Earth (starring Vincent Price), 1971’s The Omega Man (starring Charlton Heston), and 2007’s I Am Legend (starring Will Smith).

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Is the book I Am Legend about vampires or is it about zombies?

Well, yes to both.

The book I Am Legend by Richard Matheson does talk about vampires. In the text itself, the monsters are labeled as vampires. And the book’s main character spends time defending himself with garlic and wooden stakes. In 2012, the book was honored by the Horror Writers Association with the striking Vampire Novel of the Century Award.

But I Am Legend is also responsible for what we even think about zombie stories. The epic scale of the novel—of the only known surviving human trying to survive in a world filled with others—pretty much inspired the idea of the zombie apocalypse.

In fact, director George A. Romero said that the novel I Am Legend—as well as its movie adaptation The Last Man on Earth—made a huge impact on his 1968 zombie movie Night of the Living Dead. Romero actually claimed that he “basically had ripped off” Matheson’s novel I Am Legend. (“One for the Fire: The Legacy of Night of the Living Dead”—Night of the Living Dead DVD, 2008)

And the result—that zombie movie Night of the Living Dead—essentially redefined the entire “zombie” movie category. Which means that pretty much every zombie movie since then has followed the direction that started with I Am Legend.

Victor LaValle, whose fantasy-horror novella The Ballad of Black Tom won the Shirley Jackson Award, wrote:

“My introduction to his fiction, his short novel I Am Legend, was one of the first books that made me run up to my friends and tackle them so they’d all check it out, too. If you haven’t read it (what the hell is wrong with you?), it manages to be a work of science fiction, a vampire story, a progenitor of the ‘biological plague’ apocalyptic novel, and also an excellent thriller.” (LaValle wrote the introduction for the collection The Best of Richard Matheson.)

More genre classics from Richard Matheson

Matheson’s catalog also includes…

The haunting romance novel Bid Time Return, which was adapted into the movie Somewhere in Time starring Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour, and Christopher Plummer.
His horror novel Hell House became the movie The Legend of Hell House starring Pamela Franklin and Roddy McDowall.
His afterlife novel What Dreams May Come was adapted into the movie starring Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Annabella Sciorra.
His sci-if boxing robot story “Steel” became an episode of The Twilight Zone and also the movie Real Steel starring Hugh Jackman.
His supernatural novel A Stir of Echoes was adapted into the movie staring Kevin Bacon.

Matheson also wrote memorable episodes of legendary TV shows. His dozen episodes for The Twilight Zone, in addition to “Steel” (starring Lee Marvin), also included “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” (with William Shatner) and “Death Ship” (with Jack Klugman), among others. Matheson’s Twilight Zone episode “Little Girl Lost” was memorably copied on The Simpsons on one of their Halloween episodes.

For Star Trek (the original series), Matheson wrote the memorable episode “The Enemy Within.” That’s the one where Captain Kirk is caught in a transporter malfunction and split into two people—the good Kirk and the bad Kirk.

Matheson was also part of the making of the legendary 1970s monster-hunter series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. He wrote the screenplay for the original TV movie The Night Stalker—adapting the unpublished novel by Jeff Rice. Matheson then wrote the original script for the sequel TV movie The Night Strangler. Both movies were big hits that led to the short-lived TV show on ABC over the 1974-1975 season. Although the show only ran a single season, it has had SUCH an impact on shows that came later.

As an author, Richard Matheson has impacted entire generations of storytellers.

Anne Rice (best-selling author of the Vampire Chronicles) said of Matheson:

“This great author had a profound influence on me, more profound than I can fully explain.” (SOURCE)

Stephen King (who wrote The Stand and The Shining and a whole lot more) remarked: “Matheson fired the imaginations of three generations of writers.” King added that without Matheson’s I AM LEGEND, there would have been no NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD; without NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, there would have been no WALKING DEAD, 28 DAYS LATER, or WORLD WAR Z.

King also said:

“He fired my imagination by placing his horrors not in European castles and Lovecraftian universes, but in American scenes I knew and could relate to. ‘I want to do that,’ I thought. ‘I must do that.’ Matheson showed the way.” (SOURCE)

Others who have said great things about the influence of Matheson include authors like Ray Bradbury, Neil Gaiman, Dean Koontz, Joe Hill, Joe R. Lansdale, and Christopher Golden.

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