Product Details

• Actors: Charlton Heston, Anthony Zerbe, Rosalind Cash, Paul Koslo, Eric Laneuville
• Directors: Boris Sagal
• Format: Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: December 13, 1993
• Run Time: 98 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (170 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302814723
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #9,066 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #22 in	Video > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Futuristic
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Science fiction took a grim turn in the 1970s--the heyday of Agent Orange, nuclear peril, and Watergate. Suddenly, most of our possible futures took on a "last man on Earth" flavor, with The Omega Man topping the doom-struck heap.

Charlton Heston plays the government researcher behind the ultimate biological weapon, a deadly plague that has ravaged humanity. There are two groups of survivors: a dwindling band of immune humans and an infected, psychopathic mob of light-hating quasi-vampires. The infected are led by Mathias, a clever, charismatic man set on destroying the last remnants of the civilization that produced the plague. Heston has a vaccine--but he and the few remaining normals are outnumbered and outgunned. By day, he builds a makeshift version of the nuclear family (with Rosalind Cash as his afro-wearing, gun-toting little lady). They plan for the future while roaming freely through an empty urban landscape, taking what few pleasures life has left. By night, they defend themselves against the growing horde of plague victims. Both a bittersweet romance and a gothic cautionary tale, The Omega Man paints a convincing portrait of hope and despair. It ain't pretty, but it's a great movie. --Grant Balfour

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Formerly the scariest movie in the world, April 25, 2002

By	Jeffrey Ellis "bored recluse" (Richardson, Texas United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Omega Man is based loosely (and by that, I mean very loosely) on Richard Matheson's classic end-of-the-world novel I am Legend. Taking place in the near future, the Omegan Man imagines a world where the majority of the population has been wiped out by biological warfare. Those that have survived have become albinos who can only come out at night. In a clever touch that has never really been given its due, their leader is a former TV news commentator named Mathias (well-played by Anthony Zerbe who is both sympathetic and threatening). Mathias has declared that the only way to purify the world is to destroy all reminders of their former life and that includes anyone who may not have been infected with the plague. At the beginning of the movie, that would appear to be all of one man -- a former military scientist played by Charlton Heston who spends his days driving through a deserted Los Angeles is search of both a cure and more humans. At night, he hides in his well-lit apartment while Mathias's mob angrily tries to force him out.

The Omega Man is at its strongest in the beginning. The scenes of Heston driving across a deserted Los Angeles (scenes that were shot on actual L.A. street) continue to haunt thirty years after they were first filmed and, for all its inherent camp value, there's something undeniably powerful about seeing the half-mad Heston passing the time by sitting in an empty music theater and watching Woodstock. As well, Mathias' siege on Heston's apartment is also well handled. After this, the film loses its way slightly with Heston predictability getting trapped outside after dark and much of the film's action falls flat. However, uneven as it may be, it all builds up to a truly powerful ending that will shock those raised on the sci-fi films of the '80s and '90s and the final visual image of Heston still packs an incredible amount of power. Despite the fact that Charlton Heston's performance here (and Soylent Green) provided the inspiration for many impressionists, he actually gives an excellent performance. While he spends much of the film gritting his teeth NRA-style, he also brings a very believable sense of fear to the night scenes. Heston doesn't make his hero an obvious hero -- instead of being a standard good guy, mankind's last hope is instead presented as having been driven almost mad by his responsibility.

When it was initially released, the Omega Man got mixed reviews and unfortunately, it has retained some of that negative stigma. When I was a kid and this movie used to play nearly every Sunday afternoon, I thought it was the scariest film ever made. The images of Mathias and his followers with their black robes and pasty faces used to give me nightmares. Now that I'm older, the movie no longer terrifies me but it still carries an undeniable and admirable power. Instead, it is an uneven film that, like many so-called B films of the 1970s, sticks admirably true to its darker than dark designs. For all the critical sniping that the Omega Man has suffered over the years, it is still a film that could teach today's Hollywood directors a thing or two about making an effective movie.

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hippie Science Fiction., February 23, 2000

By A Customer

It is the height of irony that Chuck Heston, who has recently raised the ire of numerous liberal do-gooders for his arch-conservative stances on issues such as gun control, was the star of counter culture sci-fi flicks of the late 60's and early 70's: Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, and this classic, The Omega Man.

"The Man" has screwed up and destroyed mankind with his weapons of mass destruction. All that remains is a scientist (Heston) who discovered a vaccine against the deadly virus that has either killed people or turned them into mutant psychopaths. Also alive are a handful of children and a couple of adult free spirits; but unless they are vaccinated they will turn into mutants with time. ("Don't trust anyone over 30!") Can the Omega Man use his blood as a vaccine to save what is left of mankind? Can the Omega Man survive the night when all the mutants come out to try and kill him?

This is a fun movie! Sure "The Omega Man" is dated; but that is part of its charm: the music, the clothes, and those afros. Some parts are priceless such as sight of Chuck Heston watching the movie "Woodstock" and knowing all the dialogue by heart. Or a black mutant trying to convince the head mutant, Anthony Zerbe, to allow him to use artillery to blast Heston out of his "honky paradise." (On a serious note: This movie did feature one of the first interracial movie romances in which race is considered inconsequential.) Heston is at his hammy best here, and he does utter his trademark line: "Oh, my God!" The ending is a hoot with Chuck as Christ- "The blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven."

"I was like Charleton Heston in "The Omega Man." Beauty movie, eh?"- Strange Brew

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MY GOD ITS ALMOST DARK, THEY'LL BE WAKING UP SOON, August 18, 2000

By	VLADIMIR J. GOYKOW, AAS "Class of 2005" (Greenpoint and Oak) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Omega Man (DVD)

This movie is such a classic, I don't think a thousand words can do it justice, but I will try though! If youre antisocial like me, you'll appreciate the fantasy of "being alone". There have been times when I cut class and went to the movies at about 11am on a weekday and made believe I was Charleston Heston in the early "Woodstock" scene, which is just a priceless sequence.The movie does have its political commentaries about how the lack of world peace can turn everyone into light-sensitive Zombies ( Anthony Zerbe, Lincoln Kilpatrick) and interracial loving (Heston and Rosalind Cash). Richard Matheson (through Boris Sagal)has made the ultimate social commentaries with this masterpiece. I don't know about you? But I can't wait for them to unearth an extra hour or two of deleted scenes and bonus footage.Omege Man is a movie that can be watched for 3 hours.