10 Horror Movie Monster Designs Everyone Hated

I Am Legend is one of the more memorable post-apocalyptic horrors of the last 20 years, largely due to Will Smith's searing performance as virologist Robert Neville. A virus has killed 90% of the world's population, seemingly transforming everyone except the "lucky" immune into Darkseekers - vampiric cannibal mutants who hunt the remaining humans.

While the original plan was to have dancers portray the rabid humanoid creatures, director Francis Lawrence viewed screen tests and felt that they weren't sufficiently menacing, opting instead to have the horde be realised through CGI. And aside from its clunker of a theatrical ending, this is by far the most derided aspect of I Am Legend - the VFX renders have a loose, floaty quality to them that doesn't ground the Darkseekers as humanoids.

The facial close-ups of the creatures also fall way short of the mark, as is especially important in the film's climax, where both Neville and the audience are supposed to recognise the Darkseekers' humanity.

Clearly, using flesh-and-blood actors would've been the right way to go here. Even if it meant that the Darkseekers were slightly less intense, we would've all bought them as actual living things rather than digital abominations.