3. I Am Legend
T
HE PREDICTION: Will Smiths 2007 I Am Legend is the 3rd official adaptation of Richard Mathesons 1954 novel of the same name (the others being 1964s The Last Man On Earth, and 1971s The Omega Man as well as being credited by Romero himself as the inspiration for Night of the Living Dead). This novel was, itself, one of the forerunners of Zombie lore- at a time where the world was beginning to feel smaller and significantly more dangerous since WW2, he drew on recent medical advances to give credence to the theory of a worldwide disease-borne apocalypse. In 2012, scientists finally create a magical cure for (all) cancer by using a genetically re-designed variation on the measles virus. Whilst it was successful in curing the cancer, it began to mutate and spread across the world causing all those infected to turn into (what I can best describe as) vampiristic zombies. Smith (a military virologist), having lost his family and finding himself the last remaining healthy human in New York, spends his time searching for a cure and scavenging for supplies to stay alive. Cue big budget (one scene alone cost $5million) set pieces, solid visual effects (especially the infected), shameless cameo of Willow Smith, and a rather 1 dimensional predictability to proceedings Although most of the time is spent solely with the protagonist (although not quite to the extent of Castaway) this movie is exactly what youd expect from a Will Smith apocalypse movie and, if thats your bag then it wont disappoint. (Personally I much prefer Wild Wild West, but Im yet to meet another soul who feels the same!).
THE REALITY: Lets take communicable disease first. With the prevalence of inter-continental travel, transmission of a slow acting contagious disease (should it exist) will almost inevitably happen before anyone realises. You only need look at recent fears of bird flu and previous worldwide epidemics to see how susceptible we are to this. While a naturally forming virus causing zombies is incredibly unlikely, the obvious place to look here is human interference. As with the premise of I Am Legend, we live in an age of scientific tinkering and discovery. There is simply no way we can predict the exact consequences of manipulating genetic codes and, although precautions are presumably being taken, theres always a risk something nasty could escape. Then you look at examples with more malicious intent- governments for years have been exploring all sorts of avenues of research (LSD for example was created by the US army as a method of brainwashing) and, with the current prevalence of Zombie mythology, can we ever be sure that someone, somewhere (similar to the Umbrella Corporation from the Resident Evil franchise) isnt trying to develop something with similar results?
HOW TO SURVIVE: I'm sure you don't need me to tell you this (you wouldn't have read this far already unless you were the type of person that has schemed your own contingency plan), but a few pointers- stay away from populated areas, always carry a heavy blunt weapon with you, and for best chance of survival make sure one of your friends happens to be a scientist and/or immune in the first place.