Short Film: Soy Leyenda

This short by Mario Gómez Martín was shot in 1967 and released by Escuela Oficial de Cine, Spain’s official National Film School, and excitingly is a make of I am Legend. It has appeared on YouTube, with subtitles, and is reminiscent of the earlier the Last Man on Earth but that could be just in taking beats from the novel – and the ending of this does not have the Christ connotations of the earlier film.

Moisés Menéndez as Robert Neville

It begins with a description of a world fallen, of the nuclear war and then the biological warfare. It tells us that there appeared vampires, products of the war, and the only uninfected man, Robert Neville (Moisés Menéndez), whose weapons are “those that Bram Stoker had anticipated: garlic, the cross, mirrors, stakes and sunlight…” The bit of the narration that was really strange was, before the mention of vampires, the suggestion of giant Lobsters – fear not, they do not appear, but Neville also speaks of giant grasshoppers (in a flashback scene that resonates with the novel).

Ana Castor as Ruth

The film crams in much of the story. Neville living alone (within something more akin to a bunker), the vampires led by Cortman (José María Resel) goading him to come out through the night. Menéndez perhaps does not have the powerful inner monologue that Vincent Price brought to the role but has a harried, desperate air that suits the character. We do see some level of vampire hunt, we get flashbacks to the illness of Virginia (Elisa Ramírez) – though there could have been a better segue into the flashback scenes – and her illegal burial and return. We get the delay at her grave and the appearance of Ruth (Ana Castor).

preparing to stake

It is perhaps a little hurried, after all Martín manages to cram it all into just over 36-minutes, but it is worthwhile stuff. The film suits the black and white 35mm treatment, there is a bleakness to the world that fits the story and every shadow feels oppressive. There is little in the way of practical effects. Whilst we see a stake brought to a vampire, the film cuts away from the actual impalement. Sound is this film’s ally, be it the distant yelling of the vampires or the thud of hammer on wood.

The imdb page is here.