It's all about The Family

No, not my family.

This one:


I may have lost my Netflix privileges to do it, but I made my long-suffering husband sit through The Omega Man. I had never seen it before.

And I had no idea before this that I absolutely love campy 70's sci-fi.

From the poorly-done special effects, to the beatnik albino zombies in shades spouting haunting, surreal dialogue, to the awesome 70's score...What a delight!

For all its campiness, it isn't a bad film. Sure, they had a $10 budget for costumes and contacts, but who other than Charlton Heston could have taken the role of last man on the earth so seriously, and made it work? You at least believe that he believes it, even if you also realize that Luddite mutants will never be the ones to take over the world. Only Moses could pull this off.

I've only begun to look at deeper themes that may or may not be present, regarding cult mentality, communism versus capitalism, media relations, the source of societal violence, and so on. With its PG rating, I at first thought that it might not be a bad idea to let the kids see it, but I'm glad I reconsidered. I didn't find it scary, but certainly those bonfires, hooded figures, white eyes, and bad acting would have been detrimental to the little ones.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was the most fun I've had watching a movie in recent memory. I don't at all wish those 98 minutes back (though I do wish I had had the foresight to also order The Andromeda Strain and Logan's Run before I lost access to the queue...).