Sci-Fi Film Fiesta, The Swingin' 60s - Volume 7: They're Damned, Man....DAMNED! by Chris Christopoulos - HTML preview

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Dillbert: After this gruesome episode which no doubt happened in the other embassies, the kids returned to the protection and sanctuary of the church. The authorities then moved in to try and take control, militarily of course, forcing the children to protect themselves. Man, it’s beyond me how this situation could have escalated into a final showdown between the military and a bunch of kids!

Speaking of the children, it turned out that old Professor Gruber thought that the cells they had been studying earlier were “the cells of man advanced maybe a million years.” So the kids may not have been alien in origin as had been originally thought!

With explosives laid and weapons poised to unleash their destructive power, it was realised that a mistake has been made. Before the military commander could abort the attack command, it was accidentally triggered by a screwdriver – ironically a simple tool used to fix and fasten things together winds up being the agent of destruction. The church, the already crumbling and decaying symbol of innocence, sanctuary and morality is finally destroyed, and along with it the children are killed.

“Either we control them or they control us, and that's the law

of nature, Tom”

So you might ask yourselves, why didn’t the children like, use their powers collectively to save themselves or force their attackers to turn their weapons on themselves? Well, it seems that the kids came to the conclusion that their existence was incompatible with the primitive level of human thought and emotion they were confronted with. As a result of the lessons they learned, they chose to reject the violence that surrounded them and instead opted to sacrifice themselves.

Daniel: So Dill, what are we to conclude from this strange but still as yet officially unconfirmed event?

Dillbert: Well bro, it doesn’t matter to me whether the kids were highly evolved humans with super amazing mental powers or evil alien entities like in the Midwitch Incident. The important thing is what the whole affair says about us – the human species.

It’s scary just how much we can be motivated by fear and ignorance. People were afraid of the kids because they couldn’t understand their powers, and feared what the children could become. Could they use their powers to gain control of humanity and eliminate anyone who stood in their way? Could they ultimately become superior to human beings?

It also worries me, man just how much our consciousness is confined by our binary brains where everything is seen in terms of being either ‘we’re right and they’re wrong,’ ‘our side’s good and the other side is evil,’ ‘it’s all down to us and them,’ ‘what we say and think is truth and what comes from them is fake or false.’ Even the both of us viewed the events we covered in this case in similar terms. But at least we didn’t get into a punch-up like Tom and Dave did at one point. Man, nothin’ is as simple as being just black and white without any shades of grey, especially when it comes to questions of morality.

Daniel: True enough buddy. If it came to a punch between us, I’d probably kick your ass anyway! Yes indeed, I definitely saw things as Dave had done believing that the kids posed a clear and present danger to humanity and that deciding to give them a chance by reaching an accommodation with them “could destroy the entire world.” Far from seeing the children as being kids who laugh, run and play, the evidence seemed to be clear-cut as to their ability to “kll violently and hideously” as evidenced by the “murder and chaos in four embassies.”

Dillbert. Yeah, I guess so. I also stuck to my guns that the kids had no choice but to resort to violence in response to having guns pointed at them. Like Tom, I too thought it to be unfair to put the kids “in a position where they have no choice but to fight back.” Nothing in life is really as straightforward as we are made to believe .

It all goes to show just how easy it is to take something that could potentially be a gift to humanity and have it weaponized for petty political and military purposes. Also, how easy it is for a stand-off between two or more forces to accidentally spiral out of control before good sense and communication can have a chance to avert calamity. Wow, man! Not much really changes with human beings where it really counts even over 60+ years.

Daniel: No, Dill. We human beings never seem to learn much from the past or from our mistakes. I also somehow don’t think we’ve heard the last of such happenings as we covered in this episode and the Midwitch incident. And on that folks, note we come to the end of this episode on the“Southwark Church Siege Incident.”

Thank you for listening to the History Hearsay podcast. Dill and I would love to hear from you as to what you think about the subject of today’s episode. We’ll be happy to share anything that we think you out there might enjoy. This podcast has been brought to you by our sponsor, Robots ‘R Us. Search us out on all social media platforms @DillnDan. For free resources and materials, and extra commentary and coverage of each episode’s topic, head over to our History Hearsay blog. Finally, don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes or Google Play and be sure to catch our next episode! Bye, everyone!

Dillbert: Later, dudes! Hey Dan, can I like crash on your couch for tonight?

Daniel: Did she throw you again?

Dillbert: Wasn’t my fault, man……….

****************

The Last Man on Earth (1964)

A thoughtful and absorbing post apocalyptic movie that has soul.

Directed by Sidney Salkow, Ubaldo B. Ragona

Produced by Robert L. Lippert

Screenplay by Logan Swanson, William F. Leicester Italian version: Furio M. Monetti, Ubaldo B. Ragona Based on “I Am Legend” by Richard Matheson

Music by Paul Sawtell, Bert Shefter

Cinematography: Franco Delli Colli

Edited by Gene Ruggiero

Italian version: Franca Silvi

Production companies: Associated Producers Inc.; Produzioni La Regina Distributed by American International Pictures (US), 20th Century Fox (International) Running time: 86 minutes

Cast

Vincent Price as Dr. Robert Morgan

Franca Bettoia as Ruth Collins

Carolyn De Fonseca dubbed for Franca Bettoia's voice in the English release of the film.

Emma Danieli as Virginia Morgan

Giacomo Rossi Stuart as Ben Cortman

Umberto Raho (billed as Umberto Rau) as Dr. Mercer

“By night they leave their graves, crawling, shambling, through empty

streets, whimpering, pleading, begging for his blood!

Do you dare to imagine what it would be like to be... the last man on

earth... or the last woman?

Alive among the lifeless... alone among the crawling creatures of evil

that make the night hideous with their inhuman craving!”

“HOW MUCH HORROR CAN YOU FACE?

Where lifeless hands reach out for the warmth of human flesh!

Where terror walks on tiptoe begging for the blood of...

The Last Man on Earth!”

A plague devastates life on Earth and turns all of humanity into the

living dead!

Dr. Robert Morgan is the sole unscathed human survivor on the planet.

For three years his daily routine consists of killing the zombie-like

creatures by night and fortifying his house for his own safety by day.

With his wife and daughter having been taken by the outbreak, Morgan

faces a constant battle against loneliness while trying to preserve his

sanity.

But is there any point to all this?

It seems that the odds are against this last remnant of humanity……

(Spoilers follow below….)

To Anna & Ethan:

I am preparing these documents for you both now in the year 2021 by the old calendar which very few of us still privately refer to. I, Robert Nevell-Collins have recently had passed on to me by my mother, Lisa Nevell-Collins an old journal which had been passed to her by her ‘foster’ mother, my grandmother Ruth Collins who passed away several years ago.

Among our people such an artefact from the old days is considered to be a profane and sacrilegious possession and therefore forbidden. I could be put on trial and sentenced to death or worse, banishment for possessing and concealing such an object.

The journal in question belonged to a Dr. Robert Morgan (“cursed be his name”). His name is invoked along with the added curse on occasion during sermons whenever mention is made of the old times as useful object lessons for all of us living now. But of course, you are both aware of this.

For some of us though who question the current orthodoxies, Morgan has become something of a legend. He is often referred to (in whispers of course) as “The Omega Man” – the last man on earth, the only true and pure human survivor of a devastating world-wide plague. He alone had immunity to the bacterium and alone he had to struggle for survival against the multitude of plague victims - a hellish undead army that thirsts for blood.

My grandmother knew Morgan back in the old times and like all of our people since then she too was infected. Back then we had managed to develop a serum that has since helped us control the disease by means of regular injections. These are dispensed by the Leaders and are used as a means of control over the brethren and enforcing their orthodoxy. The afflicted creatures still exist but in fewer and scattered numbers (so it is rumoured) and fear of their presence is also used as a way for the Leaders to maintain their control over our people. Their numbers are culled from time to time during organised pogroms designed to bond our community together and release pent-up frustrations that might otherwise be directed in ways that could threaten the rule of the leaders. How different to the original ideas of rebuilding society anew and ridding the planet of the undead! This last point you are both probably not aware of.

Anything from the old times as represented by Morgan is considered to be tainted and a source of corruption and is therefore forbidden. Our own family is still regarded with some suspicion by virtue of grandmother Ruth’s link with Morgan and her receiving the source of future hope for humanity. She was forbidden to attempt to pass this hope on to others and as she couldn’t have children of her own she was left to live out her life as long as she didn’t attempt to upset the order of things.

Hopefully you, my own children will one day receive this journal and the story of The Last Man On Earth will spread further throughout our community along with the lessons that it contains. In it you will learn of what happened to your ancestors, why most of us abhor the mere mention of Morgan’s name and why we failed to grasp the hope he offered us. Read now and put aside the lies and myths you have been told and learn the truth of your history…..

From The Journal Of Dr. Robert M organ

Entry

“Another day to live through.” Soon be time to get started. “December, 1965. Is that all it has been since I inherited the world? Only three years. It seems like a hundred million.”

In the unlikely event that anyone comes to read these words of mine, I live in a world where everyone else has been infected by a plague that has turned them into undead, vampiric creatures that fear sunlight, recoil from their own reflection in mirrors, and are repelled by garlic. “Yeah, I own the world. An empty, dead, silent world.” I, alone.

“I protect myself against them, but only because there are so many. Individually, they're weak. Mentally incompetent, like animals after a long famine. If they weren't they surely would've found a way of breaking in here a long time ago.”

I might very well be the last man on earth, as far as I can tell. But why am I immune to the plague that has killed everyone else on the planet? The only theory I have that could explain my immunity is that it results from the bacteria from a bite by an infected vampire bat when I was stationed in Panama, which may possibly have introduced a diluted form of the plague into my blood. I can’t say for certain but how else to account for it?

Today like every other day I wake up to the never-ending routine of checking the generator, marking off yet another day on the calendar, fashioning and gathering together my wooden stakes and then heading off to hunt for the living dead.

I try to kill as many as I can by driving a wooden stake through their bodies. The stakes are “just wide enough to keep the flesh apart so their body can't function. How many more of these will I have to make before they're all destroyed?” Once that grim task is performed, I burn the bodies to prevent them from coming back. “More of them for the pit. Every day there are more of them. They live off the weak ones and leave them for the pit.” The pit...just like the old cliche about Dante’s Inferno. How much of human history is filled with similar scenes in which human life is anonymously and unceremoniously disposed of in mass graves and reduced to ashes or simply covered over by dust with nothing to distinguish who each individual was and what their life amounted to?

How to keep going in the face of such horror? Routine...routine...routine...tuck my shirt in….and keep appealing for human contact over the airwaves “on international frequency.” Come in, can anyone hear me? Apparently not…..

“I can't afford the luxury of anger. Anger can make me vulnerable. It can destroy my reason, and reason is the only advantage I have over them.”

Today I also hunt for more mirrors and more garlic. “There was a time when eating was pleasurable. Now it bores me. Just fuel for survival.” Yes, fuel for the important part of my survival: “find where they hide during the day. Uncover every one of them…..They want my blood; it's their lives or mine!”

"Come Out! Come Out!"

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