The Last Woman on Earth

(1960) ***


While vacationing in Puerto Rico, shady businessman Harold, his sexy wife Evelyn, and their nerdy Lawyer friend Martin rent a boat for an afternoon of scuba diving. Despite the appearance of frivolity, there is tension among the trio. Martin is annoyed at Harold for his unscrupulous business practices, Evelyn is annoyed at Harold because he barely pays attention to her, and there appears to be sexual tension between Evelyn and Martin. Here’s a shot of Evelyn and her jerky husband.

After scuba diving for less than an hour, the trio surface and quickly realize that something terrible has happened to the world. As they remove their breathing apparatuses they find themselves gasping for air. Apparently while they were having fun swimming in old stock footage, the Earth’s oxygen briefly disappeared. Placing their aspirators back in their mouths they travel back to the mainland to explore. To their horror they begin to stumble across dead humans and animals. When the oxygen supply in their scuba tanks runs out they are relieved to find that the Earth’s lower atmosphere has returned back to normal. Relief quickly turns to despair, however, as they conclude that they are the last humans on Earth (I guess nobody else was scuba diving that day). Here’s a picture of Martin, isn’t he a nerd? He’s nerdy like Herbert West, all full of attitude.

Not to be confused with the superb Last Man On Earth, the first twenty minutes of The Last Woman on Earth makes for interesting science fiction/horror reminiscent of The Village of the Damned. However the majority of the film concerns a love triangle between the principals. Rather than addressing their dire predicament, Harold is more concerned about Evelyn’s obvious attraction to Martin. Of course, as the photo to the left shows, THIS happens. Once Evelyn decides that she would rather be with Martin,

the real conflict begins. As the two escape from bully Harold, Harold gives chase and a bloody finale ensues. While watching this film I kept rolling my eyes, I mean, is this what would really happen if two men and a hot chick were the only people left on Earth? Would the guys really be fighting over who gets to have sex with the chick rather than worrying about the rest of their lives on a human-less planet? Actually that probably is what would happen.

I like this poster for The Last Woman on Earth. Look how scantily clad the woman is (this is never the case in the film). Look how ripped the two men are as they fight to the death (believe me, neither is this ripped and there is no fight that is this dramatic). The Last Woman on Earth is typical Roger Corman fare, low budget but a lot of silly fun.