It has been three years since a cure that was meant to save millions of lives turned into a virus that took virtually every life on the planet. A small proportion of the population was not killed by this virus, instead they were turned into bloodthirsty monsters with a serious aversion to light. An even smaller proportion survive as the human beings they always were. In New York, that smaller proportion is Robert Neville (Will Smith, now the Fresh Prince of New York). One man survives in this deserted city. One man defending himself against the Dark Walkers, who rule the night.

Neville has spent his three years alone researching a cure to the virus, in the hope that he can restore the humanity to the creatures that stalk the night. Now that he has almost discovered a cure, it seems these creatures are evolving and the hunter is becoming the hunted.

I Am Legend is the latest big budget action spectacular vehicle for Will Smith, and what better vehicle could he ask for? This is a two-man show, and only one of those men is an actor. The other man in the show is the city of New York, at least the spectacularly desolate, effects laden version of the famous city. You couldn't ask for a better team on the big screen.

Caleb (a young Adrian Pasdar, who has found fame 20 years later in "Heroes") is a young man drifting through his life in a dusty town in Southern USA. As he avoids his overprotective father by hanging out in a local bar, Caleb is seduced by a mysterious woman named Mae. He begins to change shortly after she bites his neck. No longer human, Caleb reluctantly joins Mae's family as they travel aimlessly by night causing whatever havoc they see fit. Led by the patriarchal Jesse (Henriksen) and his muscle Severen (Paxton), this new family have little regard for the law of man and a strong desire to look after their own. Despite his seeming acceptance to his new family, Caleb struggles to let go of his past life and the new and the old collide as he struggles to accept who he has become.Near Dark is a southern-fried vampire drifter movie (though it avoids using the 'V' word for its duration) that will stay with you for years. It thrives on the romanticised angst that has become something of a clich((eacute)) for vampire movies, albeit one that this film had a strong hand in creating, but throws in plenty of angles that are completely different from its peers. The story itself is somewhat of a Western. Catch it now before the Hollywood powers that be spoil its cult following with a remake!