Ridley Scott’s Upcoming I Am Legend Replacement Does The Only Thing That Could Make It Scarier
Zoë Miskelly is an editor and second in command for Screen Rant's Movies team, having covered the entertainment industry for almost 10 years now. Zoë's love of superheroes and all things Marvel & DC started out in childhood, and has blossomed into a career getting to talk about some of the biggest and best movies and shows of all time, having previously focused on comics while working at WhatCulture.
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The upcoming vampire movie that's being produced by Ridley Scott is a perfect modern replacement of sorts for iconic horror film I Am Legend, though the different way its story is set up already seems to make it that little bit more tense. Though Will Smith's I Am Legend was released almost 20 years ago now in 2007, it's still held up as one of the best vampire movies of all time, and it's hard to argue with this consensus.
I Am Legend manages to pull off being a solid horror movie, a gripping action movie, and being a story wherein you truly care about what happens to its protagonist throughout the course of its run - especially because of the canine companion the film's hero is side-by-side with for most of its narrative.
As such, it's no surprise that plenty of films have followed similar lines with their own stories, especially given the wealth of interest in vampire movies and media that's grown further over the past decade or so. With that said, I Am Legend's newer successor of sorts looks as though it's teed up to be more nailbiting for viewers during its own runtime.
They Like The Dark's Protagonist Setup Makes Its I Am Legend-Esque Premise Even More Tense
They Like The Dark mirrors I Am Legend in some key ways because of its plot, which also sees its protagonist deal with some terrifying vampire-esque creatures, and attempt to protect his dog from these entities while also trying to ensure his own survival as well, mirroring Robert's conflict with the Darkseekers in I Am Legend, and his own tragic efforts to protect his beloved pet German Shepherd, Sam.
However, unlike Robert in I Am Legend - who is introduced to us three years after the outbreak that created the Darkseekers, and is shown to have an awareness of the creatures that reflects this - They Like The Dark's protagonist reportedly wakes up chained in a warehouse with no memory of how he got there before his encounter with these entities, and is notably also described as being half-blind, with his dog being a service dog.
As such, the initial setup of They Like The Dark seems to be even more tense than I Am Legend, as the movie's protagonist is placed in a position wherein he has no idea where he is or how to leave, and wherein he needs to protect his service dog while being in a position wherein he may not be able to see some of the threats trying to kill him and his companion so easily.
They Like The Dark Already Looks Like A Perfect Film For Those Who Loved I Am Legend
They Like The Dark is already looking like a promising horror film that explores much the same territory as I Am Legend in terms of placing its protagonist against a vampiric threat in an unconventional way compared to the classic vampire hunter kind of film, and which makes our lone protagonist immediately more endearing by giving them a canine sidekick to help them, and that they try to look after while in a dire situation.
It's not clear whether They Like The Dark will mirror I Am Legend in terms of exploring how its vampiric forces are still human at their core. I Am Legend's theatrical ending sees a Darkseeker be cured of their infection, and its cut ending sees a Darkseeker seemingly accept Robert's apology for kidnapping another Darkseeker, suggesting they're still cognizant and rational on some level, with both endings mirroring the original source material's plot twist reveal that the supernatural-seeming forces he fought were in fact still fully sentient.
However, whether this aspect of I Am Legend is replicated or mirrored in They Like The Dark or not, the upcoming movie already promises to be a tense and gripping story of one man and his dog against some terrifying forces that they're ill-equipped to fully deal with, which makes it all the more worth watching for fans of the older movie.
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