The Last Woman on Earth

An unusual end-of-the-world scenario, scripted by Robert Towne, who went on to such important cinematic assignments as Chinatown (1974). Towne (credited as Ed Wain for his acting) also plays one of three survivors who happen to be scuba diving off the coast of Puerto Rico when something happens. We're not entirely clear on this, but it's probably a multitude of nuclear bombs going off around the world and sucking the air away temporarily. The three people are under the water when it happens; when they surface, they find that they can't breathe and must rely on their diving equipment. Fortunately for them, breathable air returns after a couple of hours. Of course, everyone else is dead.

This is a Roger Corman production, made with his usual low funds and also as a 2-for-1 deal, made in the same location as Creature From the Haunted Sea and with the same actors (Towne, Antony Carbone and Betsy Moreland). One doesn't require much money to show that all but 3 people are dead. The resulting story is a commentary on human social mores and psychology. Carbone was a footloose reprobate before the holocaust and becomes the pragmatic one. Towne was his young, business-like lawyer before doomsday; he becomes fatalistic and morose. The woman had married Carbone's character shortly before the apocalypse and now she naturally becomes stuck between two men - whom will she choose? It's not long before the men go at it and it looks like they will kill each other very soon. BoG's Score: 6 out of 10