I Am Legend - Hell House

I Am Legend: I was really impressed with this collection of short stories by Richard Matheson. I was drawn to the work originally for the title story (yes, after seeing the movie of the same name.) While I enjoyed the film, I was really impressed with the novella presented here. It differs a lot from the film and I won't get into details because I don't want to ruin anything, but the treatment in the story is so much better than in the film that I became a little disappointed that the film went in such a different direction. The characters that Matheson creates in the story are very easy to relate to and to get emotionally attached to. All in all, it is a very engaging and well written tale. The rest of the stories presented in the collection are pretty good as well. Some are a little on the strange side, but overall they are very enjoyable.

Hell House: Hell House was a fairly entertaining ghost story with some nice twists and turns that for the most part kept the story moving along at a pretty steady pace. There were a couple of points in the book that I found to be a bit draggy and it seemed like the story was going to end several times only to continue on in another direction. I did enjoy it for the most part, but I would like to voice a word of caution that this novel contains some very adult themes and subject matter that I personally took no offense to, but can see how some people might.

I thought that this was a nice book to read after reading the collection of short stories in I Am Legend and will definitely be looking for more by Richard Matheson in the future. ( )

I got this book for I am legend so that I didnt have to have a copy with will smith on the cover. The story completely blows the movie out of the water, that being my only previous connection to the story. Not only do you get I am Legend but also Hell House. While both those works are great by themselves what I think I enjoyed most about this book was the many works of short fiction by Matheson that they placed in between the copies of both books.
I am legend is the story of a lone man struggling to survive and keep his sanity after a plague of unknown origin turns everyone else on earth into a vampire. The inner torments of the main character as he is going through the events is what drives this story. Along with that the great way that Matheson brings the vampires into current society makes it completely believable. ( )

Some say this is a retelling of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. Having read both, I say not quite. Sure there are similarities, but Matheson’s tale is more visceral and immediate. The danger in Jackson’s tale is more psychological whereas Matheson’s danger is physical. Something is literally trying to kill them, not just drive them away or mad.

Stephen King says that his biggest influence was Richard Matheson and to some extent it shows. Funny that Belasco House is in Maine. Matheson doesn’t love his characters as much as King does, but he certainly knows how to create tension. Hell House is non-stop. Once things start happening, they don’t let up. It’s almost crazy, but it helps to make the reader empathize, at least a tiny bit, with the characters in the book. ( )