What's your Opinion of Richard Matheson?

I just read I Am Legend (and a few other short stories) and was impressed.

I really enjoyed Matheson's I Am Legend. It is so much more than any of the films based on it/using the book's title.

I wasn't so enamoured with 7 Steps to Midnight. It didn't work for me as I felt is was too contrived and not entirely internally consistent; quite a disappointment as I have liked any other Matheson I've read.

I'm not an expert on Richard matheson. I've noticed movies made from his work (Duel, The Night Stalker, A Stir of Echoes, What Dreams May Come) tend to be very good (I am not counting Will Smith's execrable take on I Am Legend).

I've read I Am Legend and some of the short stories in Nightmare At 20,000 Feet and loved them. I've also read Hell House which gets good reviews, but left me cold.

If you enjoyed the short stories that followed I Am Legend, I would suggest you pick up the Nightmare At 20,000 Feet collection as well.

#3: I just might do just that. :)

Has anyone ever noticed that a lot of classical literature in the horror genre (poe, lovecraft) are in the form of short stories? I find that interesting.

#4 ScribbleScribe

I can't find it just at the moment, but I recall a discussion thread on the point that horror was more suited to short stories than longer forms of fiction. I think Stephen King was cited as an argument against this viewpoint.

Hell House was a bit long and somewhat disjointed, but I Am Legend is brilliant. That's about all I've read though, but if the opportunity presented itself I'd read more.

Oh and it's cited, pgmcc.

I've just read the two and agree with the consensus that I am Legend is good, Hell House, not so much.

#6 Oops!

Thank you, Bookmarque.

If anyone gets the chance, read Mad House by Richard Matheson. It's 35 pages long but good. o.o

Dance of the Dead wasnt bad by him either. It seems worth it to page through the bad stories to get to the good ones with him.

#5 I would refute that claim too; citing Frankenstein by Mary Shelly and Dracula by Bram Stoker. Both classical texts but novel-length in style.

Also Person to Person by Richard Matheson was mind-bending as well as frightening. Especially since I have a friend that happens to hear voices. Safe to say, I'm not telling them about THIS particular short story. heh.

What's Hell House about?

Arguably the genre starts with a novel, The Castle of Otranto.

#11: I should read that. Is it still in print? o.o

I love Richard Matheson. As others have already mentioned, some of his novels are great and others are a bit ... meh, but his short stories are almost always excellent. I definitely second the Nightmare at 20,000 Feet recommendation. It includes a lot of his more psychological horror stories, which I personally think are his best.

>12 ScribbleScribe:

Yeah, Walpole's Otranto is abundantly in print, and any respectable public library should have a copy too.

Matheson didn't impress me that much. Although I agree that I am Legend was a good book, and I liked Duel.

Basically, a competent but not brilliant writer who wrote some enjoyable (but with the possible exception of I Am Legend, forgettable) books and screenplays.

#15 - I need to read more Matheson so I can debate that!

I think a problem Matheson has is that most of his best work has been adapted in such fantastic fashion. There's a reason that some of the best remembered Twilight Zone episodes are ones that were adaptations of his stories, why so many people remember Karen Black being chased by that Zuni doll or Dennis Weaver being stalked by the truck.

But I will admit that probably his biggest contribution is his influence on Stephen King.

I'm the exception here. I much prefer Hell House to I Am Legend (although I admit that the premise of Hell House has been done better since). I just find it better written--with more grace and subtlety. But he has written some fantastic short stories, which I think are BEST suited to something like The Twilight Zone. His real gift is the elaborate and accurate literary conceit, which is also the strength of The Twilight Zone (and its ilk). His only equal on that front is Shirley Jackson, who lifted that skill up to novel length a few times....