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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Richard Matheson Fans?

FreakWolf

15:37 / 31.01.06

Anyone a fan of Richard Matheson? I just finished reading A STIR OF ECHOES and while I am a fan I found it a little lacking. The only redeeming quality was that the explination of how afraid Tom was that the ghost was waiting for him in the living room every night freaked me out. Other than that I thought the movie was actually a better story. Of course they have little to do with each other. The hypnosis and being psychically opened were about the only similarities. But most of Matheson's other work I absolutely love.

matthew.

16:13 / 31.01.06

I only read I Am Legend because Stephen King said it was the most important vampire novel since Dracula. When I read it... I was astounded. Amazing. It wasn't so much the horror that made me like it; it was the believability of the whole thing. Matheson made me believe vampires were taking over the Earth. Great. It was a combo of his science and his characters that made it work - something a lot of writers are not good at.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

16:26 / 31.01.06

Yes, I've also only read I Am Legend. Several times. For my money, it's one of the best science fiction OR horror novels I've ever encountered, and is rightly hailed as a masterpiece.

I love the way it begins as a vampire take on the post-apocalypse genre, then by the end has slipped into the realms of political allegory, something there's no hint of in its earlier pages, without it seeming jarring.

Matheson is somebody I really need to check out more stuff by, it would seem.

FreakWolf

20:03 / 31.01.06

Well then both of you will be happy to know that I AM LEGEND will be made into a movie soon. Hopefully it won't be ruined. I think Mickey Rourke would play a good lead in it. He is physically enough to believe he could fight off vampires if needed and that he seems good at playing a tourtured soul.

Also check out some of his short stories as Matheson himself turned a lot of his shorts into episodes of the original Twilight Zone.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

20:08 / 31.01.06

I'm actually a little worried about the THIRD adaptation of I Am Legend... could be good, though. We'll see.

I'm interested in reading his story "Dance Of The Dead", having recently seen Tobe Hooper's interpretation of it in the Masters Of Horror TV series.

Fell

20:12 / 31.01.06

The solitude and way Matheson created those moments of dire vulnerability in the protagonist of I am Legend were phenomenal. It's the only book I've read by him, but it's one of my favourites. [SPOILER] I remember tearing up when the dog was attacked after spending so long befriending it.

I hear the novel What Dreams May Come is really astonishing, too, and the movie did it an injustice. I'll have to check that out one day.

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