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100 Books in a Year: #61 Hell House by Richard Matheson

By Brian Prisco | Posted Under Book Reviews | Comments (4)

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What a strange little book. I’ve never read I Am Legend, but was told to. However, someone else got this rec into me before I could delve into any of Mr. Matheson’s other works, which I’m anxious too.

Hell House was a devious little animal. It almost read like Shirley Jackson, or Poe. It’s a haunted house story, set in 1970, but it felt more like 1870. It was weirdly anachronistic, almost like hearing about a Chrysler in A Merchant of Venice. It felt simultaneously old world and fiercely modern. The story lunges forward with this gruesome jabs where characters are suddenly calling each other fucking lesbians and becoming violently sexual towards one another. The female characters spend their time alternating between histrionics and wanton nudity, and the men ponder and grouse. It’s almost like a strange little off-broadway play of The Haunting of Hill House.

Embarrassing treatment of female characters aside, it’s a pretty ferocious little horror story. The horror does not content itself with mere poltergeistery. The medium gets sexually abused by haunts in a manner not inappropriate in a particularly un-censor friendly episode of “Law and Order: SVU.” What Matheson loses in his characters, he makes up for in the wringer he puts them through. For anyone who wants to write good horror, I would highly recommend giving it a gander.

This review is part of the Cannonball Read series. Details are here and the growing number of participants and their blogs are here.







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Comments

I just re-read this after many years. I loved how Matheson blended the psycho-sexual damage of each of the characters into their individual torments by the ghosts. This story truly does work on the theory that the house knows what scares you. I wouldn't hate a remake of the story.

Posted by: khia213 at March 31, 2009 10:26 AM

It almost read like Shirley Jackson, or Poe.

As it should. Hell House was Matheson's answer to Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. Matheson thought Jackson's story was too polite to be effective. So he went vulgar and over the top. And there are plenty of nods to Poe and traditional Gothic lit, so the book feels like a lot of different writers.

I really love Hell House. It's one of the few horro novels that I couldn't put down. It's certainly one of the only books I feel compelled to re-read that features graphic sexual violence. The time-stamped sections worked so well to ratchet up the tension as the deadline grew closer and closer to the pay day. The characters are wonderfully repulsive, stupid in believable ways that manages to humanize them. Since the novel is really about the house and its history, I let the less-then-fully-developed-characters slide. The house is the star and you learn every facet of it.

Posted by: Robert at March 31, 2009 1:01 PM

Excellent--I love The Haunting of Hill House and I love the movie that they based on this book. I'll have to add this to my reading list.

Posted by: frumpiefox at March 31, 2009 5:29 PM

"Since the novel is really about the house and its history, I let the less-then-fully-developed-characters slide. The house is the star and you learn every facet of it."

Unfortunately, I can't give it a pass for the very same reasons. HH has possibly the BEST idea for a haunted house story I've ever read, but its impact is marred by the fact that you really can't force yourself to give a shit about the characters.

That being said, the sections of the book delving into the sick and twisted history of HH are a wonderful read.

Posted by: Craig at April 1, 2009 6:27 AM


















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