Discussion on the “Scariest Monster” thread made me decide to start this one. Who is Richard Matheson? He probably gave you nightmares and you don’t even know it-
Who created that creepy fetish doll? Richard Matheson
Who put the gremlin on the wing of the plane? Matheson
Who wrote Steven Speilberg’s first film, Duel? Richard Matheson
Remember Hell House? Matheson. Stir of Echos? Ditto
Is that all? Heck no. Robin Williams did What Dreams May Come, a Matheson fantasy. The Incredible Shrinking Man was his, too. When they adapted The Martian Chronicals for TV, Matheson wrote the screenplay. I am Legend, a great Matheson short novel, has been turned into a movie twice- The Last Man on Earth, with Vincent Price, and The Omega Man with Charlton Heston. Neither version did the book justice- it’s truly scary on physical, psychological, and philosophical levels. It may be remade again.
I could go on, but you get the idea.
He’s still alive, still working. You’ve see his work on screen- now read the originals. You won’t be disappointed.
My father hunted for LITERALLY years to find a copy of Hell House. Which my illiterate little brother stole when he died and pawned, so I’ve not read it.
BUT!
I read Graveyard Shift about a year ago and it still gives me nightmares. The format is fantastic : told completely in letters the story unfolds so gradually you don’t realize what has happened until the last paragraph when he drops a very carefully worded bomb on the readers head.
There’s a thread on SDMB about how visceral Chuck Palaniuck’s writing is but this story got me in the gut in away Palaniuck didn’t and went straight to my soul in sheer horror.
I Am Legend was the first I’d read of his stuff - fantastic story. But I’ll always remember him as part of the holy trinity of The Twilight Zone, along with Charles Beaumont, and (of course) Rod Serling.