Book to Movie: The Legend of Hell House

The Legend of Hell House
Directed by John Hough
Screenplay by Richard Matheson

One of the comments made as our book club discussed Richard Matheson's Hell House was that it read very much like a screenplay. This comment was not made to disparage the entire book. The reader was disappointed in the ending because he said it had that “Hollywood ending that is neatly wrapped and all things are answered.”

I agree with this critic’s assessment, but was cool with the ending. The story was paced like a movie. Matheson was a prolific screenwriter in his day. His work for the big and small screen is nearly as extensive as his published work.

After completion of the novel, Matheson adapted it for the big screen, resulting in the 1973 movie The Legend of Hell House. It starred Roddy McDowell as Ben Fischer, Pamela Franklin as Laura Tanner, Clive Revel (who has been lost in history as the voice of the original Emperor Palpatine in the theatrical release of The Empire Strikes Back) as Lionel Barrett, and Gayle Hunnicutt as Ann Barrett.

The movie was shot in England with an all British cast. Therefore, instead of a large Maine estate, the Belasco House more closely resembled a castle. Eliminated from the original novel were the pivotal scenes in the sauna and the pool as well, since castles apparently don’t come equipped with those things. There is no dangerous tarn for the characters to wander into and there is no Bastard Bog, but the castle is Gothic enough to make for a spooky setting.

Also gone is much of the erotica. It is there, but Matheson’s narrative is much more risqué than what appears on the screen.

Of the cast, McDowell’s work was the strongest. McDowell’s Fischer was several years younger in the movie than he was in the book and his failed expedition occurred in 1954 as opposed to 1940. He is much more intense than the character portrayed in the book.

The movie was fun, old fashioned haunted house fare, as was the novel. It lacked the camp of House on Haunted Hill. It lacked the dark, brooding terror of The Shining, and the quiet darkness of The Haunting (1963 version).

However, the production values are sharp – looking very much like an early Hammer film. It is well-scripted with Matheson adapting his own work It is well directed, and despite the ‘70s penchant for overacting on occasion, is well performed. While there is better Matheson work on the big screen out there, this movie is definitely worth seeing just to enjoy some of Matheson’s work.

Hell House by Richard Matheson

Hell House
By Richard Matheson
Copyright 1971

This was a book of the month selection for my books, cigars, and scotch club that meets monthly. Apparently I nominated it in an off the cuff remark I made to the organizer of our group. I have read it before and found it to be an excellent haunted house novel. Haunted house stories are my favorite!

Richard Matheson’s tale centers on the Belasco House. At the turn of the century, a uber-narcissist constructed the mansion and made his castle of iniquity. Parties begat orgies, orgies begat drug addiction, drug addiction begat murder with the friends and associates of Emeric Balasco. His home would become known in the world of parapsychology as the “Mount Everest of haunted houses.”

A millionaire hires a physicist, Lionel Bennett and his wife Ann; a mental medium, Ben Fischer; and a spiritualist, Florence Tanner, to stay in Belasco House and prove conclusively the existence of life after death. The physicist brings with him equipment he is sure can capture and neutralize what haunts Hell House. The spritual medium is convinced that if she can reach that which haunts the home, she can set his soul free and end the haunting. The mental medium, the lone survivor of an earlier expedition that claimed three lives, hopes to survive his time there and collect his fee.

Upon their arrival, they are met with a recorded greeting on a phonograph from none other than Belasco himself. Shortly thereafter, the horror ensues. The entity that haunts Hell House attacks each, exploiting their weaknesses and self-doubts.

Bennett struggles to get his equipment assembled so that he may use science to dispel the poltergeists. Tanner reaches out to Daniel Belasco, Emeric’s son whom she believes is the tormented soul that bedevils them. It’s science versus spirituality in a race to meet Hell House’s demons.

Matheson is really the polar opposite of Stephen King in his approach to writing. King weaves complex characters, intricate backstories, and numerous subplots into his narratives that make for long novels. Matheson uses words sparingly. He drives a story through dialogue and action. His stories are sleek and taut. These divergent styles work for their respective authors.

None of the characters here have extensive backstories. We know that Bennett was stricken with polio which has left him impotent since childhood. He is quite secure in this. We find out, however, his wife, while always believing she was willing to lead a sexless marriage, sees her latent sexual desires thrust to the fore as Hell House manipulates her. The sexual tension in this novel is palpable and while not graphic, there is a fair amount of true erotica in Matheson’s prose. This erotica is the genesis of much of the interaction between the characters as each fights and pursues Belasco and his supernatural minions that allegedly haunt the house.

Hell House's backstory is really the rivalry that exists between science and spirituality. Barrett has dedicated years of research to the development of his equipment. His reputation and livelihood are riding on it. He is certain he has developed the means to prove the existence of discorporated spirits in our plane of existence.

Tanner wants to reach out to the tortured son of Emeric Belasco, believing the torment of being reared in such a decadent environment has poisoned her soul. She wants to save him from his torment and release his soul and end the haunting of Hell House. Barrett dismisses the existence of Belasco and pursues his science. Tanner ignores Barrett’s constant references to the science of haunting and pursues her spiritual quest. We find in the end that Belasco has made provisions against each approach.

King rates Matheson’s book as “. . .the scariest haunted house novel ever written.” High praise indeed, but not true in my estimation. I think King surpassed Hell House with The Shining. I would also rate Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House as superior as well.

That’s not to say that Matheson doesn’t weave a spooky tale. This month’s category for our book club was “summer page turner.” A page turner this book is indeed! The story is fast paced, compelling reading, and creative in its climax.

What fascinates me about Matheson is the breadth of the man’s writing. He is a screenwriter par excellence. His work on The Twilight Zone with Rod Serling and Charles Beaumont was groundbreaking for television. He, or others, have adapted several of his books for movies. The best known is I Am Legend which was made as The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price in 1964, The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston in 1971, and as I Am Legend starring Will Smith in 2004.. But he is also the creative force behind such movies as The Incredible Shrinking Man, Stir of Echoes, Somewhere in Time (based on his book, Bid Time Return), The Box (based on his short story, Button, Button), and What Dreams May Come starring Robin Williams. The great Stephen Spielberg cut his teeth on movie making when he brought the Matheson novella, Duel, to the big screen in 1971.

Besides the Twilight Zone, his work can be seen in the original Star Trek in the episode The Enemy Within, the short lived but underrated Circle of Fear television series of the early 1970s, and the cult favorite Kolchak: The Night Stalker which ran but one season in 1974-75 but has legions of fans today.

Matheson is one of the giants of genre fiction. Writers as prolific as Stephen King and Dean Koontz have Matheson as their primary influence. George Romero, king of the zombie flick, credits Matheson as his primary influence. Richard Matheson is a giant standing on a mountain of prolific and influential work, but often goes unrecognized.

I would invite those who enjoyed his work on the big screen and the small screen to pick up something he has written and discover what a talented genius this man really is.