Book Review: Hell House by Richard Matheson

Hell House is basically The Haunting of Hill House on steroids. Both books centre around four characters who stay in a haunted house to try to investigate what is happening. We have Doctor Barrett, who’s intention is to prove his theory - he also brings his wife along cos she just can’t bear to be left alone... And then we have two mediums - one of which is Fischer, the only survivor of a failed investigation attempt 30 years earlier.
"As he crossed the entry hall, he had the feeling that the house was swallowing him alive."
Hell House is certainly disturbing. The kind of book where you send snippets to people accompanied by comments like “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK” I’m glad I was buddy reading this with Gemma @cemetery.of.forgotten.books as I needed someone to share in my disbelief! I can just imagine how controversial this book would have been back in the 70s, it’s pretty wild! The history of the Belasco house is vile and depraved.

One or two parts creeped me out - figures entering the room and breathing at the bottom of the bed... *shudders* There’s also a lot of sexual violence and for that reason I would not necessarily recommend this one to a newbie horror fan. That’s also a trigger warning! It gets pretty graphic and detailed at times!

Also, a note to authors - please don’t give your main characters names that start with the same letter. I recently reread ‘Salem’s Lot which had a Mike, Mark and Matt... This one wasn’t as bad with Fischer and Florence... but I still found myself having to stop and think sometimes? I’m not sure if this is just an issue I have - perhaps I’m easily confused!

Overall, an entertaining yet incredibly dark haunted house story. Proceed with caution! 4 stars.

Johann
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Comments

  1. Unknown6 February 2020 at 05:05

    Thanks Johann,I really impress to see your blog and i appreciate to you for showing such a great efforts on this blog.Bio Science

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