Richard Matheson Is Everywhere

[Teasing the Korean]

Last night, after dinner, Ms. TTK and I decided to watch the Roger Corman AIP House of Usher, starring Vincent Price, and featuring a lush, romantic score by Thee Great Les Baxter.  When the end credits rolled, I saw that Richard Matheson wrote the screenplay.

We then had some time to kill before bedtime, but there wasn't enough time to watch a whole movie.  So we put in the last segment of Dan Curtis' Trilogy of Terror,  in which Karen Black is terrorized by a Zuni warrior fetish doll.  Screenplay by Richard Matheson.

And tonight we watched the first episode of a short-lived anthology series from 1972/73, originally titled Ghost Story, and rebranded as Circle of Fear. The first episode starred Jason Robards as a sheriff whose TV showed scenes from his life.  It was written by - you guessed it -  Richard Matheson.

Thank you for reading this post.  Actually, I did not write it.  It was written by Richard Matheson.

[medjuck]

He was very prolific and very nice.  

[Dan Gould]

Ghost Story and the opening scene from Night of the Living Dead scared the ever-living crap out of me when I was 7 or so.

Never would have guessed a DVD (?) exists for the former, maybe I'll try to find a copy and see if it still works its magic.

Matheson, of course, was great, and you don't even mention Twilight Zone.

[Teasing the Korean]

1 hour ago, Dan Gould said:

...and you don't even mention Twilight Zone.

Twilight Zone wasn't one of the three things that we watched in a 24-hour period and which we didn't know Matheson was involved with, hence my original post.

[medjuck]

He also wrote "Duel" the tv movie  directed by Steven Spielberg. 

[Teasing the Korean]

18 minutes ago, medjuck said:

He also wrote "Duel" the tv movie  directed by Steven Spielberg. 

With an excellent score by the underrated and underrepresented Billy Goldenberg, who coincidentally scored the episode of Ghost Story that we watched last night.

[felser]

8 hours ago, Dan Gould said:

Matheson, of course, was great, and you don't even mention Twilight Zone.

Most famously, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" starring a very young William Shatner.  He also wrote the fascinating time travel novel "Bid Time Return", which was dumbed down to the merely pleasant love story movie "Somewhere in Time".

[Dan Gould]

1 hour ago, felser said:

Most famously, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" starring a very young William Shatner.  He also wrote the fascinating time travel novel "Bid Time Return", which was dumbed down to the merely pleasant love story movie "Somewhere in Time".

Personally among Shatner appearances (and also written by Matheson) I prefer the one with the fortune telling machine in the diner.

[Milestones]

I  recently saw The Last Man on Earth on one of those channels showing old movies.  It is the first film version of Matheson's famous I am Legend.  Vincent Price stars, but it's basically a "spaghetti" horror film--shot in Italy with largely an Italian cast.  Not bad, but not really a classic.

 

[Dan Gould]

On 10/13/2021 at 9:30 PM, Milestones said:

I  recently saw The Last Man on Earth on one of those channels showing old movies.  It is the first film version of Matheson's famous I am Legend.  Vincent Price stars, but it's basically a "spaghetti" horror film--shot in Italy with largely an Italian cast.  Not bad, but not really a classic.

 

Have you seen Omega Man with Chuck Heston?  Same source - like the remake with Wil Smith.

When I was a kid I thought Omega Man was way cool. Ultimately I decided no one has ever done justice to the Matheson story.

[Milestones]

Yep, I strongly recall seeing Omega Man in the theater when I was a pre-teen.  It's my favorite version of the story.

[GA Russell]

I have had a copy of I Am Legend for a few years now, but have never read it.  Maybe this thread will spur me to pick it up!

[Larry Kart]

Just read a very grim and bizarre Donald Westlake science fiction novel from the 1950s or so, "Anarchaos."