American author Richard Matheson’s Hell House (published
1971) was hailed as one of the best haunted house horror fiction, following
Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. However, unlike Shirley Jackson’s
penchant for conjuring psychological terror, Mr. Matheson’s horror elements are
more visceral, jumping headlong into savagery. Hell House’s story outline is
pretty similar to ‘Hill House’: a motley crew of paranormal investigators and scientists are hired to go into an infamous haunted house and try to comprehend its
mysteries. The haunted abode in question here is known as ‘Belasco House’,
described earlier in the novel as the ‘the Mount Everest of haunted houses’. A dying
newspaper tycoon buys the mansion and he hires three members to
find proof about the truth of afterlife. The magnate believes that the answer
could be found in the titular place, amidst its whirlwind of non-human
entities.
The evil of Hell House was created by one man named Emeric Belasco,
through his obsession for debauchery and murder. He built this as a retreat to
primarily initiate unsuspecting individuals into his perverted and depraved
thinking. Previously, two crews have investigated the house in 1931 and 1940,
but both teams were met with gory demise, except for a young, blessed medium
Benjamin Fischer. Fischer is once again chosen for the 1970 expedition into
hell house. The other two members are: Florence Tanner, an obscure Hollywood
actress now turned into mental medium, and Dr. Lionel Barett, a physicist and
parapsychologist, who firmly believes that hauntings are merely residual
electromagnetic-energy that has built up in the house over the years. He
doesn’t believe in ghosts and especially censures the notion that apparitions
contain personalities.
Accompanying middle-aged Dr. Barrett in his journey is his young wife
Edith, a character which more or less aligns with readers’ perspective, since the
paranormal researchers keep on explaining their conflicting opinions to her. The hired
investigators have a week to prove whether the spirits or entities exist. Fischer,
who bears the mental scars from his last exploration, keeps his mind close. But
Florence, the eager medium, attempts to contact with the souls lingering in the
mansion, only to invite Barrett’s ridicule. Meanwhile, Barrett waits for the
arrival of his custom-built machine, which he believes will liquidate the
electromagnetic energy that evokes varying psychic phenomena. Then as expected,
the mental onslaught and physical intimidation commence.
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| Pamela Franklin plays Florence in the 1973 movie version |
Hell House is quite risque and profane compared to Shirley
Jackson’s sexless stories. Earlier into the novel, Matheson cooks up a
situation, where one female strips and the other ogle at the ‘fullness of
breasts and warmth of loins’. Since Emeric Belasco’s sins were spelled with
details, the sexual deviance and maniacal behavior only escalates. The
repressed past of Edith and her sexual frustration over Barrett’s impotence
were clearly used to create sensationalism and shock value. The bouts of sexual
violence and exploitation would definitely put off lot of readers. While
Matheson manages to keep the readers on the edge through his depiction of
physical attacks, his characters aren’t multi-layered or strong enough to make
us really care about them. Contrary to depth of characterization in Shirley
Jackson’s Hill House (or even in Stephen King’s works – the author cites
Matheson as his greatest influence), Hell House is a grimly fascinating
arrangement of thrills and scary situations. Belasco’s huge mansion is
described as ‘Charnel house of fancies’. The same could be said about the
novel, which isn’t a great horror novel, but engaging enough to make us dream
about the atrocious spectres.
The novel was adapted into a movie titled The Legend of Hell House (1973) by John Hough and the script written by Matheson himself. It was a
decent adaptation and a must-see for those interested in haunted-house films. Novelist
and screenwriter Richard Matheson is often cited as the man who set forth a
distinct path for tales of sci-fi and horror, which was followed by generations
of writers and film-makers. I am Legend (1954), The Shrinking Man (1956), and
What Dreams May Come (1978) are my three favorite Matheson novels.
The Legend of Hell House Trailer
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