Richard Matheson on Screen

Though innumerable biographies have been written about novelists, playwrights, and poets, screenwriters are rarely granted this distinction, even ones as prolific and successful as Richard Matheson. He has occupied a unique position in cinema as the writer or original author of films from The Incredible Shrinking Man in 1957 through I Am Legend in 2007. This book documents his rise to prominence, parallel literary career, and role in the horror and science fiction renaissance. In chronological order, the exhaustively indexed narrative examines each film written by Matheson or based on his work, with sections devoted to episodic television (including The Twilight Zone) and unproduced projects.

Matthew R. Bradley is a widely published authority on the work of Richard Matheson. He has written articles, interviews, and reviews for Filmfax, Fangoria, Mystery Scene, VideoScope, The New York Review of Science Fiction, and Cinema Retro. The creator of the Internet film-related blog Bradley On Film, he lives in Bethel, Connecticut.

Matthew R. Bradley
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 315
Bibliographic Info: 64 photos, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2010
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4216-4
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5638-3
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii
Foreword by Richard Matheson      1
Introduction      3

THE FILMS

The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)      9
The Beat Generation (1959)      17
The Twilight Zone (1959–1964)      21
Other Episodic Television      49
House of Usher (1960)      78
Master of the World (1961)      85
Pit and the Pendulum (1961)      89
Night of the Eagle (1962)      94
Tales of Terror (1962)      101
The Raven (1963)      107
The Comedy of Terrors (1963)      112
The Last Man on Earth (1964)      117
Fanatic (1965)      123
The Young Warriors (1968)      127
The Devil Rides Out (1968)      130
“It’s Alive!” (1969)      137
De Sade (1969)      141
Cold Sweat (1970)      146
The Omega Man (1971)      149
Duel (1971)      155
The Night Stalker (1972)      162
The Night Strangler (1973)      169
The Legend of Hell House (1973)      177
Dying Room Only (1973)      185
Dracula (1974)      186
Scream of the Wolf (1974)      192
The Morning After (1974)      194
Icy Breasts (1974)      197
The Stranger Within (1974)      199
Trilogy of Terror (1975)      201
The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver (1977)      207
Dead of Night (1977)      209
The Martian Chronicles (1980)      212
Somewhere in Time (1980)      219
The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981)      228
Twilight Zone—The Movie (1983)      231
Jaws 3-D (1983)      239
Loose Cannons (1990)      242
The Dreamer of Oz (1990)      245
Twilight Zone: Rod Serling’s Lost Classics (1994)      248
Trilogy of Terror II (1996)      249
What Dreams May Come (1998)      252
Stir of Echoes (1999)      257
Blood Son (2006)      262
My Ambition (2006)      262
I Am Legend (2007)      265
Other Unproduced Projects      269

Bibliography      273
Index      281

“remarkable”—Mystery Scene; “definitive”—VideoScope; “Bradley is clearly an authority on his subject and an excellent writer. This is a welcome addition to scholarship on an important American writer”—Reference Reviews; “in-depth…comprehensive…essential”—Cinema Retro.