jovanka

Just thought I'd pay homage to a man I owe a great debt of gratitude to. I would not be who I am today without his influence. My all-time favourite author and genre legend: Richard Matheson.

We put him on the cover of our Halloween issue last year because I felt it was time to remind the horror world that it would be nothing without him. Like many of us, I Am Legend was one of my first forays into horror, next to Lovecraft, whom I discovered at the age of twelve.

Some of you may have never heard of him, but you have surely been exposed to his work, even if you don't know it. But I am going to show you. Most zombie movies, including the new Dawn of the Dead, are a paltry rip-off of I Am Legend. Want more proof this guy deserves the status I and other horror heavyweights ascribe to him? Here:

1953 Little Girl Lost (short story) adapted for The Twilight Zone TV series
1954 I Am Legend (novel) basis for The Last Man On Earth and The Omega Man films (shitty adaps though)
1954 Being (short story) basis for Its Alive! film
1955 The Funeral (short story) adapted for Night Gallery TV series
1956 The Shrinking Man (novel) basis for The Incredible Shrinking Man film
1958 A Stir of Echoes (novel) basis for Stir of Echoes film
1959 Big Surprise (short story) adapted for Night Gallery TV series
1960 The Fall of the House of Usher (screenplay)
1960 Thriller (TV series)
1961 Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (short story) adapted for The Twilight Zone TV series - he wrote 16 episodes for TZ
1961 The Invaders (short story) adapted for The Twilight Zone TV series
1961 The Pit and the Pendulum (screenplay)
1962 Edgar Allan Poes Tales of Terror (screenplay)
1962 Burn, Witch, Burn! (screenplay)
1963 The Raven (screenplay)
1964 The Comedy of Terrors (screenplay)
1965 Fanatic a.k.a. Die! Die! My Darling! (screenplay)
1968 The Devil Rides Out (screenplay)
1969 De Sade (screenplay)
1970 The Night Gallery (TV series, episodes Big Surprise and Funeral)
1971 Duel (short story) basis for Duel TV movie
1971 Hell House (novel) basis for The Legend of Hell House film
1971 The Night Stalker (teleplay)
1973 The Night Strangler (teleplay)
1973 Dracula (teleplay)
1974 Scream of the Wolf (Curtis-Matheson)
1975 Trilogy of Terror (teleplay)
1977 Dead of Night (screenplay)
1980 The Martian Chronicles (teleplay)
1985 Button, Button (teleplay) The Twilight Zone (TV series)
2002 Hunted Past Reason (novel)

and this is just his horror stuff!

MATHESON REPRESENT YO! Do yourself a favour and read I Am Legend, The Legend of Hell House and Duel at the very least. You won't be disappointed. And if you are, don't ever talk to me again.