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Hell House

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Hell House

By: Richard Matheson
Narrated by: Ray Porter
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Summary

“Hell House is the scariest haunted house novel ever written. It looms over the rest the way the mountains loom over the foothills.” — Stephen King

From the author of I Am Legend comes Hell House, the basis for the supernatural horror film starring Pamela Franklin, Roddy McDowall, Clive Revill.

For over twenty years, Belasco House has stood empty. Regarded as the Mount Everest of haunted houses, its shadowed walls have witnessed scenes of unimaginable horror and depravity. All previous attempts to probe its mysteries have ended in murder, suicide, or insanity. But now, a new investigation has been launched, bringing four strangers to Belasco House in search of the ultimate secrets of life and death. A wealthy publisher, brooding over his impending death, has paid a physicist and two mediums to establish the facts of life after death once and for all. For one night, they will investigate the Belasco House and learn exactly why the townsfolk refer to it as the Hell House.

Hell House, which inspired the 1973 film The Legend of Hell House, is Matheson’s most frightening and shocking book and an acknowledged classic of the genre.

©1971 Richard Matheson; © renewed 1999 by Richard Matheson (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Fantasy Horror Scary Fiction Paranormal Haunted

Critic Reviews

“Hell House is the scariest haunted house novel ever written. It looms over the rest the way the mountains loom over the foothills.”

(Stephen King, #1 New York Times bestselling author)

“The 1971 novel by Richard Matheson was made into the 1973 film The Legend of Hell House. There are differences in what happens in the book, and the novel does a better job of getting into the heads of the characters and, as a result, the heads of readers.”

(USA Today)
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This story has not aged well. It was very difficult listening for so many reasons: the characterisation of women as child-like, needing to be constantly watched and assisted to understand the simplest things and the portrayal of alcohol, sex and profane language as the epitome of evil became more irritating with each chapter.
And it was boring.

The WORST.

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I am a big fan of horror novels and movies. I have read quite a few shining reviews on Hell House and had thus been very enthusiastic to finally have the chance to read it.

I was a little disappointed to be honest. This may be because I have become desensitized to "Scary" subject matter, or simply because I had held such high expectations for Hell House, as it has been featured in so many "scariest novels" lists I have come across.

I quite enjoyed the section of the book which dealt with the sordid history of Hell House, and also found the setup to be quite effective. After this point, I found that it devolved into merely a slightly more adult rendition of a Ghostbusters script.

I tend to enjoy a more subtle style of horror, and find that quite often the simple suggestion towards a horrific or chilling event has the potential to be much more effective and unnerving than a mere blow by blow description of such a scene. Hell House seems to tend towards the latter.

Some people may find Hell House to be very creepy and highly enjoyable. There are plenty of eerie, paranormal and sometimes flat out blood-curdling events to keep a reader who enjoys this style of writing absorbed and entertained. I simply enjoy a contrasting style of horror to what I found Hell House had to offer.

Meh..

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if you enjoy classic horror with a haunted sadistic twist,and a really unhappy ending,then this is for you!!

brilliant!! a truly chilling tale.

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I absolutely love Shirley Jackson‘s “The Haunting of Hill House”, so I went into this book expecting it to be totally derivative. A team of four, two men, two women, investigating a haunted house. The set up is the same but that’s where it ends. Where Shirley Jackson is ethereal and haunting in her prose, Richard Matheson writes with a bloody razor. A trip inside Hell House is violent and hard-core. I love this book. And Ray Porter does such an amazing job narrating it. Hill House and Hell House are both classic haunted house stories. Dark praises to them both. 🖤🙌🏿🖤

A HELL of a good haunted house story!

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Great voices for character definition. some really scary scenes/ chapters. Very 18 + but loved it. Had to have the lights on when listening.

Great scary book. Good voices , loved it

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