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| Hell House | 
 enlarge | Author: Richard Matheson
Publisher: Tor Books
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95 (35.19 RON)
Buy New: $10.17 (23.94 RON)
You Save: $4.78 (11.25 RON) (32%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  148 reviews
Sales Rank: 20324
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st Tor Trade Paperback Ed
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.9
ISBN: 0312868855
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780312868857
ASIN: 0312868855
Publication Date: October 13, 1999
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 Welcome to Hell... House December 23, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
In 1919 Emeric Belasco built a large house and set out to create a haven for depravities of all kinds. Dozens of people stayed there and engaged in orgies, drug addiction, murder, cannibalism, and more. Things grew steadily worse until 1929 when family members of some of the denizens broke into the house only to find everyone dead. Everyone but Belasco, who was never found. Since then, anyone entering Belasco House has met with disaster. After a group of parapschologists enter the house in 1940 and nearly all are killed or driven insane, the house is boarded up closed to the world for 30 years. Now, it is 1970 and a dying millionaire has offered $100,000 each to three experts if they will spend a week in the place now known as Hell House and give him proof as to whether or not there is life after death.
Dr. Lionel Barrett is a physicist who believes paranormal activity is the result of electromagnetic radiation. He believes science can explain the happenings in the house as well as cure them. His wife Edith accompanies and assists him. Florence Tanner is a medium who believes she can communicate with the dead and empathically come to an understanding of what needs to be done to release the spirits she believes are trapped in the house. Finally, there is Ben Fischer, the lone survivor of the 1940 mission. He was a 15-year-old psychic prodigy then and barely escaped with his life. Now, at 45, he just wants to survive the week and collect his money.
In many respects, Hell House is a classic haunted house story. We take four people and drop them into an isolated old mansion with an evil history, inexplicable events, voices, objects moving, etc. The longer they stay, the more the danger becomes apparent. They struggle for survival against the house, but also start to turn on each other. At the same time, there is a very scientific feel to much of the book, mainly due to Barrett and his determination to approach the process of investigating using rigorous methodology. Even in one scene involving a seance, there are elaborate precautions described to ensure that the medium is unable to cheat in any way.
Character development is very strong throughout the story and each of the four takes a turn in the spotlight. Dr. Barrett is the most authoritative and is somewhat of a paternal figure in the group. Tanner is his polar opposite as she is all about believing in the spirit world and having faith in her abilities as a medium. Edith is emotionally and sexually repressed and lacks any identity away from her husband. Fischer starts off extremely frightened because of what happened the first time he came to the house, but grows the most during the story as he struggles to confront the evil that he's hidden from for the past 30 years.
Hell House is a must-read for any fan of haunted house stories. It is partly a horror novel and partly an exposition on parapsychology itself. There are a number of scenes that involve some fairly graphic descriptions of sexual situations, so those who are offended by such material might want to skip this book. Anyone else looking for a good tale, or an interesting character study would do well to give Hell House a try.
Fantastic, but graphic December 14, 2007
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
The book is excellent, and should not be missed. Loved every page and read it in about two days.
Be aware, however, that it describes nudity in some detail a few times, usually in the context of (unwilling) sexual tension. One scene includes some very graphic, violent rape. If you are personally uncomfortable with that type of depiction, try another of Mathison's books, like I Am Legend.
Not terrifying, but a good read November 8, 2007
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
After reading "The House on Haunted Hill" I was so dissapointed that I quickly searched for an actually scary novel. "Hell House" was highly recommended, and it is indeed a good haunted house story. No, it didn't keep me awake at night, but I did read it in a couple sittings and I felt satisfied when finished. It's more mysterious and disturbing than frightening. And much more erotic than I expected; similar to Steven King's writing I suppose. A good ghost story.
A hell of a book October 30, 2007
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
A lot of people seem to say that this book isn't what they expected. The trick is not to expect anything. I didn't really know what to expect, having only read one other Matheson novel (I Am Legend, awesome book). This book started off a little slow, yes, but many books do that so as to develop the story. It also helped build up the tension; the more that things started to happen, the better and better it got. When everything starts to really come out and come together, this book gets to be relentlessly creepy, borderline disturbing at some parts, it was awesome. Yes, there are overtones of sometimes gruesome sexuality, but it is a part of the story, and it does fit. If you want to read a book that will really hit you hard, get this book.
Excellent haunted house novel October 11, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
The first 50 pages or so are a bit dull (but then that's the case in most books) but suddenly it gets going and it is a really creepy and frightening book. I haven't read a "horror" book since 2001 when I read the dreadful "Dreamcatcher" which really put me off but this has made me want to read more again.
The characters in Hell House can be a bit irritating - the sceptical doctor who gets hit on the head by a ghost but still won't believe in them, his pathetic mouse of a wife, the "loony" medium, and the do-nothing loner who....does nothing. But all together they make for a good read.
I would have given this book 5 stars if it wasn't for the silly ending, but aside from that this book is well worth reading!
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