Hells to the no House
I will get bashed for saying this, but I didn’t care for Hell House. There are varieties of reasons why.
One reason is that I dislike haunted house stories. They have very little to offer me in way of enjoyment. I have a hard time suspending disbelief when it comes to these kinds of stories. I just always think, “Get out.” This is the same with Hell House. The motivation for these characters to stay in this house doesn’t seem realistic. Even if I believed that everything happening was psychosomatic, the house seemed to bring it on. I’m not staying there. Get out of my way I’m gone. I just could maintain sympathy for characters who stay in a situation like that. Why should I? They did it to themselves.
Second reason is that the story was written strangely. The narration of the story kept me confused the whole time. I couldn’t keep up with who was thinking what or even which character was which. I think that the narrator was omniscient, but the problem was the constant change in and out of heads left my head spinning.
Third reason is that the characters weren’t distinct enough for me. I know a character wanted to use his psychological thingamajig to prove there are no ghosts. I know there were two psychics, and a wife. The problem was I kept forgetting who was who. This may be because of the narrator bouncing to and fro in head, but I think that the characters weren’t distinct enough for me.
Fourth reason is that I could never picture Hell House. I never got a distinct feel or mental picture of this house. I forgot it had no windows. I forgot the general layout if any was mentioned. Too much was lost in my inability to create the house.
Fifth reason is that the whole premise of the story was so absurd to me. In reality all haunted house story’s are silly to me. Most all deal with either parapsychologists (Don’t get me started about parapsychologists that’s several blogs in and of itself) going in to disprove ghosts or prove them, or people curious about the haunted house. Then there is the we wandered into this creepy haunted house.
The writing of this story bothered me. Matheson is such a good writer of horror that I was disappointed about this story. I Am Legend is a wonderful take on vampires. His stories like “Witch War” or “The Funeral” are wonderfully written. Why was Hell House so bad? I mentioned it above in my above issues. So let the puppy whipping begin.
One reason is that I dislike haunted house stories. They have very little to offer me in way of enjoyment. I have a hard time suspending disbelief when it comes to these kinds of stories. I just always think, “Get out.” This is the same with Hell House. The motivation for these characters to stay in this house doesn’t seem realistic. Even if I believed that everything happening was psychosomatic, the house seemed to bring it on. I’m not staying there. Get out of my way I’m gone. I just could maintain sympathy for characters who stay in a situation like that. Why should I? They did it to themselves.
Second reason is that the story was written strangely. The narration of the story kept me confused the whole time. I couldn’t keep up with who was thinking what or even which character was which. I think that the narrator was omniscient, but the problem was the constant change in and out of heads left my head spinning.
Third reason is that the characters weren’t distinct enough for me. I know a character wanted to use his psychological thingamajig to prove there are no ghosts. I know there were two psychics, and a wife. The problem was I kept forgetting who was who. This may be because of the narrator bouncing to and fro in head, but I think that the characters weren’t distinct enough for me.
Fourth reason is that I could never picture Hell House. I never got a distinct feel or mental picture of this house. I forgot it had no windows. I forgot the general layout if any was mentioned. Too much was lost in my inability to create the house.
Fifth reason is that the whole premise of the story was so absurd to me. In reality all haunted house story’s are silly to me. Most all deal with either parapsychologists (Don’t get me started about parapsychologists that’s several blogs in and of itself) going in to disprove ghosts or prove them, or people curious about the haunted house. Then there is the we wandered into this creepy haunted house.
The writing of this story bothered me. Matheson is such a good writer of horror that I was disappointed about this story. I Am Legend is a wonderful take on vampires. His stories like “Witch War” or “The Funeral” are wonderfully written. Why was Hell House so bad? I mentioned it above in my above issues. So let the puppy whipping begin.
Comments
You'll get no such whipping from me. I disliked this book too for the all the reasons you cited. I hated most of the characters or just plain didn't understand why they existed in the first place. I found the plot implausible, too.
Posted by: Carla E. Anderton | February 19, 2010 11:29 AM