Every genre has its legends and in the world of Sci-Fi literature one of those legends is Richard Matheson. In his fifty-nine years of writing his work has been turned into many a fine Science Fiction movie. His stories are responsible for films such as; ‘The Incredible Shrinking Man’, ‘Duel’, ‘I am Legend’, ‘Stir of Echoes’, ‘The Haunting of Hell House’ and ‘Somewhere in Time’. The Will Smith version of ‘I am Legend’ is actually the third adaption of his novel. It had previously been released as ‘The Last Man on Earth’ with Vincent Price (1964) and ‘The Omega Man’ starring Charlton Heston (1971). More than one critic also noticed the uncanny similarities of ‘Night of the Living Dead’ (1968)…
Matheson wrote quite a few episodes for the original TV series of ‘The Twilight Zone’ including the famous story called; ‘Nightmare at 20,000 Feet’ with a young William Shatner. Over the years he has influenced many writers and film makers including Stephen King, M.Night Shyamalan and Chris Carter. The sheer volume of his work is astronomical as well as being extremely varied.
Few Science Fiction writers can create stories about such a variety of different subjects. One minute he can be writing about an interstellar journey and the next he can be scaring you stupid with the tale of a psychotic juggernaut driver. Because Richard Matheson’s subject matter can vary so much, he has had an impact on writers from several different genres. Many authors will be familiar with his stories even if they do not write Science Fiction themselves.
Matheson really is one of the ’daddies’ of modern Sci-Fi. He has been mentioned in all kinds of places by people who have a love for his work. In the ‘Silent Hill’ game on the Playstation there is a Matheson Street and in the ‘X Files’ series a Senator Richard Matheson appears in several episodes.
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