Oddly enough, I feel as though I
just read this book a week or two earlier. I’m joking, because my previous post
was about Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting
of Hill House. But as I started reading this book, I was surprised at how
similar the premise of Hell House was
to The Haunting of Hill House. A few
outcasts, in their own right, travel to a haunted house to study it for a week.
What could go wrong?
However, once the book got moving,
there were clear differences between the two, and the novel definitely took on
a life of its own. I would argue that Hell
House built on The Haunting of Hill
House and made up for its predecessor’s tame and more ambiguous hauntings.
Matheson lost all his inhibitions and really went for some good shock value. He
did this, in part, by exploring the sexuality of all the characters, and even
some of the ghosts.
One of
my favorite parts of the novel was when they discussed the history of Hell
House itself. Although it was a bit info-dumpy, it was a great backstory and it
set the tone for the rest of the novel. I wish he would have written the novel
in that time-frame, instead of afterwards. Either way, knowing the history of
the home gave me chills and made me believe the place was stained with evil. The
thought of importing circus freaks for sexual reasons was disturbing and it
really created some visuals (not good ones). Out of all the scenes, I found the
description of the home’s past the most compelling and interesting. To think what
depths people would sink to in order to satisfy their crazy desires.
I
recently watched the movie The Purge,
and in a way, this book seemed to be a self-contained purge for its guests. Anything goes in Hell House.
Overall,
I enjoyed the book, but for me, there was too much sex-shock (a new term I’ve
made up…at least I think it’s new…probably not). Initially the perverse sexuality
of the book set it apart for me. For example, when they first entered the chapel,
the crucifix and the paintings were hair-raising, disturbing, and it really
seemed believable. Then, as I previously noted, the history of the house was
fantastic and I was excited to go on the journey. However, after a while, some
of the sexual scenes started to become laughable and predictable.
At one
point in the story, a bed sheet gets pulled to the floor (by an unseen force)
and a figure arises from beneath it. The woman could see the ghost’s chest
moving, the shape of his body, and then…his boner. I laughed out loud. Casper the Horny Ghost. Additionally, the
sexual tension between the two female characters seemed predictable, again,
seemingly ripped from the bodice of The
Haunting of Hill House’s two female characters. I learned from a respected
friend and colleague (who pointed it out in his blog), that some horror writers
experimented with gay and lesbian subplots, which pushed the envelope back in
the day.
I can’t
rave about the book, but I did enjoy reading it. It kept me interested and
again, it was another page turner.
I've got to agree with everything you mentioned in your post. I really like how Matheson described his scenes. It allowed me to step into the story and visualize what was happening. In fact, I've wanted to write a horror short story, so I took a lot of notes when I found scenes he described well.
ReplyDeleteThe sex was interesting. Being Catholic, I have to admit, I cringed at a lot of the blasphemous stuff. I often wonder if its immoral for me to write and read this stuff. My research tells me that my faith permits it, so long as I am not encouraging the behavior, and its written purely for entertainment.
This brings be to the lesbian scenes. I'm 46, and while I understand homosexuality has been around since the beginning of time, the LBGT movement only seems to have progressed into the open in the past decade. At least thats how I see it. I wonder if the readers 45 years ago felt he crossed the line. If it were written today, it would be socially acceptable. Before someone blasts me for what I wrote, I'm not judging anyone's sexual orientation, it's just an observation.
Overall, I loved the book! Can't wait to get started on Ghost Story. Not thrilled about the 500 pages :(
Thanks Mario, I appreciate your post.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's probably not the greatest thing in the world when a book's best part is a historical info dump, but I'd agree that the history of Hell House was probably its strong suit. For me, this was one of those books that managed to entertain me in spite of itself. I could go on and on about complaints, and it clearly was inferior to THoHH in almost every technical respect, but I somehow remained engaged anyway, and I think the biggest reason was the question of the history of the house itself.
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