Links to the works of Richard Matheson in television shows, short stories, books and movies.

Eighty-eight years ago yesterday, on February 20th, 1926, Richard Matheson was born. In 1950, his story, Born of Man and Woman, was published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. It garnered a great deal of attention and his literary career was launched. He died on June 23rd, 2013. Between those dates, he changed everything in the field of horror. (He also wrote sci-fi, fantasy, westerns and mysteries, but I think his greatest contribution was to my own beloved genre.) To read a simple but complete biography of his life, visit Bio.

If you are a casual horror / sci-fi fan, you may not realize just how influential this writer was in his lifetime. Stephen King is frequently quoted as saying “[Richard Matheson is the] author who influenced me most as a writer.” Just days after Matheson’s death, King posted a tribute, at StephenKing.com, which you can read HERE.

Right now, I want to celebrate this man’s life by getting some of his brilliance into your head. I’ve collected the most easily accessible works in the lists below. Please note that I’ve NOT seen or read everything here. Those pieces that I especially recommend are highlighted in green text. (Please also know that seeing any adaptation of I Am Legend is going to be frustrating. None of them do it justice. In the video interview at the bottom of this post, Matheson says so himself.)

*****

TELEVISION SERIES

It’s possible at hulu.com to stream all episodes of the original Twilight Zone series on your computer for free. This is what Matheson contributed to that series:

THE TWILIGHT ZONE:

S1 E11 And When the Sky Opened
S1 E14 Third From the Sun
S1 E18 The Last Flight
S1 E23 A World of Difference
S1 E36 A World of His Own

S2 E7 Nick of Time
S2 E15 The Invaders
(This is, perhaps, the most memorable episode from my childhood, when I’d sneak to turn the TV on the middle of the night, when everyone else was asleep.)

S3 E13 Once Upon a Time
S3 E26 Little Girl Lost
S3 E34 Young Man’s Fancy

S4 E5 Mute
S4 E6 Death Ship

S5 E2 Steel
S5 E3 Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
S5 E19 Night Call
S5 E21 Spur of the Moment

NIGHT GALLERY (1971):

S2 E8 (segment The Big Surprise)
S2 E22 (segment The Funeral)

STAR TREK:
S1 E5 The Enemy Within (You must be a subscriber to watch Star Trek on hulu.)

*****

SHORT STORIES

Like so many authors of his generation, Matheson wrote for periodicals, and in his time there were many wonderful, inexpensive pulp-style magazines to host his creativity. At unz.org, you will find “A Free Website for Periodicals, Books, and Videos” where you can view PDFs of certain stories, just as they appeared when they were published.

FROM STARTLING STORIES:
Miss Stardust (March, 1955)
Witch War (July, 1951)

FROM THRILLING WONDER STORIES:
Return (October, 1951)
The Foodlegger (April, 1952)

*****

BOOKS

Of course, Matheson was an author of books too … many of them horror. I believe you will (always and forever) find him on the shelves of any decent bookstore, but a lot of us have switched to e-books. Here’s what I found at Amazon:

KINDLE EDITIONS
The Memoirs of Wild Bill Hickok $6.64
The Gun Fight $5.98
Legends of the Gun Years $8.89
Other Kingdoms $7.59
The Path: A New Look At Reality $7.59
Shadow on the Sun $6.83
Duel: Terror Stories by Richard Matheson $8.89
The Beardless Warriors: A Novel of World War II $7.59
Hunted Past Reason $8.89
Steel: And Other Stories $6.95
A Stir of Echoes $8.89
What Dreams May Come: A Novel $8.89
Hell House $8.89
The Box: Uncanny Stories $6.83
Nightmare At 20,000 Feet: Horror Stories By Richard Matheson $8.89
Somewhere In Time $5.98
I Am Legend (RosettaBooks into Film) $6.09

… but as for that last one, if you are a horror fan, you should own the most beautiful copy of the bound book you can afford. It IS canon.

*****

MOVIES

When it comes to the movie adaptations of Matheson’s work, I’ve gathered a few resources for you. I’ve provided the IMDb listing for all of them, and the Netflix listing where I could. Any movie that is available on streaming is generally available on disc too. If I did not provide a Netflix link, that means it’s not available NOW, but many are expected to become available eventually.

The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) Netflix Disc IMDb

The Pit and The Pendulum (1961) Netflix Disc IMDb

Burn, Witch, Burn (1962) IMDb

The Last Man on Earth (1964) IMDb

Die! Die! My Darling! (1965) IMDb

The Devil Rides Out (1968) IMDb

De Sade (1969) Netflix Streaming IMDb

Cold Sweat (1970) IMDb

The Omega Man (1971) Netflix Disc IMDb

Duel (1971) Netflix Disc IMDb

The Night Stalker aka The Kolchak Papers (1972) IMDb

The Night Strangler (1973) IMDb

Kolchak: The Night Stalker Series: Series on Netflix Streaming

The Legend of Hell House (1973) Netflix Disc IMDb

Dying Room Only (1973) IMDb

Scream of the Wolf (1974) IMDb

Trilogy of Terror (segment, Amelia – the Zuni fetish doll piece, of course, 1975) Netflix Disc IMDb

Dead of Night (1977) Netflix Disc IMDb

The Martian Chronicles (series – 3 episodes 1980) Netflix Disc IMDb

Somewhere in Time (1980) Netflix Streaming IMDb

The Incredible Shrinking Woman (comedy, 1981) IMDb

Twilight Zone: The Movie (segment, Nightmare at 20,00o Feet, 1983) Netflix Disc IMDb

Loose Cannons (comedy, 1990) Netflix Disc IMDb

What Dreams May Come (based on the novel, 1998) Netflix Disc IMDb

Stir of Echos (based on the novel, 1999) Netflix Disc IMDb

I Am Legend (based on the novel, 2007) Netflix Disc IMDb

The Box (based on the short story, Button, Button, 2009) Netflix Disc IMDb

Real Steel (based on the short story, Steel, 2011) Netflix Disc IMDb