Richard Matheson may have primarily been known as the writer of I Am Legend, but he was also so much more than that single sci-fi horror masterpiece. He made other noteworthy contributions to those genres as well as the thriller and war genres. This includes both in novel and short story forms as well as on the screen. To that point, he had a successful career as a screenwriter and throughout the decades has seen his works adapted by many others (sometimes it was a merger of the two, with Matheson adapting his own stuff). What’s included here are the movies based on his sci-fi and fantasy works, regardless of who wrote them.
We left off TV movies and, of course, movies that were penned or co-penned by Matheson but were not based on a pre-existing work of his. For instance, Matheson adapted Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” as House of Usher in 1960 and his “The Pit and the Pendulum” in 1961. He continued to write adaptations of Poe and also penned the fourth segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie and cowrote Jaws 3. We also left off movies based on Matheson books that are not members of the science fiction or fantasy genres, of course, including The Young Warriors, Cold Sweat, and The Legend of Hell House.
8) The Box
On the small screen, Matheson was, quite fitting, mostly known for his work on The Twilight Zone. He wrote 16 episodes of the original run and one episode of the ’80s reboot. That ’80s era episode was titled “Button, Button,” which Matheson wrote under his favored nom de plume Logan Swanson as an adaptation of his 1970 short story.
That episode is fine, held back by that reboot series’ budgetary limitations but bolstered by the presence of Mare Winningham. The 2009 film The Box is similarly average. Cameron Diaz and James Marsden try, and Frank Langella was a great choice for the Satan-esque antagonist, but it struggles between being a crowd-pleasing Hollywood horror film and something one might expect from the mind of its director, Donnie Darko‘s Richard Kelly. Even still, it says a lot that the bottom-ranking entry on our list still isn’t an outright “bad” movie.
7) What Dreams May Come
While What Dreams May Come is easily the most visually stunning entry on this list, it also carries the least genuine emotional weight. And that’s ironic, because it’s the only one that goes out of its way throughout its runtime to really strike the viewers’ heartstrings. Furthermore, for those hoping it will be a faithful adaptation of the 1978 novel, it will disappoint.
But at the end of the day, it has merit as far as the visuals and the presence of a very committed Robin Williams are concerned. It doesn’t do as much with its potentially emotionally rich plotline as it should, but there are worse Saturday afternoon fantasy dramas out there.
Stream What Dreams May Come for free with ads on YouTube.
6) I Am Legend
I Am Legend was a lot of fun on the big screen back in the aughts, especially for those who had never familiarized themselves with Matheson’s source material. And, while it is the least effective version of the three, it still functions as it should where it should, be it in terms of conveying a desolated post-apocalyptic world or by convincing the audience of Robert Neville’s survival instincts.
Do the vampiric mutants look like pitiful CGI? They do, and that really does hurt the film, but they’re not the star of the show, that’s Will Smith. As we’ll discuss very soon, Robert Neville is supposed to be more of a scientific figure than a fist-throwing action hero figure. Smith does a fine job of walking that line even if there was another casting choice years before who better captured Neville’s scientific mind.
5) Somewhere in Time
Somewhere in Time gets away with being saccharine a little more than What Dreams May Come, but it’s still a little too sweet. However, there are definitely aspects of it well worth a recommendation.
For one, the score by 007 franchise veteran John Barry is gorgeous, as is the cinematography. Two, and perhaps most importantly, the chemistry between Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour is razor sharp. The fact they fell in love while filming is very much evident throughout. The time travel plotline may be ludicrous, but as long as you can get past the plot device the romance at the film’s core is a lovely one.
Stream Somewhere in Time for free with ads on Tubi.
4) The Omega Man
The Omega Man is fun, and moves at a nice clip, but it’s still more or less tied with the adaptation that preceded it. It’s just not as thought-provoking as The Last Man on Earth.
It’s basically a Charlton Heston action movie with Matheson’s book as a semi-loose source. The Last Man on Earth was more explicitly an attempt to capture Matheson’s tone, which can lead to it feeling slower than Omega Man, but while your heart race won’t be raised your mind will be working. It’s up to what you want from a sci-fi movie but, in this case, we’re giving the edge to the one that works the mind.
Stream The Omega Man for free on Hoopla.
3) Real Steel
Like The Box, Real Steel is based on a Matheson short story that was previously adapted into an episode of The Twilight Zone. In this case, however, the movie is much better than the Twilight Zone episode.
Most of Matheson’s stuff could be pretty intense, even end of days attempt, and perhaps that’s why, like What Dreams May Come and Somewhere in Time, Real Steel feels so refreshing on a binge watch of the author’s adaptations. That’s especially true given that it’s better than either of those two movies. It’s Rocky with robots, but much better than the predictable Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots jokes made at its expense when it first opened. It’s a heartfelt father-son tale with one of Hugh Jackman’s best lead performances to date.
Stream Real Steel for free with ads on Tubi.
2) The Last Man on Earth
The first of three adaptations of the iconic I Am Legend, the Vincent Price fronted The Last Man on Earth was the only one co-written by Matheson himself (though under the Swanson name). As is typically the case of a screenwriter distancing themself from the final product, it’s because he wasn’t enamored with said final product.
Matheson’s main issue was with the casting of Vincent Price, who the writer liked, just not in the part of Dr. Robert Morgan. But the truth is Price is solid in the role, maybe not an everyman like Will Smith or Charlton Heston but he’s a big part of why it’s so fun. In fact, one could say Price was the best of the three casting choices. Who would one take to be a scientist? Vincent Price, Will Smith, or Charlton Heston? It isn’t as purely enjoyable as the other two adaptations but The Last Man on Earth is an atmospheric bit of ’60s sci-fi horror.
Stream The Last Man on Earth for free with ads on Tubi.
1) The Incredible Shrinking Man
The Incredible Shrinking Man was the first movie co-penned by Matheson as well as the first based on one of his works (The Shrinking Man from the previous year). Yet, even as the first, it showed just how ripe his voice was for adaptation.
The film is consistently bolstered by both the inventive story and the presence of director Jack Arnold, best known for It Came from Outer Space and Creature from the Black Lagoon. It’s both a ridiculously fun cat and mouse game (with the mouse being a tiny man) and a film with thematic heft.
Stream The Incredible Shrinking Man on Darkroom.
Which is your favorite of these Matheson adaptations? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!