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zeynothekivircik's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
It's not horror, there is nothing scary in it. The bigotry is scarier than the actual horror elements. Quite unreadable by 2022 standards but might have been decent back when it was first released. (Also what is the obsession with nipples???) The ending is very, and I mean very unsatisfactory. Once again adding that this book is more focused on fetishising and stereotyping its characters than the horror itself. Avoid this if SA topics, homophobia, misogyny and excessive mention of genitalia is triggering to you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Sexism, Violence, Torture, Transphobia, Outing, Lesbophobia, Gore, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Physical abuse, Body horror, Blood, Biphobia, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Death, and Addiction
laurenkristine's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
I was entertained, but didn’t really enjoy the way Mathewson portrayed the female characters. It felt misogynistic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, and Violence
Moderate: Homophobia, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Death
Minor: Animal death and Incest
megpadams's review against another edition
1.75
It had some okay moments but on the whole it was just bad. Torture porn wrapped up in a haunted house story. I heard there was a good twist but if there was I didn’t find it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexism, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Torture, Suicide, Self harm, Physical abuse, Outing, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, and Gore
okokapi's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence
missbreathing's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This ended up being a 4/5⭐️ read for me. Some thoughts:
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
“Hell House” is dark, creepy, and atmospheric. It sucks the reader into the story with ease. Full of classic horror imagery and with a cinematic style of prose, reading it feels like watching a horror movie.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The plot is fairly straightforward. The amount of paranormal occurrences make the story engaging, but they also bog down the plot and make the story move slowly. The ending was fitting, but not exactly groundbreaking. Still, this is was probably the scariest and most disturbing horror book I’ve ever read. I’d recommend it for anyone looking to be truly spooked.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
While I can’t fault a horror novel for being too horrific, I do have to say this is the most twisted thing I’ve ever read. Although there are more typical images and scenes (angry spirits throwing furniture around, for instance), one gets the sense that nothing is off-limits here. The backstory of Hell House and its owner are truly dark. The entire story is suffused with a mockery of Christianity I found effectively unnerving. This is not a book for newbie horror readers. It’s truly chilling.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
“Hell House” is dark, creepy, and atmospheric. It sucks the reader into the story with ease. Full of classic horror imagery and with a cinematic style of prose, reading it feels like watching a horror movie.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The plot is fairly straightforward. The amount of paranormal occurrences make the story engaging, but they also bog down the plot and make the story move slowly. The ending was fitting, but not exactly groundbreaking. Still, this is was probably the scariest and most disturbing horror book I’ve ever read. I’d recommend it for anyone looking to be truly spooked.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
While I can’t fault a horror novel for being too horrific, I do have to say this is the most twisted thing I’ve ever read. Although there are more typical images and scenes (angry spirits throwing furniture around, for instance), one gets the sense that nothing is off-limits here. The backstory of Hell House and its owner are truly dark. The entire story is suffused with a mockery of Christianity I found effectively unnerving. This is not a book for newbie horror readers. It’s truly chilling.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Animal death, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Sexual violence, Gore, and Vomit
sargasso_c's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.0
An offensive and underwhelming read. As someone who is not a fan of Stephen King, it is fitting that his positive review rests on this book's cover. Even considering its 1971 publication, this book's reduction of its characters to unsympathetic stereotypes and general lack of plot leave the reader wishing they'd picked up something else. One star because it was a quick read that did compel me to complete the novel, though the ending was even less of an event than expected.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Lesbophobia, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Violence
Moderate: Homophobia, Rape, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Incest and Vomit
bgmylc's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Murder, Violence, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Rape, Physical abuse, Incest, and Death
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Child death
house_of_hannah's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This essentially boils down to being about a horny and deranged ghost. Due to this expect a lot of nudity, and sexual assault. I generally adore haunted house stories, but this just leaned too much into the sexual side of horror for my tastes.
The pacing feels ok for a majority of the graphic novel, but then the last 30 pages just zip through the climax. I didn't even exactly understand what happened at the end to solve the problem.
I do still want to give the novel a try, as I'd love to compare the two, but the graphic novel does not live up to what I've heard about the novel.
The pacing feels ok for a majority of the graphic novel, but then the last 30 pages just zip through the climax. I didn't even exactly understand what happened at the end to solve the problem.
I do still want to give the novel a try, as I'd love to compare the two, but the graphic novel does not live up to what I've heard about the novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Rape, Murder, Mental illness, and Death
Moderate: Animal death and Infidelity
Minor: Body shaming, Pregnancy, and Drug abuse
ulysses_'s review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
My spoiler-free review:
Hellhouse has its creepy moments, but nothing more than that. The book is dark and fast-paced. Some of the characters have interesting dynamics with each other and development but not enough to look over some of the bigger sexual assault issues of the story.
I picked up this book to have a taste for the horror literature genre, and I saw that Stephen King had rated this book highly. A very relevant note to put here is that this is a horror novel book published in the 1970s. This was a time when the horror genre of both movies and literature was on the rise. While the genre has become a little more self-aware when it comes to female representation, it was very hard to overlook how the 2 female characters were represented and how they are treated throughout the book.
The male lead, Dr. Barrett, and Florence (female lead) are tied for the most POV time, and the juxtaposition of their perspectives when shit hits the fan is interesting and a good source of tension.
Edith is an interesting character, but I just don't think she is given enough development to really grow.
When the horror happens, what the female characters go through as compared to the men is just gratuitous, and there are definitely "menwritingwomen" moments that are hard to overlook.
Take notice of the content warnings before reading this book.
Extended review (With spoilers)
We will start with the good things first, but there are a lot of bad things. The science method Barrett sports with the spiritual method of Florence creates an interesting tension that is further hammered in by the fast pace of the story. There usually is a skeptic in the horror story, buts it interesting that the Barrettis out to prove the legitimacy of the paranormal as just a further extension of biology instead of believing that there is a real "afterlife."
Florence's rise and fall concerning her belief in Daniel Belasco interesting albeit maybe a little too naive, but the doubts especially when she realizes she might have made him all up make you want to keep turning pages. When she realized that one of her dreams of Daniel only consists of recited lines from her time as an actress, I was especially myself in doubt whether or not she manifested Daniel through her spiritual powers.
Unfortunately, character-wise, Edith and Fischer fall flat when compared to Florence and Barrett. Fischer, I suppose, has some excuse to not be too strong of a force because of his trauma at the house from his time before, but Edith seems to only exist to cause trouble. Her revelation near the end of the story feels completely alien since she had been otherwise simply a mechanism to cause conflict. There is something to be said that MAYBE she becomes relevant when her husband dies because her own force who don't need no man. This would be supported by Barretts own comment that being with him "repress's" her because of his own disabilities (this is his own can of worms but I can only write so much). But unfortunately, I don't think this is the case. Edith says that she struggled to be away from her husband and contemplated ending it all when he was gone for three weeks. Going from completely dependent to final girl feels forced to say the least. There could be something here, but really there's just not enough without potentially reading too much into things. Maybe Edith is supposed to be coming to terms with her potential attraction to women, but it's not a good look when it only gets mentioned when she gets possessed or when Belasco, the big ghost baddie, screams it at her. If it is supposed to be a coming out-of-the-closet reveal combined with the loss of her husband which frees her in a sense, I don't think it's handled well. The next section is my biggest issue.
<Spoiler> There's a lot of sexual violence aimed towards the women of the story. Considering that the haunting takes place in what effectively is a cannibalistic drug-fueled sex house, I was expecting some level of it but I feel Hellhouse takes it too far. Florence gets raped by a corpse, Edith is nearly raped by a ghost version of a dad. There is the frequent derogatory language associated with lesbianism. It's all terrible and takes away from the good points of the story. The worse the hauntings become, the worse the sex acts get. Edith gets possessed and tries to have sex with Fischer. Florence, who bears the brunt of it, becomes a "physical medium" for Belasco (the ghost) to channel himself through. The analogy is disturbing, to say the least. You might wonder, "Hey, what else did you expect reading a horror book that takes place in a cannibalistic drug-fueled sex house?" And my response would be, "Did Florence really have to be raped by a corpse and sodomized to make the haunting feel scarier? or "Did we really have to read that a ghost of Edith's father is chasing her while holding his large member?" For me at least, I think it went so over the line that it took away from the good parts of the story.
Overall. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
Hellhouse has its creepy moments, but nothing more than that. The book is dark and fast-paced. Some of the characters have interesting dynamics with each other and development but not enough to look over some of the bigger sexual assault issues of the story.
I picked up this book to have a taste for the horror literature genre, and I saw that Stephen King had rated this book highly. A very relevant note to put here is that this is a horror novel book published in the 1970s. This was a time when the horror genre of both movies and literature was on the rise. While the genre has become a little more self-aware when it comes to female representation, it was very hard to overlook how the 2 female characters were represented and how they are treated throughout the book.
The male lead, Dr. Barrett, and Florence (female lead) are tied for the most POV time, and the juxtaposition of their perspectives when shit hits the fan is interesting and a good source of tension.
Edith is an interesting character, but I just don't think she is given enough development to really grow.
When the horror happens, what the female characters go through as compared to the men is just gratuitous, and there are definitely "menwritingwomen" moments that are hard to overlook.
Take notice of the content warnings before reading this book.
Extended review (With spoilers)
<Spoiler> There's a lot of sexual violence aimed towards the women of the story. Considering that the haunting takes place in what effectively is a cannibalistic drug-fueled sex house, I was expecting some level of it but I feel Hellhouse takes it too far. Florence gets raped by a corpse, Edith is nearly raped by a ghost version of a dad. There is the frequent derogatory language associated with lesbianism. It's all terrible and takes away from the good points of the story. The worse the hauntings become, the worse the sex acts get. Edith gets possessed and tries to have sex with Fischer. Florence, who bears the brunt of it, becomes a "physical medium" for Belasco (the ghost) to channel himself through. The analogy is disturbing, to say the least. You might wonder, "Hey, what else did you expect reading a horror book that takes place in a cannibalistic drug-fueled sex house?" And my response would be, "Did Florence really have to be raped by a corpse and sodomized to make the haunting feel scarier? or "Did we really have to read that a ghost of Edith's father is chasing her while holding his large member?" For me at least, I think it went so over the line that it took away from the good parts of the story.
Overall. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Rape
Minor: Abortion, Torture, and Cannibalism
cubistvowels's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexism, Rape, Murder, Misogyny, Homophobia, Gore, Death, Confinement, Body horror, and Blood