Reviews tagging 'Violence'

La casa infernal by Richard Matheson

25 reviews

amandapenn724's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, Violence, Sexual content, Rape, Vomit, and Suicidal thoughts

mollymisek's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad 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? No

3.5

Although there were some genuinely frightening parts of this book and a few fun plot twists, Hell House was a strange blend of horny scenes and cheesy dialogue. Some of it can be chalked up to the 70s commercial horror writing style, but this really wasn’t for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Death, Sexual violence, Body horror, Blood, Murder, Sexual content, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death and Misogyny

Minor: Alcohol and Cannibalism

ohdamnjan's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Suicide, Sexual harassment, and Gore

Moderate: Death, Murder, Lesbophobia, Body horror, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Torture

Minor: Cannibalism

katfrenn_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Really intense book but one of the best haunted house books I've read. Check your content warnings before heading into it though, pretty graphic and upsetting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.25

I did enjoy this more than I thought I was going to. I got this as a blind date with a book, so I didn’t know what is was(I wasn’t happy with it to be honest). It’s like the hunting of hill house, but I enjoyed this more because there was a lot of action. I was never scared, but I was disgusted. I don’t know why most horror has to have such gross sexual content in it. Honestly I would probably skip this, but it wasn’t horrible. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Grief, Body horror, Cannibalism, Gore, Animal death, Self harm, Sexual violence, Death, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Blood, Cursing, Drug abuse, Incest, Sexual assault, Lesbophobia, Murder, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence

jodielk93's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Confinement, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Rape

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Violence, and Torture

Minor: Ableism

louiepotterbook's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

0.5

This book was absolutely disgusting and feels like a gross guys wet dream

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Self harm, Suicide, Cannibalism, Cursing, Death, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Alcohol, Body horror, Lesbophobia, Rape, Sexism, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Vomit, and Torture

the_books_music_life's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.25

If you are thinking about reading this you really need to look into the content warnings and read some reviews. I would honestly say don't bother.

I picked this up on a whim because the synopsis sounded intriguing and like something I might enjoy.

I didn't. I really didn't.

I have a lot of issues with this book and not a lot of good things to say. I'm not even really sure why I didn't DNF it to be completely honest.

This book was a ride to say the least and not a good smooth ride, more like a bumpy, traffic filled ride from hell. 

Hell House is very scientific, almost to the point of annoyance and over explaining. The book is told through four different points of view but it never differentiated between whose point of view you were reading, and so when it would switch suddenly you were left confused. All of the characters are unreliable and you never really know what's going on.

There were certain scene I read and was just dumbfounded by. This book would go from being very scientific and to raunchy in the worst way possible.

The pacing was incredibly slow and fast at the same time. It felt like it dragged on and could honestly have been cut in half in my opinion. Then, other times if would feel like it everything was happening too fast and you were left 5 chapters behind.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Gore, Self harm, Misogyny, Suicide, Death, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Cursing, Animal death, Violence, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Cannibalism

ruthypoo2's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This story is a classic haunted house investigation story, but with some of the most malignant entities imaginable. The set up is engaging with a wealthy old man, Rolf Rudolph Deutsch, assembling from his death bed a small team to investigate paranormal activity at The Belasco House, also known as Hell House due to its reported haunting events. The team consists of highly regarded parapsychologist, Dr. Lionel Barrett, his wife, Edith, spiritualist medium Florence Tanner, and sensitive medium Franklin Fischer, who himself has a history of surviving time spent at the Belasco House decades earlier when he was a young teen. Deutsch pays the team to either prove or disapprove the existence of spirits at the house within the timeframe of a week, taking place immediately prior to the Christmas holiday in 1970.

The action is constant and unrelenting as the group moves into the house, begins exploring the property, discussing the history of the house and outcomes of past investigations, attempting to communicate with spirits, and rationalizing the odd occurrences that start the moment they all enter the house. It's really the perfect collection of personalities for haunted house exploration: Dr. Barrett the skeptic and his wife Edith along for the ride; fully invested and spiritually open Florence; and Franklin, who warns and knows what to expect better than any of them because of his past experience being physically and mentally assaulted by the environment of Belasco House.

Although the story feels like it drags a little at times, there's actually something always happening. So many times, I was just telepathically yelling at the characters to, "GET OUT NOW!" But as you find with classic haunted house tropes, there will always be some reason why the characters can't or won't leave and rational decision-making capabilities are nowhere to be found. It was especially a treat and made that much more harrowing because this story is set in the seventies, well before cell phones and thus making it feel like the team is hopelessly alone in their quest to discover a genuine haunting and survive the quest. It's a good story and may be kind of hard to read alone.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual content, and Violence

_terah_hansen_'s review against another edition

dark 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

2.5

I have read many books with disturbing themes and plenty of gore and even those things can't compare to how disgusted I felt when reading the last 100 pages of this book. And not the good kind of disgust that makes a horror book great. I have never read a book that made me gag so much. Just ew.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Suicide, Cannibalism, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Torture