Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Hell House by Richard Matheson

13 reviews

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

malthe's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

It’s good. Only gripes I would say is that Barret is pretentious af to me, and the book was very slow (I think that’s how haunted house books are written, but idk). I liked the book! And they did my girl Florence so dirty in this 😭

Merry Christmas

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Blood, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Alcohol and Slavery

aparker89's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Alcohol, Animal death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Confinement, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Torture, Suicide, Classism, Death, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, and Rape

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

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

hannanni41's review

dark mysterious fast-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

2.0

The best parts of this book are ripped from Shirley Jackson's Haunting of Hill House, the worst parts are nasty and misogynistic

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Rape, Self harm, Death, Murder, Animal death, and Alcohol

Moderate: Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Torture, Child death, and Alcoholism

Minor: Infidelity

stduke's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence and Suicide

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Death

Minor: Animal death, Alcohol, Lesbophobia, and Violence