Hi, have you got any tips for a horror that reads and comes across almost as a horror/survival pc game? (Or else is equally suggestive?) I for my part am planning to read I Am Legend by Matheson, and also maybe Hellhouse by Matheson. The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley is also on my shelf. I've read some classics (Dracula, some Poe and Lovecraft), but they don't seem to be so heart-racing but rather atmospheric (though Shadow Over Innsmouth was excellent, recommended).
Hell House is a good choice. It has a sense of exploration about it and feels a lot like Resident Evil. But the ending is rather . . . ugh. I don't know. NOT profound? (Sorry, RM.) The blind acceptance of psychic phenomena was a bit off-putting too. Shirley Jackson made the same mistake in the Haunting of Hill House, IMO. I really don't understand it. It's like using the existence of aliens to prove Bigfoot exists. Just weird. Maybe it's a 70's thing. That would be a good book too for atmosphere. (Perfect opening paragraph. It's so good it should be committed to memory.) As long as you're reading Matheson (RIP), read that short story of his with the zulu killer doll. That one's badass and has the atmosphere you want, at least where the confrontation is concerned. I think it's called "Prey." Creatures hiding in the darkness, ready to strike. Matheson was so visceral, with such an edge. He wrote a short story "Duel" that Speilberg made into that movie back in the day. You can feel the tension to that one. (I think that's his greatest skill, ratcheting up tension.) It's bloodless but really intense. Don't read that story of his about the zombies. Good lord, it's awful. It's about these rockabilly guys in the zombie quasi-apocalypse. So stupid . . . He could clear the bases, but he definitely didn't bat a thousand.
