Unrealized Dreams [Hardcover]

Richard Matheson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 2005

UNREALIZED DREAMS is three screenplays by Richard Matheson which he is quite fond of but were not produced for a variety of reasons.

The first script is the sequel to The Incredible Shrinking Man. The second script (a first draft with handwritten changes on each page), Appointment in Zahrain, was expressly written for Clark Gable. The actor became ill on the set of the film he was working on prior to Zahrain and soon passed away. The third script has all of the actors from Matheson's acclaimed Comedy of Terrors returning to play other parts in another horror/comedy. As Matheson mentions in his introduction to UNREALIZED DREAMS, after he completed the script, the actors began passing away one by one, with Vincent Price being the last.

The book will be edited by Dennis Etchison. Etchison's short stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies since 1961, and in several collections. He is also an editor (Cutting Edge, MetaHorror, Masters of Darkness, The Museum of Horrors), novelist (Darkside, California Gothic, Double Edge), screenwriter and the winner of five British Fantasy and World Fantasy Awards. He will be signing the book, along with Matheson.

The scripts will be reproduced in an oversized 8 1/2 x 11 format just as Matheson typed them (including all handwritten changes).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Gauntlet Press (November 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1887368744
• ISBN-13: 978-1887368742
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,687,184 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard Matheson was born in 1926. He began publishing SF with his short story 'Born of Man and Woman' in 1950. I Am Legend was published in 1954 and subsequently filmed as The Omega Man (in 1971), starring Charlton Heston, and I Am Legend (in 2007), starring Will Smith. Matheson wrote the script for the film The Incredible Shrinking Man, an adaptation of his second SF novel The Shrinking Man. The film won a Hugo award in 1958. He wrote many screenplays as well as episodes of The Twilight Zone. He continued to write short stories and novels, some of which formed the basis for film scripts, including Duel, directed by Steven Spielberg in 1971. A film of his novel What Dreams May Come was released in 1998, starring Robin Williams. Stephen King has cited Richard Matheson as a creative influence on his work.

Customer Reviews

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Reader's Dream Realized!, December 7, 2005

By 

J. L. Comeau (Fairfax, VA, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Unrealized Dreams (Hardcover)

Despite its title, this collection of three brilliant yet unproduced film scripts is a dream realized for readers everywhere. Collected here for the first time, Gauntlet Press is offering the actual screenplays written by Richard Matheson for three major movie projects that were, sadly, never filmed. The first is titled THE FANTASTIC LITTLE GIRL, which was to have been the sequel to Mr. Matheson's hit science fiction movie, THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN. Scott Carey, the title character, was thought to have shrunk into oblivion, but when his wife, Louise, discovers that she, too, has been struck by the same malady and is herself shrinking, she returns to the house where her husband was lost, hoping to join him. This is a thrilling adventure into the microcosm of the world and the macrocosm of the soul. The second script, an international thriller titled APPOINTMENT IN ZAHRAIN, is a story that Mr. Matheson adapted specifically for Clark Gable, who died shortly before production commenced. Death also canceled his final and, in my opinion, most magnificent screenplay of all, SWEETHEARTS AND HORRORS. Remember the wonderful classic comedy/horror film, COMEDY OF TERRORS, starring Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff? SWEETHEARTS AND HORRORS was scripted to reunite that cast, with the addition of Basil Rathbone and Tallulah Bankhead! The script had me laughing aloud, I swear! Here's the story: There are five Sweetheart siblings, Dudley (Karloff), the cantankerous, child-hating kid's show host; Sydney (Rathbone), the smooth and natty ne'er-do-well; Adelbert (Lorre) the clumsy, not-quite-bright brother; Malcom (Price), the hateful, drunken ventriloquist; and Portia (Bankhead), their witheringly vicious actress sister ("A cross between Medea and Ma Barker"). When the five Sweethearts receive identical telegrams informing them of their father's murder, their respective responses are: Eureka! Hurrah! Oh. Yippee! Ha-ha! And the game is afoot! The surviving Sweehearts converge at their late father's home to hear the will and collect their fortunes. At the same time, they each gleefully endeavor to knock off their other siblings in order to cash in on the entire estate! This is a hilarious and rollicking farce that, if I could, I would wish onto film starring the original cast. It would have been an instant classic! As funny as it reads, it would have been a marvel of hilarity with the collective talent slated for the production. Unfortunately, all of the actors died before the film could be realized, but this sidesplitting script lives on, hurrah (as Sydney would have said). An insightful introduction by California writer Dennis Etchison kicks off the festivities, and I say festivities because this volume is a collection to celebrate. HURRAH!