Matheson Is Legend: THE NIGHT STALKER & THE NIGHT STRANGLER

This last week, news spread of Richard Matheson's passing at 87. Over the course of his 60+ years career, the author has left an indelible mark on all things fantastic through his countless short stories, novels and screenplays, not to mention the ever flowing stream of third party adaptations that have brought his visions to the screen. As a personal tribute to the man, I'll be writing about some of my favorite screen works of his, starting with a terrific made-for-tv double feature. When supernatural shit takes to the streets, who ya gonna call?

MS.45 (Abel Ferrara, 1981)

Thana, a young woman, is walking home after a long day's work, making her way through a thicket of leering men. Cut to her apartment, where somebody's breaking in through a window. A classic set up: we know she's walking straight towards danger and, as much as we'd like to warn her, all we can do is wait for the axe to fall. And fall it does, only not when expected: well before she can reach home, a masked assailant snatches her, drags her to a back alley and rapes her. And then it falls again as Thana, shocked and bruised, trudges to her apartment, where the previously seen intruder rapes her at gunpoint. This is an Abel Ferrara film, and this is is 1981 New York City, where you can get raped on your way to getting raped.

REVOLVER (Sergio Sollima, 1973)

"Society has many ways of defending itself: the red tape, prison bars, and the revolver"