Take a deep breath, because the full title of Gauntlet Press’ new anthology is BLOOD LINES: RICHARD MATHESON’S DRACULA, I AM LEGEND, AND OTHER VAMPIRE STORIES, and it contains all of the above. Yet if you’ve already seen the TV version of DRACULA Mr. Matheson wrote for Dan Curtis in the ’70s, you still need this book. If you’ve already read his classic I AM LEGEND novel, you still need this book. And even if you’ve already read the three short stories here … yep, you still need this book.

Why? Because this is the like the director’s cut DVD of Matheson’s bloodsucker oeuvre. And it’s the extra features that put previous barebones releases to shame. Editor Mark Dawidziak has done a superb job in assembling this one.

The bulk of it is taken up my Matheson’s original script for DRACULA, the well-received production starring Jack Palance. Wisely, Dawidziak includes the actual script pages – handmade notations, changes and all –  which lends it an exclusive, personal touch. An essay delves into Matheson’s involvement with the telefilm and still photos are included.

I AM LEGEND is included in full, along with Dawidziak’s report on Matheson’s own film adaptation that never came to be. That movie would have been Hammer Films’ THE NIGHT CREATURES, and while the essay is enough, Dawidziak goes the extra mile by including that entire script, as well as a film censor’s letter objecting to the language and violence (and “retching”). To date, two films based on LEGEND have been made – Vincent Price in THE LAST MAN ON EARTH and Charlton Heston in THE OMEGA MAN – and you’ll find Matheson’s unflattering observations those flicks and some photos from each. Even better in the photo arena is the gallery of various LEGEND book covers from the world over.

Throw in appreciations from such heavyweights as Ray Bradbury, John Carpenter, Steve Niles, Mick Garris, Frank Spotnitz and Rockne S. O’Bannon, and quite clearly, you’re just spoiled. –Rod Lott

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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• RICHARD MATHESON’S THE TWILIGHT ZONE SCRIPTS: VOLUME TWO edited by Stanley Wiater
• WOMAN by Richard Matheson