Matheson, Part 9: What Dreams May Come.
For his tenth novel, Richard Matheson continued to steer away from the horror genre and towards something more romantic in nature. An unofficial companion piece to Bid Time Return, What Dreams May Come tells the story of a dead man who embarks on a journey through hell to find his wife. Of all his novels, Matheson considers it to be his best work.
Twenty years after the release of the book, Vincent Ward adapted What Dreams May Come into a film starring Robin Williams. It was met with mixed reviews, though often applauded for its visual depiction of the afterlife.
This week, Mike and Max are joined by John Mills of Words with Nerds to discuss both Matheson’s novel and Ward’s movie. We discuss the meticulous detail of the book, debate whether or not the changes made in the film were effective, and wonder if Matheson’s motivations for writing the book were domestic in nature.
