Best Richard Matheson Audiobooks

The best Richard Matheson audiobooks — 10 titles ranked by listening experience across Horror, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Mystery, averaging 3.83 ABR stars.

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Richard Matheson is the writer who quietly remade American horror and science fiction from the inside out. Where other writers reached for cosmic dread, Matheson found the uncanny in the mundane — a man alone in a world of vampires, a couple haunted by a house that wants them dead, a passenger who sees something on the wing of a plane. I Am Legend didn't just invent the modern zombie apocalypse; it turned the monster-movie premise into a meditation on loneliness and what it means to be human. Hell House remains one of the most viscerally unsettling haunted house novels ever written. His prose is stripped and precise, almost cinematic — he was a prolific Hollywood screenwriter, and it shows. Readers who want horror that gets under your skin through psychological pressure rather than gore will find Matheson indispensable.

Richard Matheson's highest-rated audiobook in our collection is I Am Legend, narrated by Robertson Dean (4.2 ABR stars). Performed by narrators including Robertson Dean, Ray Porter, Julia Campbell, Richard Powers, Malcolm Hillgartner, Arte Johnson, Jay Karnes, Ray Porter, Yuri Rasovsky, Lorna Raver, and more. Rankings here weight the listening experience — narrator performance and Audible ratings factor alongside reader scores.

Where to Start with Richard Matheson

  1. 1
    I Am Legend cover

    I Am Legend

    by Richard Matheson

    Narrated by Robertson Dean

    4.20 ABR Score (170.3K ratings)
    ★ 4.05 Goodreads (154.9K) ★ 4.21 Audible (15.3K)
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    Robertson Dean captures the isolation and desperation of humanity's last survivor hunting vampires by day and hiding by night.

  2. 2
    Hell House cover

    Hell House

    by Richard Matheson

    Narrated by Ray Porter

    3.83 ABR Score (70.3K ratings)
    ★ 3.69 Goodreads (64.1K) ★ 4.05 Audible (6.2K)
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    Ray Porter guides four investigators into Belasco House, where previous expeditions ended in murder and madness in this haunted house classic.

  3. 3
    What Dreams May Come cover

    What Dreams May Come

    by Richard Matheson

    Narrated by Robertson Dean

    4.00 ABR Score (16.7K ratings)
    ★ 3.96 Goodreads (15.1K) ★ 4.45 Audible (1.5K)
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    Chris Nielsen discovers the afterlife after a fatal accident, then risks everything to save his wife's soul from hell. Robertson Dean navigates Matheson's spiritual landscape with emotional depth.

  4. 4
    Nightmare at 20,000 Feet: Horror Stories cover

    Nightmare at 20,000 Feet: Horror Stories

    by Richard Matheson, Stephen King

    Narrated by Julia Campbell, Richard Powers, Malcolm Hillgartner, Arte Johnson, Jay Karnes, Ray Porter, Yuri Rasovsky, Lorna Raver

    3.96 ABR Score (9.6K ratings)
    ★ 4.05 Goodreads (8.4K) ★ 4.17 Audible (1.1K)
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    Eight narrators elevate Matheson's paranoia masterpieces. The psychological horror that defined the Twilight Zone still beats modern scares.

  5. 5
    Somewhere in Time cover

    Somewhere in Time

    by Richard Matheson

    Narrated by Scott Brick

    3.71 ABR Score (9.7K ratings)
    ★ 3.85 Goodreads (8.8K) ★ 4.12 Audible (880)
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    Scott Brick's hushed, yearning narration transforms Matheson's time-crossing love story into something genuinely haunting. It's the rare romance where the audio performance makes you believe in impossible devotion.

  6. 6
    I Am Legend and Other Stories cover

    I Am Legend and Other Stories

    by Richard Matheson

    Narrated by Robertson Dean, Yuri Rasovsky

    3.90 ABR Score (137.8K ratings)
    ★ 4 Goodreads (136.8K) ★ 4.02 Audible (1.0K)
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    The last man on Earth hunts vampires by day and hides by night in this collection of Matheson's influential horror stories. Dean and Rasovsky capture both the claustrophobic terror and philosophical weight of humanity's end.

  7. 7
    The Best of Richard Matheson cover

    The Best of Richard Matheson

    by Richard Matheson, Victor LaValle

    Narrated by Donald Corren, Peter Berkrot, Richard Powers, Hillary Huber, Traber Burns, Scott Brick, Devon Sorvari, Kevin Kenerly

    3.98 ABR Score (2.6K ratings)
    ★ 4.16 Goodreads (2.3K) ★ 4.47 Audible (341)
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    Eight different narrators tackle Matheson's chilling short stories, each voice perfectly suited to these tales that inspired countless Twilight Zone episodes.

  8. 8
    Echos (Rivages noir) cover

    Echos (Rivages noir)

    by Richard Matheson, François Guérif, Jean-Paul Gratias

    Narrated by Robertson Dean

    3.74 ABR Score (15.4K ratings)
    ★ 3.86 Goodreads (15.4K) ★ 3.83 Audible (59)
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    Matheson's supernatural thriller follows Tom Wallace as a ghost demands he solve its murder. Robertson Dean navigates the French noir atmosphere while keeping the supernatural elements grounded and unsettling.

  9. 9
    Steel: And Other Stories cover

    Steel: And Other Stories

    by Richard Matheson

    Narrated by Scott Brick

    3.55 ABR Score (843 ratings)
    ★ 3.63 Goodreads (775) ★ 3.57 Audible (68)
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    Scott Brick presents Matheson's vision of future boxing where massive humanoid robots have replaced human champions, leaving flesh-and-blood fighters obsolete.

  10. 10
    The Box: Uncanny Stories cover

    The Box: Uncanny Stories

    by Richard Matheson

    Narrated by Grover Gardner

    3.44 ABR Score (4.0K ratings)
    ★ 3.54 Goodreads (3.9K) ★ 3.36 Audible (88)
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    Matheson's twisted moral puzzles get their due with Grover Gardner's measured delivery, especially in the title story about a button that kills strangers for money.

How We Rank Audiobooks

Rankings are driven by listener ratings and review counts from Audible and Goodreads. Books with high ratings across a large number of listeners rank higher — a 4.5 with 50,000 ratings says more than a 4.8 with 200.

Unlike most book lists, we weight audiobook-specific factors: narrator performance, production quality, and how well a story translates to audio. A great book with a poor narration isn't a great audiobook.

We don't accept paid placements or prioritize new releases. These rankings reflect what listeners actually enjoy, not what's being promoted.

Rankings update periodically as new ratings come in and new titles are added to the collection.

Read our full ranking methodology →