Today’s mail brings a copy of Button, Button: Uncanny Stories, a collection by Richard Matheson. The world knows Matheson best for his movie-spawning novels I Am Legend, The Shrinking Man, and What Dreams May Come, and for his script for Duel, which first brought Steven Spielberg to prominence, and for his script for the classic Twilight Zone episode “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.” But it is his short stories, usually with twist endings, which I find the most memorable and chilling.

The reason this collection has been reissued is that the title story is being made into the movie The Box, directed by Richard Kelly and starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden. I sat down and reread the story this afternoon, and suddenly remembered the TV adaptation done of it for the 1980s’ incarnation of The Twilight Zone. I had forgotten that the two versions use completely different twist endings, and I wondered … which one will the movie use? Or will there be yet a third ending? I pulled out my DVD boxed set to compare the two.

For those who aren’t familiar with either of the versions, the (non-spoiler) premise for the plot is as follows. (more…)