Disappointing collection of Matheson stories reissued to tie into an illfated movie based on the title story. Of the group of stories only a couple rise above mediocre. What has always appealed to me about Matheson is his ability to take the amazing and place it amidst the very ordinary. His straightforward style creates a kind of normalcy that grounds the unreal in reality. BUTTON, BUTTON and MUTE and NO SUCH THING AS A VAMPIRE all work quite well. Can't imagine the title story being tortured into a full length movie. Appreciated MUTE in particular for it's balancing of two paths that could be positive crossing in painful fashion. Some of the others are either mediocre or just plain awful. THE CREEPING TERROR has a cute premise completely run into the ground--the terror came from the fact that it never seemed to end. And TIS THE SEASON TO BE JELLY was apocalyptic mutation simply irritating. THE JAZZ MACHINE was good and truthful in it's way but the use of old bluesman dialect and even song phrasing...well, my jury is still out on that one.