Novel Adaptations
 

Just something I've been thinking about....

With all of the shitty movies that Hollywood pours out, along with the insane remake fever going on with the horror genre....

Why the hell don't they look to more fiction novel adaptations for movies? I'm an avid reader and I LOVE horror fiction. I've read hundreds of horror novels and there are so many that go unnoticed that it makes me sick! Lots of these books need to be made into movies, but how do they get the attention that they need? I'm tired of shit and remakes! Does anyone else read? I can think of many novels that would make great horror movies. Just in the last year I've read plenty of them. Deep in the Darkness by Michael Laimo, The House that Jack Built by Graham Masterton, The Hour Before Dark by Douglas Clegg....there are tons more! Anyone else agree? Good Suggestions for others?

Doesn't anyone else here read? You're missing out on hundreds of great horror novels!

Yes and most of us go to Horror, But Not Movies - Books

OK...but there's hardly ever any posts in that section. Also, even though this is related to books, it's really about movies.

There was a couple of books I read along time before I joined, that I'm surprised haven't been turned into film:

Unfortuneately, I can't remember all the authors name's:

Manstopper: A truck containing attack dogs crashes near a village and wreck havoc on the community; it's upto the trainer of the dogs and the local sheriff to stop them. by Douglas Borton

Beware of the Dog: A mysterious dog appears and gets taken in by a young family, people start getting killed, but because the dog protects the children of the family, blame is put on the other local dogs. It turns out that the dog is really a hellhound.

Blood: A modern vampire story. The military have produced vampires from a chemical, used for soldiers who came back from the first Iraq war.

I always thought The Mist by Stephen King would make a great, fun film, and was a little surprised it wasn't adapted for the screen sooner. But its coming soon now, and its one I am really looking forward to.

Clive Barker has several stories that would be great for the screen I think, and we are getting The Midnight Meat Train soon (another I am really looking forward to). I think it would be so much better if his talent was maybe directed toward adapting another of his stories for the screen, instead of a remake of Hellraiser.

But yes, I can think of many novels, and many short stories that could be great horror films. Like with remakes though, more than likely they would just screw them up.

I would love to see Swan Song by Robert McCammon turned into a mini series, or a peter jackson style 3 hour epic.

I would love to see anything written by Lovecraft done WELL in a movie...

There you go....Swan Song may possibly be my favorite novel of all time. And yes, I have also read The Stand which was very good, but I preferred Swan Song. That novel could easily be broken up to make 2 films, since the second section of the book takes place a number of years after the first.

As far as horror goes, though, another good one for a film would be Ghosts by Noel Hynd...

The stand has already been made into a film.

Midnight meat train is going to be great. A Barker classic.

One of the reasons there aren't a lot of novel adaptations is because the typical scriptreaders and script buyers at the major film studios aren't too bright. Combine this with the unfathomable intellect of the studio execs and we end up with shite like spy kids and dude where's my car and wild, wild west etc.

Believe it or not, a surprising number of movies are actually based on books:
Shooter, Bridge to terabithia, fight club, hell, even Mimic was based on a short story.