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We Need More Horror Movies Based On Novels
Amid the sea of remakes and sequels, the horror genre is struggling to find seeds of inspiration for new movies with new stories that we haven't seen exact replicas of before. It isn't that remakes or sequels are always bad things, but they are mply not enough to sustain an entire genre, or nourish the bloodthirsty imaginations of its fans.In our hour of need, studios, directors and scriptwriters would be wise to turn to the bloodsoaked goldmine of stories which already exist, and may have for some time, but are currently restricted to a format which, sadly, is dying out more and more: printed words. Apparently, this is an almost mind-blowing concept to the studios behind most horror movies.
With the exception of the upcoming "World War Z" film, which is based (loosely, from all accounts, probably to the film's detriment) on the best-selling novel of the same name by Max Brooks, there don't seem to be many novel-inspired horror films in the works. Perhaps horror legend Stephen King spoiled the whole concept for everyone else. His books have inspired some good stuff. "The Mist", "Misery", "Cujo", "The Shining" and "Pet Sematary" were all well-executed and astonishingly scary, and the TV miniseries treatment of "The Stand" was solid, if anticlimactic. Unfortunately, his novels also gave rise to horrid assbombs such as "Dreamcatcher", and miniseries verons of "The Tommyknockers" and "The Langoliers" that each looked like they cost ten dollars to make. There was also a movie of his story "1408" which showed potential and had a good cast, but went off the rails early, in my opinion, and never recovered. Many of the films based on Stephen King books have received such flak from critics that other authors may be reluctant to expose their works to the risk, and studios may be of a milar mindset.However, the fact remains that there are some damn scary, damn inventive works of horror just laying around, cluttering shelves, propping up table legs, just BEGGING to be adapted for the lver screen. Let's start with Richard Laymon, who bacally writes slashers in novel form. We've all seen slashers in movie form over and over, obviously, but Laymon's books do not follow the formula we've grown accustomed to. It's not just a scene of carnage, followed by some character development, then another murder, then some sex and more character development, then murder, then a party and some character development, then murder, etc, etc. until everyone is dead. Laymon spent time developing most of his characters as a cast in relation to each other. There was never any predicting when his characters would die. You might have a full cast of seven teenagers still alive by page 300 of one of his books, and then by page 302 all except one of the group might be dead. The main character might die in the middle of the story, and Laymon's psychotic murderers and monsters don't pull their punches when they run across little kids. Richard Laymon's novels are often profoundly disturbing. They are fun, but not for the faint of heart. They should be brought to movie screens with a solid "R" rating. The first ones studios should rush to grab the rights to are "The Traveling Vampire Show", "Flesh", "Savage", "To Wake the Dead","Endless Night" and "The Cellar".
And what about the novels of venerable scribe Robert McCammon? He's been churning out amazing works in his gnature artful prose for decades. His post apocalyptic "Swan Song" is a better book than King's "The Stand" with characters that are more fully realized. "Gone South", "Boy's Life", "The Wolf's Hour", "Mystery Walk" and "the Five" would all make excellent highbrow horror films. They wouldn't be slashers, by any means, but McCammon's brand of high concept, adventure/survival horror would be intriguing to see on screen, and would be something a little different than what we've seen before.
Other authors who have written novels that should have ALREADY been made into movies are Joe Hill (son of Stephen King, interestingly enough) who has cranked out 2 high-octane books called "Heart-Shaped Box" and "Horns", Jonathan Maberry, writer of the "Ghost Road Blues" trilogy, set in a fictional haunted tourist town called Pine Deep, and Brian Keene, who demonstrates a unique take on zombies in his books "The Ring" and "City of the Dead". Hopefully, we'll soon see the day when adaptations of horror novels are raking in big bucks at the cinema, so that sequels and remakes don't have to soldier on at the box office all by their lonesome.
With the exception of the upcoming "World War Z" film, which is based (loosely, from all accounts, probably to the film's detriment) on the best-selling novel of the same name by Max Brooks, there don't seem to be many novel-inspired horror films in the works. Perhaps horror legend Stephen King spoiled the whole concept for everyone else. His books have inspired some good stuff. "The Mist", "Misery", "Cujo", "The Shining" and "Pet Sematary" were all well-executed and astonishingly scary, and the TV miniseries treatment of "The Stand" was solid, if anticlimactic. Unfortunately, his novels also gave rise to horrid assbombs such as "Dreamcatcher", and miniseries verons of "The Tommyknockers" and "The Langoliers" that each looked like they cost ten dollars to make. There was also a movie of his story "1408" which showed potential and had a good cast, but went off the rails early, in my opinion, and never recovered. Many of the films based on Stephen King books have received such flak from critics that other authors may be reluctant to expose their works to the risk, and studios may be of a milar mindset.However, the fact remains that there are some damn scary, damn inventive works of horror just laying around, cluttering shelves, propping up table legs, just BEGGING to be adapted for the lver screen. Let's start with Richard Laymon, who bacally writes slashers in novel form. We've all seen slashers in movie form over and over, obviously, but Laymon's books do not follow the formula we've grown accustomed to. It's not just a scene of carnage, followed by some character development, then another murder, then some sex and more character development, then murder, then a party and some character development, then murder, etc, etc. until everyone is dead. Laymon spent time developing most of his characters as a cast in relation to each other. There was never any predicting when his characters would die. You might have a full cast of seven teenagers still alive by page 300 of one of his books, and then by page 302 all except one of the group might be dead. The main character might die in the middle of the story, and Laymon's psychotic murderers and monsters don't pull their punches when they run across little kids. Richard Laymon's novels are often profoundly disturbing. They are fun, but not for the faint of heart. They should be brought to movie screens with a solid "R" rating. The first ones studios should rush to grab the rights to are "The Traveling Vampire Show", "Flesh", "Savage", "To Wake the Dead","Endless Night" and "The Cellar".
And what about the novels of venerable scribe Robert McCammon? He's been churning out amazing works in his gnature artful prose for decades. His post apocalyptic "Swan Song" is a better book than King's "The Stand" with characters that are more fully realized. "Gone South", "Boy's Life", "The Wolf's Hour", "Mystery Walk" and "the Five" would all make excellent highbrow horror films. They wouldn't be slashers, by any means, but McCammon's brand of high concept, adventure/survival horror would be intriguing to see on screen, and would be something a little different than what we've seen before.
Other authors who have written novels that should have ALREADY been made into movies are Joe Hill (son of Stephen King, interestingly enough) who has cranked out 2 high-octane books called "Heart-Shaped Box" and "Horns", Jonathan Maberry, writer of the "Ghost Road Blues" trilogy, set in a fictional haunted tourist town called Pine Deep, and Brian Keene, who demonstrates a unique take on zombies in his books "The Ring" and "City of the Dead". Hopefully, we'll soon see the day when adaptations of horror novels are raking in big bucks at the cinema, so that sequels and remakes don't have to soldier on at the box office all by their lonesome.
ImmortalSidneyP
Tuesday 10/25/2011 at 10:15 AM | 85821
