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Updated 9 months ago,July 30, 2024
Its an age-old debate.
Whats better: the book or the movie?
Some films tinker with the source material so much that different characterizations and thematic undertones surface.
‘Carrie’ movie image and book Cover side-by-side
Carries mother is a bible-thumping abuser who punishes her daughter seemingly for existing.
And when Carrie exits her home, there is no reprieve awaiting her.
She walks the halls of a school where she is a punching bag for every bully.
The audience justifies, excuses, rationalizes, and even understands the protagonist (antagonist?
The movie, timeless in the themes explored, wasremade in 2013with Chloe Grace Moretz in the tile role.
The Satanists who live next door are not the films most terrifying players.
‘Carrie’ Book/Movie Cover
Look at the doctors who force Rosemary into decisions she is not comfortable making.
Look at her husband who commits the films most unforgivable act.
Rosemary is Mrs. Woodhouse at all times.
‘Rosemary’s Baby’ Book / Movie Cover
She is the mother of Satans spawn.
She is always and forever more someone to someone else.
Unfortunately,Rosemarys Babyremains quite relevant in modern times.
‘The Candyman’ Book/Movie Cover
Director Bernard Rose plays with audience expectation, waiting to reveal the titular villain until the films final frames.
The2021 remakeextends its predecessors lore, taking the former films outward gaze and directing it inward.
The innocent becomes the perpetrator.
‘The Silence of the Lambs’ Book Movie
Hes somehow charming boasting a calculated breed of seduction despite his unpalatable proclivities.
ThinkSeven, Prisoners, Zodiac, The Bone Collector, Copycat,American Psycho…The list is neverending.
Bram StokersDraculahas seen countless interpretations.
‘Dracula’ Book/Movie Cover
What happens when you tinker with the natural way?
What happens when you play god?
What will come of a man who alienates himself in the pursuit of knowledge?
‘Frankenstein’ Book/Movie Cover
Who is the real monster the one who seeks revenge or the one who deserves it?
The story contains most (if not all) of the prevalent themes seen in contemporary creature features.
However, there is one major difference worth mentioning, for it alters the storys takeaways.
‘Jaws’ Book/Movie Cover
In the novel, the creature becomes fully sentient and articulate, able to contemplate his own existence.
Such an interpretation makes for a more gray story with two semi-antagonists / semi-protagonists existing in the morally ambiguous.
From the 1931 movie to the 1994 movie,Frankensteins themes are timeless.
‘The Exorcist’ Book/Movie Cover
ThinkRoboCop, Edward Scissorhands, The Fly, Moon,andThe Skin I Live In.
4.Jaws (1975)
Man vs. nature.
Man vs. greed.Jawspresents the dangers of capitalism pushed to the brink.
‘The Shining’ Book/Movie Cover
The basic narrative structure and thematic elements seen inPeter Benchleys 1974 novelremain in Steven Spielbergs cinematic masterpiece.
The movie has been hailed as one of the greatest book-to-screen adaptions ever rendered.
Obviously, natures tally remains far greater, but its still a consequential difference.
‘Psycho’ Book/Movie Cover
However, this call was not exactly narratively driven.
However, both themes are evident in each work.
It was so unsettling.
A then-less desensitized audience couldnt bear witness to Regan MacNeils demonic possession and subsequent acts of heinousness.
How many times has the line The power of Christ compels you been parodied?
How many movies feature a priest attempting to exorcise an evil spirit?
How many horror films feature a family clinging to religion to escape the grasp of the devil?
WouldThe OmenorThe Nunexist without it?
Ideas of heaven and hell and god vs. satan are virtually amiss in the on-screen adaptation.
Here, it seems theres no tragedy because theres nothing to be lost.
1.Psycho (1960)
Alfred HitchcocksPsychois based onRobert Blochs novelof the same name published in 1959.
Viewers discover just enough about Bates broken mind to draw their own frightful conclusions.
Hitchcocks artful camera techniques inPsychohave shaped the horror genre across decades.
Psychois an esteemed example of style and substance working in perfect harmony.
Hitchcock creates a terrifying yet tactful horror film that draws viewers in.
There is a reason he was and forever will be The Master of Suspense.
