Horror Movie Novelizations
The Halloween season is starting to kick in again and one of the things I generally like to do during the Halloween season is read plenty of horror, specifically novelizations of horror movies. Novelizations are pretty much the whipping boys of books. Granted, they are geared towards cashing in on a movie for the most part, but the people who write these books are still actual writers (obviously, some are better writers than others), who will take on the thankless task of penning a novelization because it is a paying gig, when writing is frequently not a very high-paying endeavor. Sure, you have Stephen King, Tom Clancy, and plenty of other writers who make a good living from the books they write, but many other authors still have to work regular jobs in addition to writing. Even King himself had to do this in the earlier days of his career, until he started getting the checks for paperback royalties, then he was free to churn out numerous classic works at a dizzying pace.
The novelization is an interesting thing, in my opinion, since it will generally be based on the screenplay, rather than the finished movie. This allows readers to experience a different version of the same story, since many changes can happen between the screenplay and the finished film: subplots get dropped, scenes are rewritten, scenes are cut out, etc. Also, a novelist will generally develop characters and events a bit more in the book version, often adding to the story. This is not always a good thing, of course, but it does give some purpose to reading the novelization-- it will be familiar, but it can still hold many surprises. Of course, novels are also more accessible to younger audiences than their film counterparts in some cases, particularly with R-rated movies. A younger horror fan may not be allowed to watch some horror movie because it is rated R, but will be allowed to read the novelization. I remember reading Child's Play 2 as a kid before getting to see the movie because I was too young to go see it in the theater by myself, but could easily buy and read the book.
Halloween, by Curtis Richards, as seen in the above picture, is a good example. This one is likely one of the few novelizations based off the finished movie, rather than the screenplay, since it didn't come out until a year or so after the film. Richards adds scenes that take place in the days of the Celts, then carries on to when Michael was a child and murders his sister. There is even additional material focusing on his time in Smith's Grove as he is growing up, which has also popped up in comic books more recent years. Another interesting element is that Richards gives some insight into what Michael is thinking. For some people, this is a bad thing, but for others it's a good thing. For me, it is a different version of the same story, to be enjoyed on its own.
Halloween II and Halloween III: Season of the Witch were written by Jack Martin (aka Dennis Etchison) and I remember enjoying both, but it has been far too long since I read them for me to comment much on them. Same goes for Halloween IV by Nicholas Grabowsky. At any rate, these three do not differ as much from the source material as Halloween does.
Which brings me to Friday the 13th Part 3: 3D by Michael Avallone. Not really sure why it is titled the way it is, as the movie was in 3D, but the book isn't-- there isn't even a cool 3D cover like the soundtrack record for the film. Maybe they thought people would be confused if it didn't say "3D" on the cover. There is actually a second novelization for this movie, which was done a few years later, but this one was done when the movie was new and, since it is based on the screenplay rather than the finished movie, there are some fairly major differences between this novelization by Avallone and the movie. The main one that comes to mind is the ending. If you don't want to read the book, but want to know what happens in this different ending, you can easily find a summary of it elsewhere online, so I won't include that here. I remember there being some other differences earlier on in the book, but it has been too long since I read it for me to really remember them. At some point, I do want to re-read some of these, this one included.
Despite the cash-grab nature of these books, many older ones have become collector items, sometimes going for fairly high prices (for example, as I write this, there is a copy of Halloween on eBay, the same edition I paid half the cover price for, with an asking price of $80). I have rarely paid much for most of the older ones I have. In many cases, I have just run across them in local used book shops, paying $1 or $2 for them. A few I did get online, having no luck finding them locally. Often, finding these in local stores is how I find out that novelizations of some of these movies even exist.
Dawn of the Dead is one of those. Written by George A. Romero and Susanna Sparrow, it was released in the '70s in a hardcover format, which is pretty rare for a novelization; most of these are paperback originals. I happened across an old Book Club edition hardcover of this one and snagged it up. I also later picked up a much more recent paperback edition that includes an introduction by Simon Pegg. Romero is pretty well known for shooting really long movies and cutting them way down (Martin is a particularly good example, reportedly being 3 hours or so at one point-- there is a novelization for this film as well), so it actually makes sense to have a novelization, where he could focus less on trying to get the story down to a reasonable length. One of the main things that really sticks out to me with this novelization is the extra character development (not a lot more, just a bit). You see a slightly different dynamic among the main characters in the novel version. Roger, in the movie, seems to be enjoying himself way too much and gets reckless, possibly due to being immature or just overly confident. In the book version, it is made clear that this is due to Roger looking up to Peter and constantly trying to impress him, creating something of a mentor/student relationship, whereas in the movie, to me at least, Peter and Roger are more on the same level, two friends with one being more level-headed (Peter) and the other being more of the irresponsible partier-type (Roger).
Similarly to Romero working with Susanna Sparrow, Rob Zombie teamed up with B.K. Evenson to novelize his film Lords of Salem, which also saw a hardcover release. Rob Zombie is a fairly polarizing filmmaker, but I have at least enjoyed, if not loved, most of his movies. Lords of Salem, in my opinion, is one of his best and is a favorite horror movie of mine from the last decade. Rob has stated that the novel is based off an earlier screenplay than the one used for the movie, which I believe is part of the reason he wanted to have a novelization for the film. It is still the same basic story, but there are various differences overall, with some sequences being a bit more developed in the novel version. I think it makes a good companion piece to the movie, showing different layers of the same story, each version giving the audience different elements of the same narrative, creating a more complete version of it after both seeing the movie and reading the novel.
Aside from all of that, one of the main things about novelizations is that they tend to be quick reads, usually coming in at around 250-300 pages in length. Even with a longer movie, such as The Omen, the novelization is typically still fairly short, so you won't spend a lot of time reading one.
Since I mentioned The Omen, I really should discuss the fact that all three of the original movies had novelizations. After the original trilogy was completed, Gordon McGill wrote two additional original novels (Omen IV: Armageddon 2000 and Omen V: The Abomination) continuing the story from The Final Conflict, for which he had also written the novelization. So, if you wanted more after those original three movies, Gordon McGill gave you more.
In the end, many of these books are mediocre and derivative by nature, but they generally look great, if nothing else, and some are genuinely pretty enjoyable reads.
The novelization is an interesting thing, in my opinion, since it will generally be based on the screenplay, rather than the finished movie. This allows readers to experience a different version of the same story, since many changes can happen between the screenplay and the finished film: subplots get dropped, scenes are rewritten, scenes are cut out, etc. Also, a novelist will generally develop characters and events a bit more in the book version, often adding to the story. This is not always a good thing, of course, but it does give some purpose to reading the novelization-- it will be familiar, but it can still hold many surprises. Of course, novels are also more accessible to younger audiences than their film counterparts in some cases, particularly with R-rated movies. A younger horror fan may not be allowed to watch some horror movie because it is rated R, but will be allowed to read the novelization. I remember reading Child's Play 2 as a kid before getting to see the movie because I was too young to go see it in the theater by myself, but could easily buy and read the book.
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| Novelizations of the first four Halloween films |
Halloween, by Curtis Richards, as seen in the above picture, is a good example. This one is likely one of the few novelizations based off the finished movie, rather than the screenplay, since it didn't come out until a year or so after the film. Richards adds scenes that take place in the days of the Celts, then carries on to when Michael was a child and murders his sister. There is even additional material focusing on his time in Smith's Grove as he is growing up, which has also popped up in comic books more recent years. Another interesting element is that Richards gives some insight into what Michael is thinking. For some people, this is a bad thing, but for others it's a good thing. For me, it is a different version of the same story, to be enjoyed on its own.
Halloween II and Halloween III: Season of the Witch were written by Jack Martin (aka Dennis Etchison) and I remember enjoying both, but it has been far too long since I read them for me to comment much on them. Same goes for Halloween IV by Nicholas Grabowsky. At any rate, these three do not differ as much from the source material as Halloween does.
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| Front cover of the original novelization of Friday the 13th 3-D |
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| Back cover |
Which brings me to Friday the 13th Part 3: 3D by Michael Avallone. Not really sure why it is titled the way it is, as the movie was in 3D, but the book isn't-- there isn't even a cool 3D cover like the soundtrack record for the film. Maybe they thought people would be confused if it didn't say "3D" on the cover. There is actually a second novelization for this movie, which was done a few years later, but this one was done when the movie was new and, since it is based on the screenplay rather than the finished movie, there are some fairly major differences between this novelization by Avallone and the movie. The main one that comes to mind is the ending. If you don't want to read the book, but want to know what happens in this different ending, you can easily find a summary of it elsewhere online, so I won't include that here. I remember there being some other differences earlier on in the book, but it has been too long since I read it for me to really remember them. At some point, I do want to re-read some of these, this one included.
Despite the cash-grab nature of these books, many older ones have become collector items, sometimes going for fairly high prices (for example, as I write this, there is a copy of Halloween on eBay, the same edition I paid half the cover price for, with an asking price of $80). I have rarely paid much for most of the older ones I have. In many cases, I have just run across them in local used book shops, paying $1 or $2 for them. A few I did get online, having no luck finding them locally. Often, finding these in local stores is how I find out that novelizations of some of these movies even exist.
Dawn of the Dead is one of those. Written by George A. Romero and Susanna Sparrow, it was released in the '70s in a hardcover format, which is pretty rare for a novelization; most of these are paperback originals. I happened across an old Book Club edition hardcover of this one and snagged it up. I also later picked up a much more recent paperback edition that includes an introduction by Simon Pegg. Romero is pretty well known for shooting really long movies and cutting them way down (Martin is a particularly good example, reportedly being 3 hours or so at one point-- there is a novelization for this film as well), so it actually makes sense to have a novelization, where he could focus less on trying to get the story down to a reasonable length. One of the main things that really sticks out to me with this novelization is the extra character development (not a lot more, just a bit). You see a slightly different dynamic among the main characters in the novel version. Roger, in the movie, seems to be enjoying himself way too much and gets reckless, possibly due to being immature or just overly confident. In the book version, it is made clear that this is due to Roger looking up to Peter and constantly trying to impress him, creating something of a mentor/student relationship, whereas in the movie, to me at least, Peter and Roger are more on the same level, two friends with one being more level-headed (Peter) and the other being more of the irresponsible partier-type (Roger).
Similarly to Romero working with Susanna Sparrow, Rob Zombie teamed up with B.K. Evenson to novelize his film Lords of Salem, which also saw a hardcover release. Rob Zombie is a fairly polarizing filmmaker, but I have at least enjoyed, if not loved, most of his movies. Lords of Salem, in my opinion, is one of his best and is a favorite horror movie of mine from the last decade. Rob has stated that the novel is based off an earlier screenplay than the one used for the movie, which I believe is part of the reason he wanted to have a novelization for the film. It is still the same basic story, but there are various differences overall, with some sequences being a bit more developed in the novel version. I think it makes a good companion piece to the movie, showing different layers of the same story, each version giving the audience different elements of the same narrative, creating a more complete version of it after both seeing the movie and reading the novel.
Aside from all of that, one of the main things about novelizations is that they tend to be quick reads, usually coming in at around 250-300 pages in length. Even with a longer movie, such as The Omen, the novelization is typically still fairly short, so you won't spend a lot of time reading one.
Since I mentioned The Omen, I really should discuss the fact that all three of the original movies had novelizations. After the original trilogy was completed, Gordon McGill wrote two additional original novels (Omen IV: Armageddon 2000 and Omen V: The Abomination) continuing the story from The Final Conflict, for which he had also written the novelization. So, if you wanted more after those original three movies, Gordon McGill gave you more.
In the end, many of these books are mediocre and derivative by nature, but they generally look great, if nothing else, and some are genuinely pretty enjoyable reads.
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