Books that Need Film or TV Adaptions
I know the opinion of film and TV adaptations of books varies greatly, but I personally really enjoy seeing some of my favorite stories on the big screen--provided they’re done well, obviously. Usually, adaptations are made of books that are overwhelmingly popular or literary classics. However, I personally feel that a lot of production companies are overlooking some lesser known stories in favor of utter crap YA series (Looking at you, Twilight.) Here is a list of books that need film or TV adaptations immediately.
1) Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon
“In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, earth's last survivors have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil, that will decide the fate of humanity: Sister, who discovers a strange and transformative glass artifact in the destroyed Manhattan streets; Joshua Hutchins, the pro wrestler who takes refuge from the nuclear fallout at a Nebraska gas station; and Swan, a young girl possessing special powers, who travels alongside Josh to a Missouri town where healing and recovery can begin with Swan's gifts. But the ancient force behind earth's devastation is scouring the walking wounded for recruits for its relentless army, beginning with Swan herself.” -- Goodreads
This is one of my favorite books, because it is a truly unique work of apocalyptic fiction. I have read a lot of horror novels, and this was one of the few that left me indescribably disturbed. The novel opens with a nuclear war between the United States and Russia, and the details of the destruction are unlike anything I have any read before. For example, this scene taking placed on Air Force One, just after the President of the United States launched the counter attack:
“‘Jesus!’ the air force captain suddenly said. He was staring through the window, his mouth agape.
The president looked.
Through a tornado of burning houses and chunks of scorched rubble, a fiery shape streaked upward toward the Airborne Command Center like a meteor. It look the president a precious two seconds to comprehend what it was: a crushed, mangled Greyhound bus with burning wheeling, and hanging from the broken windows and front windshield were charred corpses.” (111)
On top of endless gruesome and shocking descriptions, Swan Song is full of story aspects I haven’t read in any other work of apocalypse fiction. It puts human nature under a microscope. I cannot express that point enough. This book will ruin your faith in humanity. McCammon also incorporated religion in an incredibly interesting way, which is not something typically seen in this genre. My personal favorite from this book were the effects of radiation. Many of the survivors begin to find hard, black growths on their bodies, predominantly on the face and neck. These growths spread until the entire face and neck are consumed, but eventually they fall off to reveal something completely unexplainable. This is where religion comes in; what is left behind after the facial growths fall off reveals a lot about the characters.
If you haven’t read Swan Song, you need to. I cannot recommend it enough. I also think a film or TV adaptation of this book would be very timely, given the current political climate. It is a great example of the consequences of war, hate, and inhumanity.
2) Penpal by Dathan Auerbach
“How much do you remember about your childhood?
In Penpal, a man investigates the seemingly unrelated bizarre, tragic, and horrific occurrences of his childhood in an attempt to finally understand them. Beginning with only fragments of his earliest years, you'll follow the narrator as he discovers that these strange and horrible events are actually part of a single terrifying story that has shaped the entirety of his life and the lives of those around him. If you've ever stayed in the woods just a little too long after dark, if you've ever had the feeling that someone or something was trying to hurt you, if you remember the first friend you ever made and how strong that bond was, then Penpal is a story that you won't soon forget, despite how you might try.
Each chapter completes a different piece of the puzzle for both you and the narrator, and by the end of it all, you will wish that you could forget what he never knew.” -- Goodreads
Ugh, talk about a life-shattering and paranoia-inducing book! Again, one of my favorite books of all time, not only because it is well-written and engaging, but because it started as a creepypasta on a horror subreddit. It’s always great to see someone who started on the Internet have their work published.
Auerbach’s book does a great job of making the reader feel a part of the story, and it takes every childhood fear you ever had and gives it a real, terrifying explanation. Remember all those times when you were a kid, and you felt inexplicably afraid? I wasn’t your imagination. If you spent a lot of your childhood running around the woods and your neighborhood with your friends, this book will hit you right in the gut.
Penpal would make a great movie, because it’s not only creepy af, but it will resonate with every age group. The whole story starts with an innocent project in an elementary school class--something we all did when we were younger. This story will make you rethink your whole life.
3) What the Night Knows by Dean Koontz
“In the late summer of a long ago year, a killer arrived in a small city. His name was Alton Turner Blackwood, and in the space of a few months he brutally murdered four families. His savage spree ended only when he himself was killed by the last survivor of the last family, a fourteen-year-old boy.
Half a continent away and two decades later, someone is murdering families again, recreating in detail Blackwood’s crimes. Homicide detective John Calvino is certain that his own family—his wife and three children—will be targets in the fourth crime, just as his parents and sisters were victims on that distant night when he was fourteen and killed their slayer.
As a detective, John is a man of reason who deals in cold facts. But an extraordinary experience convinces him that sometimes death is not a one-way journey, that sometimes the dead return.
Here is a ghost story like no other you have read. In the Calvinos, Dean Koontz brings to life a family that might be your own, in a war for their survival against an adversary more malevolent than any he has yet created, with their own home the battleground.” -- Goodreads
Ugh, Stephanie, shut up about this book already. Nope, sorry. Not gonna happen, my friends. This adaptation needs to happen yesterday. ASAP. Now. I want a whole miniseries. I have it mentally casted. If I had millions, I’d fund it myself. Someone in production needs to hire me, and we can get on this, now.
This book is INTENSE. Anyone who is a fan of procedural crime shows would love this book and the TV miniseries that I am demanding. It’s got murder. It’s got a killer risen from the dead. It’s got a tragic protagonist that wins over your heart immediately. I’m serious, production companies. I’m offering you a gold mine.
I’ve seen good and bad book adaptations over the years, but some of my favorite books and TV shows have been adapted from books. If you’re looking to have a book adaptation binge, here’s a list of my favorites:
A Time to Kill (1996)
Quills (2000)
Lolita (1997)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
American Psycho (2000)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011)
The Night Manager (2016)
The Shining (1980)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Interview with the Vampire (1994)
Pride & Prejudice (2005)
What books do you want adapted for film or TV? What are your favorite adaptations? What adaptations did you hate?
