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Welcome back, this is the second installment of Paper Cuts, a column about horror film from a horror reader\u2019s (and writer\u2019s) perspective. Huge thanks to everyone who shared the last post, read it, or sent me their thoughts, whether public or private. I was really overwhelmed by the response.<\/p>\n
One quick thing, since I\u2019ve been delinquent in responding to comments:<\/p>\n
A few readers have spoken up in defense of the iceberg meme<\/a>, citing that they read the image as representing books vs. their adaptations. That\u2019s fair, and I do understand your points, but I\u2019m choosing to engage the image as a text. The text says \u201cA Book\u201d and \u201cA Film\u201d not \u201cThe Book\u201d and \u201cThe Film\u201d. If the author of the meme meant it to represent only adaptations then\u2026at the very least they get points off for imprecise diction. (And, I mean: \u201cThe book is always better than the adaptation!\u201d is pretty much public consensus; does something that comes pre-packaged in everyone\u2019s Opinion Starter Kit warrant its own meme?)<\/p>\n But that discussion got me thinking about adaptations. Not only what tricky business they can be, especially under a reader\u2019s heavy scrutiny, but also how good they are for the lit scene in general.<\/p>\n Would Chuck Palahniuk have the notoriety he does, be as widely read as he is, without David Fincher\u2019s Fight Club?<\/em> Maybe, but probably not.<\/p>\n Or, a bigger question, and one that may be more pertinent but harder to conceptualize since we are gathered here in this holy house that King built, but:<\/p>\n Would Stephen King be who he is\u2026 nay, would horror be what it is, were it not for the film adaptations of his works?<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think so. Not even close, I\u2019d wager. Think of what a dismal timeline we\u2019d be living in if Hollywood had never come knocking on old Stevie\u2019s door.<\/p>\n And I can hear you now, yelling at your screen, but let me explain myself.<\/p>\n Think of any Stephen King-related fan art, meme, or the image Entertainment Weekly<\/em> would use to head any King-centric article.<\/p>\n What representation of Pennywise would they use? Tim Curry\u2019s face, of course, and that was a freaking so-so TV movie!<\/p>\n What does Carrie look like, to John Q Public? Why she\u2019s got Sissy Spacek\u2019s nose, of course. And Tommy\u2019s got William Katt\u2019s hair.<\/p>\n Even if you\u2019re not ready to climb aboard my battleship and start lobbing cannonballs at The Iceberg, holding up film and literature as equally potent art forms, at the very least you\u2019ve got to admit that film adaptations serve as ambassadors for literature.<\/p>\n A good adaptation (or one that strikes a cultural cord, it doesn\u2019t have to be particularly good, come to think of it) can help bolster our ranks, can be a gateway drug for an entire generation of fellow genre readers.<\/p>\n Sure, it\u2019s probably a tiny fraction of the audience that walks out of a movie theater and says \u201cI should really read that book,\u201d but it does happen. And once those people, especially if they\u2019re young people, are hooked: we have them for life.<\/p>\n So what am I leading towards here, with this rambling?<\/p>\n Well, how many times have you read a book or a story and been so completely in love with it that you wanted to talk about it with someone? You want to hold a real life conversation?<\/p>\n It happens to me all the time, but my reading habits are pretty niche and I have no friends. So it\u2019s very rare that I get to have breathless conversation about a book. With movies it\u2019s a bit easier to have those kinds of talks, as high-art as it can be, film is still a mass media.<\/p>\n In that spirit, here are two novels and one short story that demand the adaptation treatment. And that\u2019s not to say these would be better movies than they are books. They\u2019re great books.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also not to say that these books lend themselves to adaptation, because all three probably wouldn\u2019t make good movies if they were adapted beat-for-beat. But if somebody laid a pile of money at any of these author\u2019s feet, then put some mass market paperbacks of these books in print with a little label that said \u201cNow a Major Motion Picture!\u201d then the world would likely be a cooler place.<\/p>\n Are you listening Hollywood? I\u2019m giving you some hot tips on properties to option! And you didn\u2019t even have to pay me!<\/p>\n Along with each title I\u2019ve given a brief synopsis, stated my case, and did some backseat driving on the hiring front.<\/p>\n If y\u2019all enjoy this game, I\u2019ll probably do a volume of this every few months, there are too many books out there that can do with a shot of visibility. Feel free to hang out in the comments and pitch your own suggestions.<\/p>\n Why a movie, again?<\/strong> So this is a novel that takes the natively filmic \u201cslasher\u201d genre and transposes it to literature. Translating the book back into a movie may sound redundant, but wouldn\u2019t that be kinda cool? It\u2019d be like holding a mirror up to a mirror.<\/p>\n And let\u2019s be clear: this isn\u2019t Scream<\/em> we\u2019re talking about. The book isn\u2019t strongly referential (most of the films mentioned in the novel are of Comeau\u2019s invention, if I\u2019m remembering correctly), the metatextual stuff is much more subtle.<\/p>\n What would change?<\/strong> That\u2019s the tricky part.<\/p>\n A screenwriter might look at the book and say that the first aspect that needs to be cut (after they trim the title) are the letters Martin\u2019s mom sends him, but that would be missing a big part of the point and denaturing most of the thematics (the whimsy of pretend violence vs. the horror a real-world mass child murderer presents).<\/p>\n The emails have got to stay in as voice over. As much as voice-over can grate, there\u2019s a way to do it right.<\/p>\n The kids who play the campers would probably have to be aged-up for the film adaptation, but if the filmmakers stuck to their guns and kept the book\u2019s ending, the film could pack a punch.<\/p>\n The Summer Is Ended and We Are Not Yet Saved<\/em>\u2019s soberness and knowledge of the genre makes the closest movie to it I can name All the Boys Love Mandy Lane<\/em>, but even that\u2019s not close to what this could be.<\/p>\n Who\u2019s directing?<\/strong> There\u2019s probably a way to do this with a Wes Anderson-esque sense of art direction. But I say give this to a serious, mature filmmaker who\u2019s known in the genre but hasn\u2019t done a horror picture in a while.<\/p>\n William Friedkin would be my choice, if I were the executive laying down the cash. With Killer Joe<\/em> and Bug<\/em> he\u2019s had a mini-run of cerebral, violent, and adult stories. In fact, since we\u2019re working from my wildest dreams, get playwright Tracy Letts to adapt the book.<\/p>\n \u201cHorses\u201d begins with our protagonist debating between abortion and suicide, then quickly moves on to her part in a missile launch that will usher in a nuclear holocaust. She ends up having her baby and things only get bleaker from there.<\/p>\n I think I\u2019ve found the feel-good hit of the summer!<\/p>\n Why a movie?<\/strong> Our cinematic post-apocalypses tend to be pretty masculine and our \u201canti-heroes\u201d often seem to just be heroes with a sarcasm addiction. Here we\u2019ve got a new mother who really and truly resents her role as protector (to the point where audiences will certainly be turned off).<\/p>\n Although there\u2019s some great material to be found in John Hillcoat\u2019s adaptation of The Road<\/em>, I felt that McCarthy\u2019s father\/son tone-poem didn\u2019t gain much in translation (I much prefer Hillcoat\u2019s The Proposition<\/em>, which feels apocalyptic without actually having an apocalypse). \u201cHorses\u201d is maybe some kind of Bizarro World version of The Road<\/em>.<\/p>\n Everyone loved Mad Max: Fury Road<\/em> and Charlize Theron\u2019s character Furiosa, right? Then play against that newly established type by adapting \u201cHorses\u201d and give them a wasteland warrior who resents her position as a nurturer and savior.<\/p>\n What would change?<\/strong> Well, no amount of refiguring of this story is ever going to turn it into a popcorn movie, but with its limited locations, there\u2019s no reason \u201cHorses\u201d couldn\u2019t be done for a modest budget (look at something like The Rover<\/em>, effective without breaking the bank).<\/p>\n I say dial up the grime but keep the runtime brisk, there\u2019s probably only so much harrowing depression one human being can take.<\/p>\n Who\u2019s directing?<\/strong> Get a first-time director for this, maybe someone who\u2019s done a well-received short. How gutsy of an opening statement would this kind of thing be as a feature debut? I mean, they may never work again but it would probably be glorious.<\/p>\n But if we want someone with name recognition? This could be the movie that blends Kathryn Bigelow\u2019s early career genre work (Near Dark<\/em>) with her more recent serious-mindedness (Zero Dark Thirty<\/em>).<\/p>\n Yes, if you\u2019re someone looking for \u201ccontent\u201d to adapt into \u201cmultimedia properties\u201d your skin probably just started to crawl, thinking about how out-there all of that sounds, but I\u2019m being 100% serious when I say that I see Skullcrack City<\/em> as a commercial, big-budget film.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the kind of speculative fiction that throws a lot of plot and world-building at you, but never confuses you.<\/p>\n Why a movie, again?<\/strong> Don Coscarelli\u2019s adaptation of John Dies at the End<\/em> may be ballsy and fun, but it didn\u2019t get the wide release it needed to enter the public consciousness. Skullcrack City<\/em> is another\u2026er\u2026crack at making that kind of film.<\/p>\n If done right, it could be a dense and funny genre mish-mash that takes the best of cyberpunk dystopias and mixes them with body horror.<\/p>\n What would need to change?<\/strong> \u201cIt\u2019s Blade Runner<\/em> meets Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n And, no, it\u2019s no coincidence that I\u2019m comparing Johnson\u2019s novel to two very successful films adapted from unlikely sources.<\/p>\n Since the book is told in first-person, some shuffling would have to be done in order to avoid an overdose of narration (a problem that Blade Runner<\/em> ran into, weirdly enough). But figuring out exactly how is someone else\u2019s problem.<\/p>\n Who would direct?<\/strong> David Cronenberg is the stock answer given whenever \u201cbody horror\u201d gets mentioned.<\/p>\n So I won\u2019t say Cronenberg.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll say Guillermo del Toro\u2026collaborating with Cronenberg! Hey, this is my dream, right? I\u2019ll assign whoever I want. And del Toro seems like he gets along with people (not to mention over-commits himself), so is it really that crazy an idea?<\/p>\n Alright, there you go. Another 2,000 words when my editor asked for 1,000\u2026maybe I\u2019ll hit the target next time.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll be back next month with some new movie lovin\u2019, but in the meantime, since this column only provides book recommendations and we can\u2019t have that:<\/p>\n Our Movie of the Month<\/strong> is Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead\u2019s Spring<\/a><\/em>. Having missed it during its theatrical run in Philly, I caught up with it this week via Amazon streaming (it\u2019s recently added to Prime). It\u2019s fantastic, very hard to discuss without spoiling. It\u2019s got some beautiful cinematography (most of it shot on location in Italy) and combines horror and romance together in a way that ignores the clich\u00e9s of both genres.<\/p>\n Adam Cesare is a New Yorker who lives in Philadelphia. He studied English and film at Boston University. His books include <\/em>Mercy House,\u00a0Video Night, The Summer Job,\u00a0and <\/em>Tribesmen.\u00a0He has an oft-neglected website<\/a>\u00a0and tweets as @Adam_Cesare<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"William](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/carrie-william-katt1-300x168.jpg?resize=300%2C168\")
The Summer Is Ended and We Are Not Yet Saved<\/em> by Joey Comeau<\/a><\/h3>\n
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What\u2019s it about?<\/strong> Although not particularly religious, a young boy, Martin, wants to attend a summer bible camp. He\u2019s doing this so his single mother can take a job as a makeup artist on the set of a horror film. When he gets to the camp it becomes clear that there is a deranged killer on the loose. The senseless (and at times truly distressing) violence of the camp is juxtaposed by the funny (and slightly unhinged) correspondence Martin\u2019s mother writes him from set.<\/p>\n\u201cHorses\u201d by Livia Llwellyn<\/h3>\n
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What\u2019s it about?<\/strong> This is a short story from Llwellyn\u2019s Engines of Desire<\/a><\/em>. A collection that\u2019s excellent and\u2014it must be said\u2014 features stories that are audaciously unflimable in their mix of violence and eroticism.<\/p>\nSkullcrack City<\/em> by Jeremy Robert Johnson<\/a><\/h3>\n
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What\u2019s it about?<\/strong> What isn\u2019t it about! You\u2019ve got brain-eating monsters, you\u2019ve got drug abuse, you\u2019ve got futuristic reality shows, you\u2019ve got body modification, you\u2019ve got corporate conspiracy, you\u2019ve got turtles\u2026<\/p>\n