This is came to mind today. Movie novelizations (tie-ins) have a short shelf life in the fiction-reading world. They are meant to. They are a transparent means by publishers and movie studios to make more money and they must work because they keep getting released. A lot of this stuff is workmanlike, a journeyman's practice that helps pay the bills, but on the other hand, some of them really hit the spot and can be decent palate cleansers between reading non-franchise books.
Probably the most compelling reason to read a movie tie-in novel is the context. Some of them fill in background gaps to a story that enriches your enjoyment of the movie or at least gives some insight into the character's thoughts that can't be adequately conveyed on film. This also shows that there is more thought put into these storylines than some of them get credit for. Some novelizations feel unnecessary, such as the novel adaptation of a screenplay that was already based on novel. It happens. Take Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, for example. The context that one provided actually helped the movie make more sense and evened out its bipolar pace. At any rate, some of them really do have a place for fans of the films.
Here's a few examples of movie novelizations that stand out:
Halloween by Curtis Richards-this one is frustrating to find anywhere for a decent price. Thankfully, there is an e-book available. Halloween is one of my all-time favorite films. I appreciate its suspense, artful camera angles, relatively simple plot, and its thesis on the personification of evil. The novel conveys that personification of evil but also provides a reason why Michael Myers kills (and no, it's not the white trash oedipal mess the Rob Zombie made it out to be.) During the time of Samhain, over a thousand years ago, there was a pariah from a Celtic tribe, a deformed young man who was in love with a girl. Because she wouldn't give him a second glance, he was insanely jealous and he murdered her and her lover. When he was killed by his tribe for his crimes, his spirit was cursed to roam the earth, reenacting his crimes. To me, this is my favorite version of why Michael does what he does, but it's better that it stays in a novelization and the movie doesn't leave an explanation. Also excellent is the novelization for Halloween II by Jack Martin (a.k.a. the late horror legend Dennis Etchison). Halloween IV by Nicholas Grabowski was good, although it doesn't provide a ton more than you already see on film. The same goes for the novelization for Halloween (the 2018 film).
Friday the 13th (Parts 1, 2, 3, and 6)-by Simon Hawke. These books are also frustratingly rare. I would say these are essential if you really want to get any context to Jason and his origin, since the movies mostly imply that he drowned as a boy in Crystal Lake and came back as a zombie, somehow a grown-up. Part 6 is especially rewarding because it gives us a couple of scenes that really would have enhanced the film had they been included and give sinister implications of the Voorhees family history. The novels, in general, make more sense than the films do, and reading them made me crave watching the old slashers again.
Fright Night by John Skipp and Craig Spector. If anything, this one helped provide insight into the characters' personalities. It was also well-written but I couldn't expect any less from these two.
Nightmare on Elm Street (Parts 1,2,3) by Jeffrey Cooper-the first three films were apparently adapted into novelization. While brief, they were enjoyable. Part 3 was different from the film in several ways and made more sense than the movie itself, making me wish that Dream Warriors was made differently. That's saying something, considering that it's one of the better Freddy sequels.
Ghostbusters by Richard Mueller and Ghostbusters II by Ed Naha-I read these over the weekend last summer. The second doesn't offer as much background although it was a good one. Mueller's version of the first, though, is not just entertaining but gave me more of the history of the characters, particularly Venkman. He was always a little mysterious to me. Where did that wacky personality come from? As it turns out, he was a carnival barker and that makes so much damn sense.
Batman Begins by Denny O'Neil-there is probably no one more qualified to write a Batman book than O'Neil, who was probably my favorite writer of the character. I include this one because the background O'Neil provides satisfied me as a comic fan. His novelization of the Dark Knight was disappointingly sparse.
Alien, Aliens, Alien: Covenant, Alien: Covenant Origins-Alan Dean Foster. While his adaptations of the first two films are great, I have this guy to thank for bringing some much-needed background to Ridley Scott's prequels in the Covenant books. Taken at face value, the movie feels too remote from Prometheus, which a lot of people don't like to begin with. I like these movies, and Foster's novelizations help in providing a timeline to bring the prequels and original films together, mostly due to Covenant: Origins that I think is vital to series. With that being said, I really hope that Scott's next Alien film rounds out the story. Foster even tried to do a different version of Alien 3 since he didn't like the script, but he was muzzled. In place of that, I recommend the early Dark Horse Alien comics written by Mark Verheiden that continue the story and made it immensely more satisfying than the Alien 3 and Resurrection movies ever could.
Whew! I always pack in a lot of information into these entries, and I guess this one's no different. For several of these books, I have the '80s Slasher Librarian channel on YouTube to thank for making audio versions for several of these books available. Honestly the Curtis and Hawke books are ridiculous to find and afford since Michael and Jason collectors out there are legion. That's all for now. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas.
Written by Nicholas Montelongo
Probably the most compelling reason to read a movie tie-in novel is the context. Some of them fill in background gaps to a story that enriches your enjoyment of the movie or at least gives some insight into the character's thoughts that can't be adequately conveyed on film. This also shows that there is more thought put into these storylines than some of them get credit for. Some novelizations feel unnecessary, such as the novel adaptation of a screenplay that was already based on novel. It happens. Take Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, for example. The context that one provided actually helped the movie make more sense and evened out its bipolar pace. At any rate, some of them really do have a place for fans of the films.
Here's a few examples of movie novelizations that stand out:
Halloween by Curtis Richards-this one is frustrating to find anywhere for a decent price. Thankfully, there is an e-book available. Halloween is one of my all-time favorite films. I appreciate its suspense, artful camera angles, relatively simple plot, and its thesis on the personification of evil. The novel conveys that personification of evil but also provides a reason why Michael Myers kills (and no, it's not the white trash oedipal mess the Rob Zombie made it out to be.) During the time of Samhain, over a thousand years ago, there was a pariah from a Celtic tribe, a deformed young man who was in love with a girl. Because she wouldn't give him a second glance, he was insanely jealous and he murdered her and her lover. When he was killed by his tribe for his crimes, his spirit was cursed to roam the earth, reenacting his crimes. To me, this is my favorite version of why Michael does what he does, but it's better that it stays in a novelization and the movie doesn't leave an explanation. Also excellent is the novelization for Halloween II by Jack Martin (a.k.a. the late horror legend Dennis Etchison). Halloween IV by Nicholas Grabowski was good, although it doesn't provide a ton more than you already see on film. The same goes for the novelization for Halloween (the 2018 film).Friday the 13th (Parts 1, 2, 3, and 6)-by Simon Hawke. These books are also frustratingly rare. I would say these are essential if you really want to get any context to Jason and his origin, since the movies mostly imply that he drowned as a boy in Crystal Lake and came back as a zombie, somehow a grown-up. Part 6 is especially rewarding because it gives us a couple of scenes that really would have enhanced the film had they been included and give sinister implications of the Voorhees family history. The novels, in general, make more sense than the films do, and reading them made me crave watching the old slashers again.
Fright Night by John Skipp and Craig Spector. If anything, this one helped provide insight into the characters' personalities. It was also well-written but I couldn't expect any less from these two.
Nightmare on Elm Street (Parts 1,2,3) by Jeffrey Cooper-the first three films were apparently adapted into novelization. While brief, they were enjoyable. Part 3 was different from the film in several ways and made more sense than the movie itself, making me wish that Dream Warriors was made differently. That's saying something, considering that it's one of the better Freddy sequels.
Ghostbusters by Richard Mueller and Ghostbusters II by Ed Naha-I read these over the weekend last summer. The second doesn't offer as much background although it was a good one. Mueller's version of the first, though, is not just entertaining but gave me more of the history of the characters, particularly Venkman. He was always a little mysterious to me. Where did that wacky personality come from? As it turns out, he was a carnival barker and that makes so much damn sense.
Batman Begins by Denny O'Neil-there is probably no one more qualified to write a Batman book than O'Neil, who was probably my favorite writer of the character. I include this one because the background O'Neil provides satisfied me as a comic fan. His novelization of the Dark Knight was disappointingly sparse.
Alien, Aliens, Alien: Covenant, Alien: Covenant Origins-Alan Dean Foster. While his adaptations of the first two films are great, I have this guy to thank for bringing some much-needed background to Ridley Scott's prequels in the Covenant books. Taken at face value, the movie feels too remote from Prometheus, which a lot of people don't like to begin with. I like these movies, and Foster's novelizations help in providing a timeline to bring the prequels and original films together, mostly due to Covenant: Origins that I think is vital to series. With that being said, I really hope that Scott's next Alien film rounds out the story. Foster even tried to do a different version of Alien 3 since he didn't like the script, but he was muzzled. In place of that, I recommend the early Dark Horse Alien comics written by Mark Verheiden that continue the story and made it immensely more satisfying than the Alien 3 and Resurrection movies ever could.Whew! I always pack in a lot of information into these entries, and I guess this one's no different. For several of these books, I have the '80s Slasher Librarian channel on YouTube to thank for making audio versions for several of these books available. Honestly the Curtis and Hawke books are ridiculous to find and afford since Michael and Jason collectors out there are legion. That's all for now. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas.
Written by Nicholas Montelongo
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