"Which Was Better, The Book Or The Movie?" New Book Provides The Answer For 21 Classic Horror, Fantasy & Sci-Fi Films Based On Novels And Stories

USA - English

• USA - English

LOS ANGELES, June 4, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Which was better -- the movie or the book? When it comes to the literary origins of 21 genre classics, this time-honored question is finally answered in a new book by film historians Jim Nemeth and Bob Madison: It Came From ... The Novels and Stories Behind the Classic Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction Films.

Each of the book's essays provides comparisons between original source material and screenplays for such well-known titles as THE WIZARD OF OZ, PSYCHO, WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY and PLANET OF THE APES. Familiar treasures -- Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Body Snatcher" and Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol -- are covered, as well as lesser-known gems like Daphne du Maurier's short story behind the thriller, DON'T LOOK NOW, and M. R. James' "Casting the Runes," the basis for the spooky NIGHT OF THE DEMON. Faithfulness to the original, contributions of screenwriters, the challenges they face, and analysis of both versions of the famous works, all lead to an authoritative consensus for "Who wrote it better, and why?"

Also provided is a comprehensive list of horror, fantasy and science fiction films based (closely or loosely) on other material, with each entry containing the author, publisher and publication date of the source.

Jim Nemeth and Bob Madison are available for interviews. Contact: [email protected]

Fun facts and amazing revelations in the book include:

• Alfred Hitchcock's film PSYCHO was an enormous financial success. Unfortunately for the book's author, Robert Bloch, his contract with publisher Simon & Schuster did not allow for a percentage of profits upon sale of the film rights. As such, after taxes and agent/publisher cuts, Bloch's total remuneration for his contribution to one of the classic films of all time netted him only a little over $6,000!
• F.W. Murnau's silent film NOSFERATU introduced one of the most enduring breaks from Bram Stoker's iconic novel, Dracula: that the Vampire King can be destroyed by sunlight. In the book, Dracula freely walks about during the day.
• While alien invasion was always a staple of science fiction literature, it wasn't until the 1950s that Hollywood fully embraced the theme -- due in great part to Cold War-generated paranoia that had overtaken the country. Then it seemed Hollywood couldn't churn out such films fast enough: encompassing interplanetary war (THIS ISLAND EARTH), insidious infiltration of the human population from within (INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS), and even monstrous plants (THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS).
• Imagine WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY without irresistible songs like "Candy Man" and "Pure Imagination." Yet, a tuneless WONKA almost came to be -- director Mel Stuart did not envision the film as a musical, and author Roald Dahl only dabbled with the notion of his Oompa-Loompa "poems" fitting into the film with melodies.

With both authority and humor, It Came From ... The Novels and Stories Behind the Classic Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction Films fills a noticeable gap in film scholarship.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Jim Nemeth is a technical writer in computer software and biotechnology. In 1993, he won first prize in a national magazine's short-story writing contest for which Ray Bradbury and Robert Bloch were judges, an award which held special meaning, as Bloch remains his favorite writer and main literary influence. Nemeth has had essays, articles and reviews printed in a variety of publications, including FilmFax, Mad About Movies and Monsters From The Vault. Additionally, he contributed to the book Peter Cushing: Midnight Marquee Actor Series (2004.) A long-time community activist, Nemeth is particularly committed to the causes of animal rescue and breast cancer research. He and husband Ken Bowden live in the historic harbor town of Marblehead, MA.

Bob Madison is a West Coast writer. His short story "Red Sunset" received a starred review in Locus Magazine; he is the author of American Horror Writers (2000) and editor of Dracula: The First Hundred Years (1997). Other credits include numerous articles for Wonder Magazine, FilmFax, and a comic strip adaptation of Conan Doyle's The Lost World for The Dinosaur Times, illustrated by Gray Morrow. As a talk show guest and lecturer, Madison has appeared twice on WABC-TV's "Good Morning America" and WOR's "Joey Reynolds Show," among others, and he has served as an on-camera expert in documentaries for several DVD film releases.

It Came From ... The Stories and Novels Behind Classic Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction Films (Midnight Marquee Press, Inc., 2020) ISBN-13 978-1644300916 / 340 pp / $30.00

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SOURCE It Came From ... The Novels and Stories Behind the Classic Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction Films