5 Films You May Not Have Realized Were Based On Books

Unlike many people, I actually prefer to read the book after I've seen the film. That way, I can appreciate the film for what it is, without constantly comparing it to the book and ultimately being disappointed by the result. Let's be frank: the book is [almost] always better. Once exception that comes to mind is Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg - where the book and film were both incredible in their own rights. My list is huge, but I'll start with the five that immediately come to mind. Compiling material for this post has actually made me want to go back to the bookshelf and read (and watch) some of these, again - so I welcome your feedback and/or any other titles you feel would make worthwhile additions for later posts.

1. The Relic (1997)

Tor Books/Paramount Pictures / Via prestonchild.com

The Relic (1997) was actually based on 1995's Relic, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. There were many differences/omissions in the film adaption of the best-selling novel, much to the chagrin of fans of the series such as myself. The series' main protagonist, FBI Special Agent Pendergast, was deleted from the screenplay altogether.

The story centres around a series of grizzly murders which occur deep within the bowels of the New York Museum of Natural History (the Chicago Museum of Natural History in the film), where museum staff and law enforcement are pitted in a race against time to solve the museum's darkest mystery before countless lives are lost during the black-tie opening of a brand-new exhibit on superstition.

This book was recommended to me by my good friend, Ellen Burton, while we were both working in a Montréal book shop, and I've read this novel (and its successors) from cover to cover, many times over. If you enjoy spooky, historical mysteries and nail-biting horror, this one is definitely for you.

2. The First Wives Club (1996)

Simon & Schuster/Paramount Pictures / Via chapters.indigo.ca

The First Wives Club (1996) was based on 1992's critically-acclaimed The First Wives Club by Olivia Goldsmith.

Fans of the bubbly, delightful romp through high-society's dirty little secrets with Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton, Dame Maggie Smith (c'mon, everybody loves Maggie) might be a little shocked by the decidedly dark subject matter of the original novel.

Gone are the sometimes hilarious, almost slapstick-riddled adventures of our three love-spurned would-be heroines - replaced with dark, sadistic, twisted and sometime even downright violent revenge schemes.

The film used a lightly-feathered touch when exploring some of the novel's darkest themes (such as suicide, alcohol/drug abuse, bitterness, adultery and revenge), however the reader will discover that the Barney & Friends approach wasn't even considered when put on paper by Goldsmith.

3. The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Random House/Twentieth Century Fox / Via randomhouse.com

The Devil Wears Prada, based on 2003 novel of the same name by Lauren Weisberger, follows fresh-faced Andrea Sachs, as she lands the job "a million girls would die for" at the prestigious Vog--err Runway magazine, working as an assistant to the (extremely) difficult Editor-in-chief, Miranda Priestly.

As with The First Wives Club, Weisberger's novel differs greatly from the film in many aspects, most notably in the significantly darker tone and much less glamorous view of the industry as portrayed in the film. In fact, the main character, Andy, doesn't even meet the antagonist, Priestly, until several months after starting her job at the magazine.

Both are definitely worth exploring in their own right, however once seen, Meryl Streep's notable portrayal as The Ice Queen is difficult to get out of your head.

4. Stir of Echoes (1999)

Macmillan Publishers/Twentieth Century Fox / Via us.macmillan.com

Stir of Echoes was based on the 1958 novel A Stir of Echoes by legendary horror writer Richard Matheson.

While the film focuses mainly on blue-collared family man Tom Witzky's psychic connection to the spirit of a murdered girl who desperately wants the mystery of her disappearance solved, the novel offers a broader, first-person account of Tom Wallace's journey after been recently "blessed" with the gift of precognition after being hypnotized by a neighbour at a party.

The plot device involving the missing girl isn't even a significant motivator to the protagonist's actions in the novel, the main focus being on how being able to see and hear everything around him ends up slowly driving him mad.

All things considered, this is a well-rounded work of fiction and the film, although different, was a wonderfully fleshed-out and expanded adaptation of the novel's theme.

5. I am Legend (2007)

Tor Books/Warner Bros. / Via us.macmillan.com

Let's jump right into another work of fiction by Richard Matheson. The Will Smith blockbuster was based on Matheson's 1954 novella I am Legend (or I am Legend and Other Stories).

The story has been adapted for the screen several times, most notably in 1964's The Last Man on Earth and 1971's The Omega Man (starring Charlton Heston). And it's easy to see why - the penultimate story of the alleged last man on earth, struggling to survive after the apocalyptic destruction of the human race and rebuild some semblance of a normal life - hit close to home for original readers - arriving on the coat tails of the second world war, where the possibility of humanity being wiped out by nuclear weapons was a very tangible threat, indeed.

The antagonists have been altered throughout time, however... in the original novella they were vampires - later they were represented as mutants, zombies, or simply "the infected". I personally found the original story's concept of sentient vampires gathering around Robert Neville's house each night and yelling for him to "just come out and get it over with" to be particularly chilling.

I won't spoil the ending, but it's much more satisfying than the 2007 film version (with less boom-boom-pow).