Steve
This year, I’m making it a point to read more. After all, there’s nothing quite like curling up with a good book, the wind howling outside your window, ice cubes clinking in a glass of something delicious and smooth on your end table. During the holiday break, I put my video game collection on pause, stepped away from watching films outside of work, and rekindled my love of reading, with seven novels completed since the new year. While my imagination lets me see the stories I’m reading as a motion picture in my head, I can’t help but want some of my favorite novels adapted for screens big and small.
While there are many novels worth getting the live-action adaptation treatment, I’ve compiled a list of five-ish titles that deserve the right to become a feature film or television series. Feel free to browse the list below, and of course, be sure to check these books out at your local retailers or online, as I highly recommend them all.
The Indian Lake Trilogy (My Heart is a Chainsaw / Don’t Fear the Reaper / The Angel of Indian Lake) by Stephen Graham Jones
Referred to by many as the Master of Modern Horror, Stephen Graham Jones‘ The Indian Lake Trilogy is a must-read for slasher fans. As a child of the 80s, I grew up with characters like Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, and Michael Myers slicing teenagers to ribbons on my television screen. The slasher genre endures with movies like Scream, Terrifier, and The Strangers continuing to drop bodies like bad habits. Still, killers also run rampant in Jones’ brutal, bone-chilling, and twisty series.
Spanning three novels, The Indian Lake Trilogy centers on Jennifer “Jade” Daniels, a young Indigenous girl who lives, eats, and breathes the slasher genre. Jade knows all the rules to surviving a real-life run-in with a killer, if only one would come to her hometown of Indian Lake or the nouveau-riche development next door, Terra Nova, and save her from the mundanity of existence. It’s not long before Jade gets her wish. With adrenaline and fear coursing through their veins like battery acid, it’s up to Jade and Letha Mondragon, an enigmatic final girl in the making, to discover the killer and end their reign of terror before Indian Lake overflows with the blood of family, friends, and community.
Because Jones’ Indian Lake books are a trilogy, I think a television series adaptation would work best for this selection. Each installment of the series expands on its characters, themes, and lore, with new (and returning) killers turning Jade’s life into a living nightmare. I could see someone like Mike Flanagan tackling a three-season epic, with stars like Paulina Alexis (Reservation Dogs) and Joy Sunday (Wednesday) as Jade and Letha, respectively. The story is ever-evolving, the cast matures throughout the journey, and the body count rivals that of Game of Thrones. Let’s go!
Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey
While I impatiently wait for updates on Netflix’s adaptation of Marcus Kliewer’s horror novel “We Used to Live Here,” I’m hoping someone becomes hip to optioning Sarah Gailey‘s haunted-house thriller “Just Like Home” for a film adaptation. This intensely creepy story of familial strife centers on Vera, who receives a call from her estranged mother asking Vera to return to her childhood home, the same place Vera’s serial killer father buried all his bodies. Reluctantly, Vera obeys, thinking it’s only a matter of time before her mother passes away, granting Vera peace and closure. However, when Vera arrives, she finds a parasitic artist living in the guest house, slowly stripping the house for spare parts for his latest project. As Vera navigates her mother’s failing health and their invasive house guest, the rot within the house begins to seep into Vera’s mind, dredging up old memories, uncovering startling revelations, and leaving her clues about how her family, and the house, are more cursed than Vera remembers.
Gailey’s “Just Like Home” is the type of book that gets under your skin. Vera’s relationship with her father is, for lack of a better word, complicated. Even after so many years and so much evidence, it isn’t easy to believe that underneath his loving exterior, Vera’s father committed unthinkable acts of torture and cruelty, just beneath Vera’s childhood bedroom. My ideal director for a project such as this would be The Babadook‘s Jennifer Kent, whose talent for establishing a dreadfully affecting atmosphere and creeping madness would serve Gailey’s story well.
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
Ever since Ozzy Osbourne passed away last year, I haven’t been able to get Joe Hill‘s horror novel “Heart-Shaped Box” out of my head. Even when I read the book in 2009, it reminded me of Ozzy, and it’s time for a re-read, perhaps in honor of The Prince of Darkness himself. Let me explain. “Heart-Shaped Box” revolves around aging death-metal rock legend Judas Coyne, a collector of the macabre: a comic book for cannibals, a used hangman’s noose, a snuff film. Nothing is too strange or otherworldly for Judas. However, when his latest acquisition, a musty, dead man’s suit still inhabited by the spirit of its late owner, arrives at his door in a heart-shaped box, Judas gets more than he bargained for.
“Heart-Shaped Box” is tailor-made for a feature adaptation, preferably starring Graham McTavish as Judas Coyne. When Judas accepts the suit into his home, everything changes, as the old man’s spirit that inhabits the garment won’t leave Judas alone. He’s always there – watching, waiting, dangling a razor blade on a chain from his bony hand, blue veins pulsing angrily beneath his translucent skin. I’d like to see Nia DaCosta return to horror for this one. If she’s not up for it, give Scott Derrickson a call. “Heart-Shaped Box” could be an ideal horror movie, a tribute to the heavy metal genre, with the wear and tear of Judas’s old life haunting him as much as the old man, as he discovers a new darkness.
I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones
I’ve been on a Stephen Graham Jones kick lately. After reading (and loving) the horror author’s Indian Lake Trilogy, I immediately read I Was A Teenage Slasher, with other Jones titles like The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, The Only Good Indians, Mapping the Interior, and Night of the Mannequins arranged near the top of my to-be-read pile. When I find an author I like, I tend to devour everything they’ve written. While you’ll find some harsh reviews of I Was A Teenage Slasher online, I found this demented love letter to the slasher genre a delight, from its clever premise to its unique exploration of possession and a touching love story peppered throughout its pages.
I Was A Teenage Slasher centers on Tolly Driver, a good-natured outcast with a peanut allergy who, after witnessing a supernatural massacre at a pool party, finds himself uncontrollably drawn to violence. As Tolly’s situation goes from bad to worse, he and his friend Amber try to solve the mystery of his bloodlust before he rips through a group of vindictive, prank-playing teens.
I Was A Teenage Slasher is screaming for a feature film adaptation. The story puts us in the killer’s sneakers as it explores what makes slashers impossibly clever, imposing, and highly efficient. If you’ve ever wondered what makes maniacs like Jason and Michael tick, Tolly’s descent into crimson-colored madness goes to truly dark places while investigating the slasher genre with gusto. I’d like to see Ti West sink his teeth into this one, with two newcomers playing Tolly and Amber.
Strange Houses / Strange Pictures by Uketsu
Recurring dreams are a curious phenomenon. Most nights, I dream about strange houses. Places constructed without rhyme or reason, littered with hallways leading to oblivion, or staircases that wind in Escher-like patterns, touching the sky at impossible angles. This recurring escape could be why I feel drawn to books like Uketsu’s “Strange Houses” and “Strange Pictures”, a collection of bizarre mysteries involving murder, startling revelations, and curious connective tissue.
In “Strange Houses,” a writer fascinated by the macabre is approached by an acquaintance who invites him to investigate an eerie house for sale in Tokyo. At first, with its bright, spacious interior, it seems like the perfect first home. But upon closer inspection, the building’s floor plans reveal a mysterious “dead space” hidden between its walls. Seeking a second opinion, the writer shares the floor plans with his friend Kurihara, an architect, only to discover more unnerving details as he goes.
What is the true purpose behind the house’s disturbing design? And what happened to the former owners who disappeared without a trace? When a body suddenly appears, and a young woman reaches out about a second house, it soon becomes clear that the writer and his friend may be in over their heads.
Meanwhile, in “Strange Pictures,” a pregnant woman’s sketches on a seemingly innocuous blog conceal a chilling warning, a child’s picture of his home contains a dark secret message, and a sketch made by a murder victim in his final moments leads an amateur sleuth down a rabbit hole that will reveal a horrifying reality. Structured around these nine childlike drawings, each holding a disturbing clue, Uketsu invites readers to piece together the mystery behind each and the overarching backstory that connects them all.
My vision for this adaptation would be two mini-series, each with three episodes. I could see Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike executing a must-watch version of Uketsu’s insane stories for horror and mystery fans alike. “Strange Houses” and “Strange Pictures” feature intriguing characters, tragic and macabre narratives, and unique storytelling elements that give each presentation an interactive quality. If arranged properly, I could see both adaptations reaching Black Mirror and Knives Out fans with ease.
