Novelizations of Bad Movies

[spongekryst]

I was strolling through a book store just last week, when at the corner of my eye, I see a novel based on the movie, Catwoman. This tickled me at first, but soon I was strangely compelled to read it. I still haven't, but my curiosity springs from the logic that "the book was better", which is usually true for movies based on books, but I've never given much thought to the opposite.

There have been two well received novelizations of b-movies that I can think of, The Toxic Avenger and Halloween 3 (did better than the movie actually, which is strange because that movie rules).

So, can anyone think of any others? Have you read any bad movie novels? Which movies would you like to read as a book?

[Conf]

I havent' read any, but in a pub/bookstore in Madrid two years ago I stumbled upon the novelization of Omen 3. They were selling it for just 1€ but I picked other horror books.

[Raffine]

In the '70s just about every movie released had a novellization. [READ THE BANTAM BOOK!] I used to get the novelizations of horror movies all the time. They're all long gone, but a couple I particularly remember were for THE PROPHECY (the killer mutant bear one) and Dino DeLaurentis' ORCA.

The novel version for JAWS 2 was particularly popular and complex. There were whole original story lines involving the shark being pregnant (and the drama of her smallest unborn baby struggling with his wombmates!), a baby seal who's mother gets eaten and so has to learn to fend for himself, mafia involvement in Amity, Brody's son learning to scuba dive,  etc.

Cracked magazine's writers, I guess trying to scoop MAD, released their movie satire around the same time as the movie came out (MAD's satires usually ran a couple of months after the film's release). They obviously hadn't seen the movie and just read the book, since their movie satire contained many of the elements found only in the book! 

A couple of funny examples of this practice was when the bookstores were selling paperback copies of MARY SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN (by Lenore Fleischer, based on the screenplay by Steph Lady and Frank Darabont) and BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA (by Fred Saberhagen, based on the screenplay by James V Hart).

[tracy]

I haven't read it yet but my sister said she got a novelization of "Air America" and said it sucked.

[FatFreddysCat]

I love movie novelizations. I just picked up the paperback version of "Poltergeist" at a rummage sale last weekend.

Bad movie novels? Hmmmm. Off the top of my head, I can remember reading the novelization of "Jaws: The Revenge" (!) many years ago, and that it was actually better than/made more sense than the movie. If memory serves, there were some supernatural elements in the novel that weren't present in the film. I don't remember exactly but I think Mrs. Brody did something to p*ss off the local Witch Doctor while she was visiting the islands, and so he cast a voodoo spell that brought the shark to Bermuda.

...ooookay, maybe that doesn't make much sense either, but it was better than the "shark hates the entire Brody family so much that he will follow them all the way from Amity to the Caribbean in order to finish them off" story portrayed in the movie. :D

[Raffine]

"Jaws: The Revenge" (!) many years ago, and that it was actually better than/made more sense than the movie. If memory serves, there were some supernatural elements in the novel that weren't present in the film. I don't remember exactly but I think Mrs. Brody did something to p*ss off the local Witch Doctor while she was visiting the islands, and so he cast a voodoo spell that brought the shark to Bermuda.

I seem to remember the Michael Caine character was a lot shadier in the book (yes - I had this one, too), being some kind of organized crime smuggler or something.  He also got eaten by the shark.

For some reason that escapes me I never did get the JAWS 3D novel...

[alandhopewell]

     I owned a copy of this in high school....



     It was what we'd call softcore porn today; several sex scenes that weren't in the film.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Jaws: The Revenge" (!) many years ago, and that it was actually better than/made more sense than the movie. If memory serves, there were some supernatural elements in the novel that weren't present in the film. I don't remember exactly but I think Mrs. Brody did something to p*ss off the local Witch Doctor while she was visiting the islands, and so he cast a voodoo spell that brought the shark to Bermuda.

I seem to remember the Michael Caine character was a lot shadier in the book (yes - I had this one, too), being some kind of organized crime smuggler or something.  He also got eaten by the shark.

For some reason that escapes me I never did get the JAWS 3D novel...

I think you may be right, now that you mention it. I think it was hinted at that he used his airplane to smuggle narcotics for the local drug runners...

Geez, now I'd almost like to read that book again, haha. If I ever come across a copy at a yard sale or wherever I'm gonna have to snap it up.

[RCMerchant]

I have the novelizations of the CAR,BURNT OFFERINGS,the MANITOU,BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES,and IT'S ALIVE.
A few of those DARK SHADOWS ones too.

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

in a bookstore in Ft. Collins Colorado a LONG time ago, I found a novelization of SQUIRM.

[alandhopewell]

     Isn't it amazing, the crap you can accumulate by hanging around the Paperback Exchange....

[BoyScoutKevin]

I presume we are talking about original novels based upon the film's screenplay and not novels, which have been re-packaged with a new cover, to tie in with the release of the film. I first read "The Swarm" by Arthur Herzog, jr. that way. As a re-released version of his novel with a new cover to tie-in with the release of the film.

But original novelizations of the film's screenplay . . . ? I probably have alot, but as I said earlier, nearly all my paperbacks are boxed up in storage and inaccessible. But . . . ?

I do remember I have read and have the novelization for "The Wild, Wild West." Not the '60's TV show, but the 1999 film. Strangely enough, or maybe not, the novelization is probably better than the film, as the book goes into more character detail than the film, so the characters are more 3D than 2D.

But, then to top that, I came across, about the same time, a novelization of the '60's TV show. Not based upon any of the TV episodes, but using the characters from the TV show. Very '60's style of writing, but then again so was the TV show.

And one more. A novelization of "Planet of the Apes." Not the original 1968 version, but the 2001 remake. And here, where the paperback was based on one of the earliest scripts, one can see how changes in the characters were made between that script and the final shooting script which wound up on the screen.

I am sure I have more, but that is the only ones I remember.

[zombie no.one]

etc, etc... these guys obviously knew a quick buck when they saw it. RAW DEAL and TRUE LIES as well...

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

This one: