Popular Horror Movies Based on Book

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
The Book: The novel, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, was written by Seth Grahame-Smith (who is also the author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies). It was published in 2010. The book was written as a series of secret journal entries of Abraham Lincoln, detailing his life growing up in a world where vampires not only exist but were responsible for the death of his grandfather. Lincoln discovers that vampires are buying and feeding upon slaves, and decides that ending slavery is the key to eliminating vampires in America.

The Movie: The film adaptation of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was released during the summer of 2012, starring Benjamin Walker as Lincoln. Seth Grahame-Smith wrote the screenplay, which differed from the novel in a few ways. For example, in the film a young Lincoln witnesses a plantation owner (a vampire) attack his mother, and later seeks revenge (as opposed to the book where he’s told that a vampire killed his grandfather). Several characters in the book — such as Edgar Allen Poe, a friend of Lincoln’s in the novel — make no appearance in the film. The film also introduced new characters such as Adam, played by Rufus Sewell, serving as the leader of the vampires.





Bram Stoker’s Dracula
The Book: Stoker’s Dracula was published in 1897, but was not the first tale of vampires. It was itself derivative in that it stemmed from folk tales from Eastern Europe. The name “Dracula” came from “Dracul” — the name taken by descendants of Vlad II (Vlad the Impaler) — and was actually a late title change for the novel. Its original working title was simply The Un-Dead.

The Movie: While there are many films influenced by Stoker’s Dracula — from 1922′s unauthorized adaptation of Nosferatu to the 1995 Mel Brooks spoof, Dracula, Dead and Loving It — the 1992 version is supposed to be based more directly on the novel than some other films in the vampire genre. The film, starring Gary Oldman, Keanu Reeves, Anthony Hopkins, and Winona Ryder, stays true to some elements of the book, but takes a more romantic and sexualized approach to the story.





The Exorcist
The Book: The Exorcist is a novel written by William Peter Blatty. It was first published in 1971. Blatty wrote the novel after hearing about an actual exorcism from 1949 which took place in Maryland. The book covers the story of two Jesuit priests who try to rid a girl named Regan MacNeil of a demonic possession.

The Movie: The film adaptation of The Exorcist was released just two years after the novel, in 1973. The movie follows the same basic story of possession and exorcism, and has become a horror genre classic. The Exorcist was the first horror film to receive a nomination for Best Picture for the Academy Awards.





Frankenstein
The Book: Mary Shelley began writing Frankenstein when she was 19 years old. It was published two years later, in 1818, without her receiving credit. She was finally credited as the author in 1823 with the second edition of the book. The story revolves around Victor Frankenstein, a scientist who in an effort to bring the dead to life creates a monster. As much as Frankenstein is an example of science fiction, it also has elements of a murder mystery with innocent people accused of murders they didn’t commit, and it addresses issues of societal norms and acceptance as well as revenge.

The Movie: The 1931 cinematic telling of Frankenstein came early in Hollywood’s monster movie trend of the 30s and 40s. The Universal Pictures production starred Boris Karloff as the monster and Colin Clive as Dr. Frankenstein (named Henry in the film, although the character’s name was Victor in the novel). This version of Frankenstein wasn’t directly adapted from the novel. Instead it was adapted from a 1927 play by Peggy Webling, which was in turn based on Shelley’s book.





Interview With the Vampire
The Book: The story centers around Louis, a vampire, as he tells the story of his life to a reporter. That story involves his companion / “creator,” Lestat, a young girl named Claudia who Lestat also turned into a vampire, and Louis’ and Claudia’s efforts to free themselves from Lestat and find others of their kind. The novel was based on a previously-written short story Rice worked on in the late 60s, and it was published in 1976.

The Movie: Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles was the 1994 film adaptation of Rice’s work. It starred Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, and Kirsten Dunst. Anne Rice wrote the screenplay for the film, which explains why it stayed reasonably true to the novel.





Jaws
The Book: Peter Benchley’s Jaws was published in 1974 and tells the story of three men who set out to kill a great white shark that terrorized their small Long Island town. The movie rights to the novel were secured fairly early and the filmmakers’ efforts to build interest in the story helped the book become a bestseller, which it remained for 44 weeks.

The Movie: Stephen Spielberg’s film adaptation of Jaws was released in 1975, just after the novel’s release and ascension to the bestseller lists. The movie starred Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert Shaw as the three shark hunters in the tale. One of the three characters was supposed to die in a shark cage according to the novel (no spoilers here for those who haven’t seen or read it). But the script was changed when Spielberg wanted to use footage captured of an actual great white shark tearing the empty cage apart. The movie also removes the love triangle between Martin and Ellen Brody and Matt Hooper, which was a significant sub-plot of the novel.





Psycho
The Book: Psycho, the novel, was written by Robert Bloch and published in 1959. The basic story doesn’t change much from the novel to the screen, both emphasizing the idea that even your small town neighbor could really be a “psycho” without you realizing it. But the way the story is told does change. For example, the book shows Bates as an unstable drunk whereas the film portrays him as younger and with a rather innocent appeal early on.

The Movie: In addition to changing the physical and behavioral aspects that made Norman Bates inherently creepy in the novel, the Alfred Hitchcock’s film changed the early point of view somewhat. There’s more of a focus on Marion Crane (named Mary in the book) so the audience becomes more emotionally invested in her fate. That, plus the character changes to Norman, went a long way to intensify Hitchcock’s classic suspense.





The Ring
The Book: There are significant differences between the novel and films. For example Suzuki’s book, released in 1991, takes more of a science fiction approach. The video tape transmits a sort of virus (the Ring Virus) that causes the viewer to have a heart attack on the seventh day after watching it. Also, the main character — a reporter — is a man.

The Movie: In the Japanese version of the film, the reporter is a woman named Reiko. And in the American version her name is Rachael. Also, the films are more vague about how victims are killed — leading some feel they’re simply scared to death rather than suffering heart attacks as a result of a virus.





Rosemary’s Baby
Rosemary’s Baby was written by Ira Levin and published in 1967. It tells the story of Rosemary Woodhouse, her husband Guy, and two neighbors. The neighbors — Minnie and Roman Castevet — make Rosemary a bit uneasy, but her husband (a struggling actor) takes to them. Long story short, Rosemary becomes pregnant and believes her husband has traded their child to the Castevets and a satanic cult in order to achieve success as an actor.

The Movie: The film version of Rosemary’s Baby, directed by Roman Polanski, was released just one year after the novel. It stars Mia Farrow as Rosemary and is faithful to its source of inspiration. Like readers of the book, viewers of the film are brought into Rosemary’s almost claustrophobic and seemingly paranoid world where she feels like everyone is conspiring against her and she just might be carrying the spawn of Satan.





The Amityville Horror
The Amityville Horror: A True Story is a book by Jay Anson, published in September 1977. It is also the basis of ten films released between 1979 and 2011. The book is said to be based on the real-life paranormal experiences of the Lutz family, but has led to controversy and lawsuits over its truthfulness.
In December 1975, George and Kathy Lutz and Kathy's three children moved into 112 Ocean Avenue, a large Dutch Colonial house in Amityville, a suburban neighborhood located on the south shore of Long Island, New York. Thirteen months before the Lutzes moved in, Ronald DeFeo, Jr. had shot and killed six members of his family at the house. After 28 days, the Lutzes left the house, claiming to have been terrorized by paranormal phenomena while living there.

The Movie
The story is based on the alleged real life experiences of the Lutz family who buy a new home on 112 Ocean Avenue, Long Island, a house where a mass murder had been committed the year before. After the family move into the house, they experience a series of frightening paranormal events.





Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the original title of a novella written by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson that was first published in 1886. The work is commonly known today as The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, or simply Jekyll & Hyde. It is about a London lawyer named Gabriel John Utterson who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr Henry Jekyll, and the evil Edward Hyde.
The work is commonly associated with the rare mental condition often spuriously called "split personality", referred to in psychiatry as dissociative identity disorder, where within the same body there exists more than one distinct personality. In this case, there are two personalities within Dr Jekyll, one apparently good and the other evil; completely opposite levels of morality. The novella's impact is such that it has become a part of the language, with the very phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" coming to mean a person who is vastly different in moral character from one situation to the next.

The Movie
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1931 American Pre-Code horror film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Fredric March. The film is an adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), the Robert Louis Stevenson tale of a man who takes a potion which turns him from a mild-mannered man of science into a homicidal maniac. March's performance has been much lauded, and earned him his first Academy Award.





The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is a short story by Washington Irving contained in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., written while he was living in Birmingham, and first published in 1820. With Irving's companion piece "Rip Van Winkle", "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is among the earliest examples of American fiction still read today.

The Movie
Sleepy Hollow is a 1999 American-German horror film directed by Tim Burton. It is a film adaptation loosely inspired by the 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving and stars Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci, with Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, Casper Van Dien, and Jeffrey Jones in supporting roles. The plot follows police constable Ichabod Crane (Depp) sent from New York City to investigate a series of murders in the village of Sleepy Hollow by a mysterious Headless Horseman.





The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (French: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serialisation in Le Gaulois from September 23, 1909 to January 8, 1910. Initially, the story sold very poorly upon publication in book form and was even out of print several times during the twentieth century it is overshadowed by the success of its various film and stage adaptations.

The Movie
The Phantom of the Opera is a 2004 film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical of the same name, which in turn was based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.
Directed by Joel Schumacher, the film was also produced and co-written by Lloyd Webber. The Phantom of the Opera stars Gerard Butler in the title role, Emmy Rossum as Christine Daaé, as well as Patrick Wilson as Raoul, Miranda Richardson as Madame Giry and Minnie Driver as Carlotta Giudicelli.





The Shining
The Shining is a 1977 horror novel by American author Stephen King. The title was inspired by the John Lennon song "Instant Karma!", which contained the line "We all shine on…".It was King's third published novel, and first hardback bestseller, and the success of the book firmly established King as a preeminent author in the horror genre.

The movie
The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, co-written with novelist Diane Johnson, and starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers, and Danny Lloyd. The film is based on the Stephen King novel The Shining. A writer, Jack Torrance, takes a job as an off-season caretaker at an isolated hotel. His young son possesses psychic abilities and is able to see things from the past and future, such as the ghosts who inhabit the hotel. Soon after settling in, the family is trapped in the hotel by a snowstorm, and Jack gradually becomes influenced by a supernatural presence; he descends into madness and attempts to murder his wife and son.





The Silence of the Lambs
The Silence of the Lambs is a novel by Thomas Harris. First published in 1988, it is the sequel to Harris' 1981 novel Red Dragon. Both novels feature the cannibalistic serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter, this time pitted against FBI Special Agent Clarice Starling.

The Movie
The Silence of the Lambs is a 1991 American thriller film that blends elements of the crime and horror genres. It was directed by Jonathan Demme and stars Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Ted Levine, and Scott Glenn. It is based on Thomas Harris' 1988 novel of the same name, his second to feature Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer.
In the film, Clarice Starling, a young U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation trainee, seeks the advice of the imprisoned Dr. Lecter to apprehend another serial killer, known only as "Buffalo Bill".