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TheCabinet
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Joined: 15 Aug 2006
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Location: Beaverton, OR
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 Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 7:36 pm Post subject: Television Adaptations |
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It seems like there has been a slew of television series adaptations of horror novel series lately. A couple come immediately to mind - Dexter, The Dresden Files and Blood Ties.
What other horror novels would make for good television series? Keep in mind that we're talking either regular network, basic cable or premium cable shows. |
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daphne
Joined: 30 Sep 2007
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Location: Pacific Northwest
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| Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 5:42 am Post subject: |
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This is a good topic; and yet I'm drawing blanks. However, if you asked me what I'd like to see made into at least a one season miniseries made by someone (oh Richard Branson, please lend me a couple of million dollars....), it would be Weaveworld by Clive Barker. It's such a wonderfully intricate novel, written so richly that it does seem woven. I could see someone with a little talent for scripwriting pulling it out into a season of shows.
EDIT Holy cow, dude. Beaverton, Oregon? We're like neighbors! I live somewhere near Tacoma, the armpit of Washington.
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TheCabinet
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| Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 12:16 am Post subject: |
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| daphne wrote: | | This is a good topic; and yet I'm drawing blanks. However, if you asked me what I'd like to see made into at least a one season miniseries made by someone (oh Richard Branson, please lend me a couple of million dollars....), it would be Weaveworld by Clive Barker. It's such a wonderfully intricate novel, written so richly that it does seem woven. I could see someone with a little talent for scripwriting pulling it out into a season of shows. |
Fantastic idea. In fact, I seem to remember that they were getting ready to do just that back in the 90s on Showtime. I really wish I knew why that project died. It would have been fantastic.
I've always wondered why networks don't see the possible value in a one-shot series. It would be really easy to take some of these novels out there and turn them into 12 or 22 episodes for a one-year run on a network. If it turns out to be successful, find a similar novel to go with the next season.
McCammon's SWAN SONG would be another great one for just that.
| daphne wrote: | | EDIT Holy cow, dude. Beaverton, Oregon? We're like neighbors! I live somewhere near Tacoma, the armpit of Washington. |
Yep, I'm one of those Portland suburbanites - though hoping to escape a little farther out soon. I'm heading up your way soon because I just HAVE to check out that Bigfoot exhibit in Olympia. How could I pass that up?  |
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daphne
Joined: 30 Sep 2007
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Location: Pacific Northwest
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| Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 10:01 am Post subject: |
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We have a bigfoot exhibit? How could I have missed that? I'm a kid of the seventies. All the bigfoot publicity and movies affected my childhood. 'Member on the Six Million Dollar Man how Bigfoot came from outer space? God.
Every night my father would have a few beers. Usually that was harmless. Harmless came crashing to a fiery death when the Bigfoot episodes came out. He would get a buzz going and start hammering the sides of the hall outside mine and my brother's rooms. He'd yell and scream and roar, and we'd start crying in our rooms. The door would burst open, and my dad would be there, in a flannel shirt, bearded and crazay, and buzzed.
He'd pretend to be Bigfoot, stomp over to the bed, and lift me out by one foot and haul me around the room. It was horrible. I think I was seven years old, crying, terrified, and this jackass is scaring me to death over some television show.
Once he was done with me, he'd go get my brother, who got to hear my cries for help and worry how bad his Bigfoot experience was going to be.
One night I locked the door (which was a no-no because my parents were control freaks) and refused to let him in.
To this day, I wonder just what my mother was thinking letting this go on. I had night terrors as a kid as it was; these wonderful Titus-like bonding moments didn't help my sleeping habits.
I still have stuffed Bigfoot my dad bought me as a kid. His name is Joe Boojnach, and I have taken him everywhere, from college, to Germany, to here. He sits in the office, a reminder that my father is nuts and the seventies Bigfoot experience scarred my adolescence severely. Ha!
I so have to see this exhibit.
PS Oops. Derailed.
To get back on track, I hadn't caught there was going to be a Weaveworld movie attempt, and you're right. It would be such a great thing if the movie channels started to make one season series of books like this. I used to dream about there being a sequel to Cabal, which was such a cult classic. The series last year that showed 8 of King's short stories was excellent. Maybe they could do that again.
To make a series, there would have to be a main character with some sort of job or quest that allowed for off-shoots of scripting, while keeping on track (sort of X-Files), and I could almost see something from Cabal happening if whoever made the series found a terrifyingly good person to play the psychiatrist. It might be a stretch, but watching monsters getting chased by this goon every week is something I could get into. It would have to be taken more seriously than Angel or Buffy, but someone surely could pull it off.
I remember the book Swan Song. Read it in college. There's certainly enough in there for a season of shows.
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TheCabinet
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| Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2007 10:05 pm Post subject: |
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Daphne, check out:
Giants in the Mountains: The Search for Sasquatch
Not that I want to ressurect those childhood nightmares of yours.  My father isn't so much into this sort of stuff, so I was actually the one that tormented him as I was growing up.
They did a comic series that continued on the story of Cabal, but I agree - I see TV series potential there as well. The problem is that Barker always seems to have a gazillion things in the works, but very few ever seem to make the light of day.
I love Supernatural, because it explores standard urban legends and/or folklore in an entertainment fashion. The stories are still there though.
Pretty much anything with that "epic" feel to it would be great for a series spin. I felt that the Blade film had that edge, so wasn't overly surprised that it turned out to be a good (albeit short-lived) TV series. |
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daphne
Joined: 30 Sep 2007
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Location: Pacific Northwest
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| Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:35 am Post subject: |
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I only saw one show of Blade - the series. For some reason I think it was on the same times something else was, so there were many I missed. It's time to get a dvr.
Am going to check out the bigfoot link. Maybe this month I'll drag the kids to see the exhibit. What a great thing to have nearby.
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TheCabinet
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| Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 12:34 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, that exhibit is too strange not to check out. Fortunately it is going to run a year, so I don't have to rush up there just yet.
So I swear I heard that Washington voters are going to be voting whether to make Bigfoot the state animal? Is that true? |
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daphne
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| Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 7:36 am Post subject: |
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LOL! I hope so, cuz' there'd be at least one vote from me. Maybe he could get the Wendigo as a running mate and they could eat the competition.
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TheCabinet
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| Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 7:57 pm Post subject: |
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| daphne wrote: | | LOL! I hope so, cuz' there'd be at least one vote from me. Maybe he could get the Wendigo as a running mate and they could eat the competition. |
My dog's name is Wendigo. Maybe she can fill in, though technically an Oregon resident. She definitely likes to eat... |
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Matt Cowan
Joined: 19 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 11:53 pm Post subject: |
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I'd like to see someone do a Carnacki The Ghost Finder (William Hope Hodgson) series!
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TheCabinet
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| Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 6:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Matt Cowan wrote: | | I'd like to see someone do a Carnacki The Ghost Finder (William Hope Hodgson) series! |
Excellent idea! Actually, I am somewhat shocked that no one has yet. Who would you cast in the title role? |
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Matt Cowan
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| Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 6:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Excellent idea! Actually, I am somewhat shocked that no one has yet. Who would you cast in the title role? |
That's a good question. I'm not very good with remembering the names of a lot of actors. Maybe the guy who played Adam on the most recent season of Heroes. They would need to be british for sure. I'm not really certain who would be a good choice, but I know I'd watch it.
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TheCabinet
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| Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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| I hate to pull the Barker card out again, but I always thought a series around Harry D'Amour would have very interesting as well. PI/horror stories are kind of an interesting mix. And the PI doesn't always have to be a vampire! |
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Matt Cowan
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| Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 3:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | I hate to pull the Barker card out again, but I always thought a series around Harry D'Amour would have very interesting as well. PI/horror stories are kind of an interesting mix. And the PI doesn't always have to be a vampire! |
I'm not sure I follow exactly. Who is Barker? Was he a Vampire P.I. in a novel? I thought Harry D'Amour was the fellow who wrote westerns. I probably have just exposed myself as a big idot with this question. 
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TheCabinet
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| Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 3:58 pm Post subject: |
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My bad. I should have said Clive Barker's Harry D'Amour character - though come to think of it, he does sound like the western author. He's a human PI that investigates the strange and has popped up in a few of Barker's books, as well as the movie Lord of Illusions. They could easily spin him off into a series.
Also, I just watched Dan Curtis' TV movie The Norliss Tapes, based off a story from Fred Mustard Stewart. It was reportedly a pilot for a series that didn't get picked up (probably because of its similarity to Kolchak). It followed the disappearance of a writer that went missing after investigating the supernatural and all they had left were his audio notes/tapes he had recorded while investigating cases. The pilot surrounded the first tape, but there were plenty more. At any rate, it left me wanting more. |
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