While I was digging around in my stacks of books and filling a new to me bookcase that my dad fished out of someone's trash a month ago, I rediscovered my copy of the novelization of The Frighteners.
So, perfect to pick up again during spooky season: I discovered I'd started reading it and I was about halfway through it.
It's...quite different from the movie, since it was based off an earlier draft (and also didn't have a lot of the tweaks that were made during the filming, since Peter Jackson was quite willing to let his cast tinker with the lines and make them fit their versions of their characters better).
For one thing, there's a lot more mean-spiritedness from a fair number of the characters (Frank is a lot more conniving and abrasive and Dammers is considerably nastier and less sympathetic).
For another thing, there's a few subplots that were dropped entirely (eg. a rather uncomfortable bit involving workplace harassment between the already obnoxious newspaper editor and one of her much-younger cub reporters).
Oh! I was just going to comment and say that I didn't know Peter Jackson ever made a horror film, when I rememberedlooking at the summaryseeing an advertisement for the film as a kid! I might have to check this out now!
That was meant to be "looking at the summary, seeing an advertisement", without the strike through! But anyway, it is cool to see how many stages a film can go through! I hope you enjoy your new bookcase! (We have used bookcases too, that someone had dumped at the local salvation army!)
Peter Jackson more or less got his start in horror and considering he wasn't afraid to experiment with CGI and other emerging tech in cinematography, you can see why he ended up helming LoTR.
In fact... the design of the Grim Reaper in The Frighteners ended up serving as the groundwork for the Ringwraiths in LoTR.
Finished The Frighteners novel and I've moved on to some Halloween anthologies, including a couple that I had a story in each, and a collection by a late friend of some writing friends, whom I wish I'd gotten to know better.
This is Halloween<- Currently reading this one, which has some fabulously atmospheric if somewhat grim stories.
This being the above-mentioned collection. One of my biggest fans has been coaxing me to read this one. Been poking at it every October and this year, have finally gotten invested in it.
Oh I'll have to look into it! 