Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Book vs. Movie

I just finished reading I am Legend. I really like the movie. Shane and I have a thing for zombie movies. This isn't exactly a zombie movie, but the creatures are similar.

Anyway, several months ago, Shane mentioned that he had read somewhere that the book was totally different. So, I got the book from the library and read it in 1.5 days. It was only 170 pages, so that was easy.

I know most of you probably aren't as cool as me and don't love zombie movies so much, but I really wanted to talk about this book because I was shocked, SHOCKED!! at how different the book was. It gives new meaning to "loosely based on".

The movie has creatures that aren't exactly zombies, but something like it. They end up killing the main character but not before he finds a cure and gives it to a woman who carries it to safety and the human race is saved. Yay!!

In the book, the creatures are vampires. That was kinda disappointing cause zombies are cool and vampires are not. After about three years, a group of the vampires develop a pill they can take instead of feasting on human blood. They end up setting up a new society and execute the main character, who is the last human left on the planet.

I thought the concept of the book was so original and very interesting. I've never heard that take on a horror story. The bad creatures ending up being the norm. I wonder why they didn't go with that for the movie. I'm sure there is some logical reason. They want to make money. But, I think it's the better story. So, I just don't get it.

Do you guys know of any book/movie stories that were totally different?

4 comments:

Leah said...

Did you watch the special features on 'I am legend'? There were four short films - really creepy. I liked the movie a lot though.

Shane said...

I didn't watch the special features, but I wonder if they are the stories after I am Legend. The book is actually a collection of short stories. And it's so strange because it doesn't exactly say that on the book. I kept reading through it, and wondering why the chapters were all of a sudden random stories about random people. I finally read through some reviews on Amazon and found out they were short stories. lol!

Unknown said...

Dang! That was me, Marie. I keep forgetting to sign in with my account.

Anonymous said...

Ok. I do not want to read the book. I hated the movie (I am SO UNCOOL) because it seemed so HOPELESS. Well, the book would totally be even more hopeless. So. I am glad you saved me the trouble! lol

I kinda like humans. Go figure. :-p