It Came From… The Stories and Novels Behind Classic Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction Films by Jim Nemeth and Bob Madison Book Tour with Guest Post and giveaway
The only book to completely examine the origins of classic fantasy films by including an in-depth examination of the source material and its author, the screenwriter’s contribution in adapting it, and an analysis of how that combination resulted in the production of the final film.
It Came From…
The Stories and Novels Behind Classic Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction Films
by Jim Nemeth and Bob Madison
Genre: Film History, Horror, Fantasy, Science Fiction
How many times have you said, the book was better? And how many times was that actually true?
The
cinema of the fantastic has benefitted from literary adaptations on a
level unlike any other genre. With such brilliant authors as Mary
Shelley, Robert Bloch, Pierre Boulle, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert
Louis Stevenson to choose from, it's no surprise that fantastic film
shares its pedigree with literary fiction.
But do films never
live up to their literary inspirations? Or are some movies just ...
better than the books that inspired them?
Join genre
critics Jim Nemeth and Bob Madison for a rule-busting examination of
21 classic - and not so classic - horror, fantasy and science fiction
films, and the classic - and not so classic - books that inspired
them.
It Came From...The Stories and Novels Behind Classic
Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction Films will delight legions
of movie buffs along with devoted readers of cherished fantastic
fiction.
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The
Face Isn’t Finished: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
“There’s no
emotion—none—just the pretense of it. The words, gestures, the tone of voice,
everything else are the same—but not the feeling. He isn’t my Uncle Ira.” –
Wilma Lentz, “The Body Snatchers.”
The loss of one’s self, one’s identity, everything
that comprises who we are as individuals—not just our physical bodies, but our emotions,
desires, passions, imagination, our essence—is
a terrifying concept. Death, of course, is the ultimate such loss—the universal
absolute. Some fight the inevitable tooth-and-nail, some are gracefully accepting,
while the remainder of us fall somewhere in between. But ultimately, no one
escapes their encounter with the Grim Reaper. Equally terrifying, to some more
so, is a form of “living death:” the erosion of one’s mental faculties while
still alive. Said degeneration can occur through such avenues as Alzheimer's
disease and dementia. Agonizing for all concerned, family and friends
helplessly watch on as these diseases rob vibrant loved ones of their core
humanity. Left behind is little more than an empty vessel, now devoid of the
totality of what they had once been. A living zombie, of sorts. The only saving
grace of such insidious afflictions is that there comes a point at which the
victim mercifully becomes no longer aware of what is occurring.
This concept of stolen humanity is horrifying enough for
occurring naturally. Now, image a scenario where something of unnatural origin—oh,
let’s say an otherworldly alien—involuntarily robs you of your individuality
and essence. Compound this horror further with the loss of your physical body,
destroyed once duplicated, by aforementioned alien, thus easing its “recruitment”
of family and friends in order to exponentially perpetuate an invasion no
one suspects. Frightening, no? Writer Jack Finney imagined such a scenario, and
his resulting tale, “The Body Snatchers,” first saw publication in 1954,
serialized in Colliers Magazine.
Hollywood quickly seized on the hot property and released Invasion of the Body Snatchers a mere two years later. The film is the first of four (to date) major cinematic
adaptions of Finney’s tale.
Jack Finney (1911-1995), was born in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. After graduating from Knox College, he moved to New York City and
worked for many years as an advertising copywriter. He married Marguerite Guest
in 1949 through which they had two children. In the early 1950s, Finney and his
family moved to Mill Valley, California, a small city a short distance north of
San Francisco. Mill Valley would shortly become the inspiration for Santa Mira,
the fictional locale where much of the setting for Body Snatchers takes place.
Finney’s writing career began in the 1940s, writing
short stories and serials to such varied magazines as Collier’s, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, the Saturday Evening Post, and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Finney’s
writing during this period was most frequently within the thriller and light
fantasy/science fiction genres. Finney later turned his hand toward writing
novels when, during the 1950s there came a reduced demand for short stories in
the magazine market. His first novel, 5
Against the House, which tells the story of several college students who
set about an attempt to rob a nightclub in Reno, was published in 1954.
Later that same year, Finney wrote the story that
would set him upon the path of success and later acclaim. Collier’s magazine
published The Body Snatchers as a
three-part serial in late 1954. Finney shortly thereafter revised and expanded
the material, which subsequently saw publication as a Dell paperback novel the
following year.
Finney granted few interviews throughout his life. As
such, little is known regarding the author, let alone insights into his
fictional works. However, in personal correspondence to famed horror author
Stephen King in 1979, Finney wrote of his remembrances on the origin of his
famous pod tale:
The book…was written in the early 1950s, and I don’t really remember a lot about it. I do recall that I simply felt in the mood to write something about a strange event or a series of them in a small town; something inexplicable. And that my first thought was that a dog would be injured or killed by a car, and it would be discovered that a part of the animal’s skeleton was of stainless steel; bone and steel intermingled, that is, a thread of steel running into bone and bone into steel so that it was clear the two had grown together. But this idea led to nothing in my mind…I remember that I wrote the first chapter-pretty much as it appeared, if I am recalling correctly-in which people complained that someone close to them was in actuality an imposter. But I didn’t know where this was to lead, either. However, during the course of fooling around with this, trying to make it work out, I came across a reputable scientific theory that objects might in fact be pushed through space by the pressure of light, and that dormant life of some sort might conceivably drift through space…and this eventually worked the book out.
When did you first consider yourself a
writer?
In
1993, I won 1st Prize in a national magazine’s short-story writing contest for
which legendary authors Ray Bradbury (Fahrenheit
451) and Robert Bloch (Psycho)
were judges. Winning held special meaning for me, as Robert Bloch remains my
favorite writer and main literary influence. Winning this contest gave me the
courage to finally call myself a “writer.”
What do you do to unwind and relax?
Read!
Now that I’m taking a long hiatus from tackling any new writing project, I can
finally read a novel or story collection for the pure pleasure of it! When I
was writing IT CAME FROM, or when I would even think of a subject I might want
to write about, reading became a “job.” I read only things that pertained to
the book in some way. Or, if I tried to read something for pleasure, I could
never enjoy myself. In the back of my mind I’d hear thoughts like “Are you sure
you’ve researched everything?” Or, “Why
are you reading this, when you should
be reading…”
But
now, my favorite time of day is when I head up to bed at night. I devote an
hour or two to a novel and simply immerse myself in it.
Who is your hero and why?
My
hero is the late writer, Robert Bloch. Best known for writing the novel Psycho, upon which Alfred Hitchcock
based his classic film.
While
I love Bloch’s novels (he wrote 26), he was the absolute master of
supernatural/horror/thriller short stories, which often ended with surprising
“twists.” When it comes to fiction, he is my literary inspiration.
Do you have a favorite movie?
All about Eve
(1950). For me, it’s a perfect movie in every aspect: acting, directing, story,
etc. (I bet you thought I’d name a horror movie!) J
What are your top 5 favorite
books/authors?
And Then There Were None by
Agatha Christie; Childhood’s End, by
Arthur C. Clarke, Dracula, by Bram
Stoker; The Pilot by Robert P. Davis
(an unknown book that’s excellent and will make you think twice about flying!);
The Best of Robert Bloch, by Robert
Bloch (a handful of his best horror/fantasy stories).
By day, Jim Nemeth is a technical writer within the fields of computer software and biotechnology.
As a professional writer, in 1993, Jim won 1st Prize in a national magazine’s short story writing contest for which novelists Ray Bradbury and Robert Bloch were judges. Winning held special meaning for Jim, as Robert Bloch remains his favorite writer and main literary influence. Jim has had essays, articles and reviews printed in a variety of magazines, including Filmfax, Mad About Movies, and Scary Monsters.
A long-time community activist, Jim is particularly committed to the causes of animal rescue and breast cancer research.
It Came From…: The Stories and Novels Behind Classic Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction Films is his first book.
Born and raised in Chicago, Jim now lives with his husband in historic Marblehead, Massachusetts.
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