Movies based on books can be a mixed bag. Usually the book is so much better, rarely they are equally good, and once every 4th blue moon in a leap year the movie is actually better. With everyone stuck at home for the most part right now I thought it would be fun to suggest a few of my recommended book and movie combos perfect for spooky season.
I’ll start with a family friendly option, The Halloween Tree. This was one of my favorite movies as a kid! I’m a little embarrassed to admit I didn’t realize it was based on a book until high school. If your looking for something fun to do with your kids, this would be a great combo to read and watch together.
A classic combo, both the movie and book are well loved by many. If you want my personal opinion I feel like to book is incredibly more enjoyable and much creepier. That doesn’t mean I dislike the movie, its a great movie. After reading the book though the difference in pacing was very obvious and I tend to like slow burn horrors a lot more personally.
This one is interesting in that it’s the most recent movie (it came out in 2019) on my list and is based on the oldest story on the list (first published in 1927). Lovecraft’s horror is a slow burn lovers dream, but also notoriously hard to adapt well to the big screen. This movie was everything I wanted and more. It did an incredible job and I highly recommend it.
Another where I enjoyed the book more than the movie. However as was the case with the Shining both the book and the movie were great. Fair warning the book is a lot more disturbing that the book.
But the murder is not the most important thing on his mind. A new girl has moved in next door—a girl who has never seen a Rubik’s Cube before, but who can solve it at once. There is something wrong with her, though, something odd. And she only comes out at night….
This is one of the best adaptations of a book I’ve ever seen. Basically the only way it differs are some very disturbing/upsetting parts were cut and the subplot of two characters was omitted. Everything else was pretty much perfectly matched with the book. I understand why they cut some of the parts they did and the two characters that were cut I didn’t really find interesting to read about anyway. Content warning if you read the book, the content I mentioned before that was cut included pedophilia. The character is still in the movie, but they cut backstory and things related to that. The book and movie are both very bleak and explore the concept of humans often being even more dark, scary, and monstrous than any creature you can dream up.
Life of a Nocturnal Bookworm 
The Halloween Tree sounds like a fun movie – and I haven’t read the book. I have read Something Wicked This Way Comes by Bradbury though.
-Lauren
http://www.shootingstarsmag.net
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I didn’t realize it was based on a book until I was an adult! Im a little embarrassed that I haven’t read it yet, despite loving the movie so much.
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