5 Best Horror Films Based on Novels

When it comes to the inspiration for some of the scariest horror movies ever made, your local library may well be the place to look. Some of the most disturbing screenplays have come, not from the land of nightmares, but from the world of literature.
Here is a quick list of just a few of the best adaptations of spooky novels that have leapt off the page and on to the screen, frightening the pants off of the movie-going public worldwide.

1) Frankenstein

Mary Shelley’s novel about “The Modern Prometheus” was first published in 1818. It’s the story of a scientist who tries to “play God” by creating life in his laboratory. He is successful, though his creation ends up being a lot less perfect than he had envisioned.
The story has been adapted on many different occasions, from the classic 1931 version starring Boris Karloff to Kenneth Branagh’s 1994 version to variations of the tale like 2009′s “Splice” starring Adrian Brody and Sarah Polley.
So iconic is the 1931 “Frankenstein,” directed by James Whale, that one cannot think of the monster without seeing the image of a block-headed lumbering hulk complete with bolts sticking out of his neck, grunting and moaning and running from torch-wielding villagers.
Interestingly enough, in Shelley’s manuscript, the monster teaches itself how to read by studying classic works of literature. There is no mention of a hunchback assistant named Igor. There is no grave robbing nor is there a giant platform waiting for lightning to strike the hastily sewn-together flesh in the hopes of it provided the source of reanimation.
Nevertheless, the film version where a mad scientist’s quest for immortality meets with disastrous results resides in the pantheon of horror films and has influenced countless other films of this genre right up to the present day.

2) Rosemary’s Baby

Ira Levin’s book of the same name was written in 1967 and became an instant best-seller. The story centers on a woman named Rosemary Woodhouse, played by Mia Farrow, who lives in a New York City apartment building with her wannabe actor husband.
One night, she has a nightmare where she believes herself to be set upon by a demon in her bedroom while many of her neighbors look on. Shortly after that incident, she gets the news that she is pregnant.
The remainder of the film is a tour de force of paranoia, as Rosemary continues to believe that there is “something wrong” with her baby while everyone around her tries to calm her down and convince her that she has nothing to worry about.
The film culminates in the chilling revelation that Rosemary has been right all along, and in fact, the demonic liaison she had “imagined” at the beginning of the film actually took place and that she has given birth to the son of Satan.

3) The Exorcist

William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel about a young girl who exhibits signs of being
possessed by the devil was turned into one of the most frightening movies ever made. The film was nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Linda Blair was cast as 12-year-old Regan, who transforms from being an ordinary little girl at the start of the film to a foul-mouthed, vomiting, levitating shell for a demon named Pazuzu by the movie’s climax.
Along the way, her mother takes Regan to doctors, who can find nothing wrong with her. As a last resort, she calls on the church to perform an exorcism. The battle between Father Merren and Father Karras and the devil in child’s form becomes the centerpiece for much of the film’s shocking special effects, harsh language and grotesque imagery.
The film itself has spawned several sequels, and is still the benchmark for films of a similar nature, such as recent efforts like “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” and “The Rite.”

4) Jaws

A novel by Peter Benchley about three men on a boat hunting for a killer shark on the shores of a resort community doesn’t exactly sound like fodder for one of the successful scary movies ever made. Yet when Steven Spielberg filmed his masterpiece, it became (at the time) the largest-grossing movie ever made.
Inadvertently, Spielberg stumbled across one of the best ways to create cinematic suspense. Because he had difficulty making his mechanical shark look realistic, he did his best to avoid showing it at all. That lack of knowing exactly where the deadly predator was at all times, combined with the Oscar-winning John Williams score, ended up creating textbook dramatic tension.
So effective was the scare factor of the “unseen shark” that beaches around the country saw record-low attendance and an increase in erroneous shark sightings as a result of the popularity of the film, which clearly did the job of every horror film. It had audiences leaving theaters more scared about the world they live in than when they arrived.

5) The Shining

Many of Stephen King’s novels have been turned into movies, but few had the epic scale of Stanley Kubrick’s take on “The Shining.” With a masterful starring performance from Jack Nicholson, the story of a man driven to madness still haunts viewers who watch the film for the first time today.
Nicholson plays Jack Torrance, who is hired to be the caretaker for the Overlook hotel during the long winter, when it is closed due to the fact that heavy snows end up isolating the building from the rest of the world. Torrance brings his wife and young son to the hotel and as time goes by, it becomes clear that the place is haunted.
The hotel seduces Torrance and eventually turns him against his family, and he goes after them with an ax in a psychotic rampage. Equal parts supernatural thriller and a psychological exploration of what happens when people no longer have any contact with the outside world, all The Shining wants is for you to “come and play with it.”