Ladies, gentlemen, and cryptids both near and far: it’s October! Which means, here at No But Listen, we finally have an excuse to talk all things horror. Not that it ever keeps us from it the rest of the year, but, you know, anyway…
Aside from movies, we’re also big readers in this here blog, which means we’re constantly coming across stories and books that would make perfect candidates for a jump to the big screen. We’ve covered a few of our favourites before, but it’s about time for a new entry into this series. And, yes, please consider this an appeal to our dear readers for more horror book recommendations. Anyway – to the list!
The Indian Lake Trilogy by Stephen Graham Jones
We’ve recommended the incredible works of horror master, Stephen Graham Jones, before, but that was before I read his crowning achievement in the slasher genre. The Indian Lake Trilogy chronicles the bloody events perpetrated in the town of Proofrock by assorted monsters, serial killers, ghosts, and even the townspeople. I’m proposing some genre savvy director give this the Fear Street treatment, three novels, three movies, filmed back to back and released as an event. There’s also the role of a lifetime for an up-and-coming young actress as the series lead, Jade Daniels, who is the best final girl in all of literature. Even if she doesn’t believe it.
Revenge by Yoko Ogawa
A short story collection might not jump out right away as a great candidate for a single movie adaptation, but Revenge by the brilliant Yoko Ogawa could break that rule. Her stories overlap in weird and unsettling ways, an exposed connective tissue between the odd dramas and outright horrors of her world, and I would love to see a director like Kiyoshi Kurosawa bring these woozy, slightly surreal characters and stories to life. From torture museums to exposed organs, Ogawa’s blend of matter-of-fact reality and a disturbing underground bubbling beneath it is just begging for a suitably atmospheric movie adaptation.
Parliament of Rooks by Abigail Jay Harding and Richard Starkey
It’s about time The Crow was removed from its perch, and I have just the gothic supernatural love story revolving around birds takes its place. From Abigail Jay Harding and Richard Starkey comes Parliament of Rooks, a comic miniseries that is begging to be made into a visually lush and melodramatic film. There’s everything fans of the gothic genre need (not want; goths only need) from this kind of story including love, loss, tragedy, and a central romance that, with the right casting, should translate into exquisite intensity. Give this to J.A. Bayona of The Orphanage and watch it soar (pun intended).
What novels are you hoping to see a movie adaptation of? Are there any you think deserve a new adaptation? Let us know in the comments!
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By Lou MacGregor and Kevin Boyle
(header image via Penguin Books)
No But Listen 
I would go old school and choose a book I have just reread on my current reading challenge. Strange Conflict by Dennis Wheatley is problematic in places with some of the ‘attitudes of the time’ but they could easily be removed with no effect on the excellent central story which concerns the use of black magic by the Germans in WWII to find the Atlantic convoys. It’s a classic of 1940s horror writing that I can definitely see as a great three part series.
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This is going straight on the reading list, thank you!
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Hope you enjoy it 😊😊
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