13 Horror Movies and Shows based off Books

These horror movies are just as terrifying and thrilling as their book counterparts. Some of these might even be seen as cliché.

1. The Shining — The Shining by Stephen King. With this movie, it did displease the legend Stephen King himself. But with this movie there wasn’t much that was changed in the from the source material. Screenrant.com says the minimal but crucial changes to the source material plot was minimal but crucial. And the character shifts are more noticeable.
2. The Invisible Man — based off the book The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. This movie was set to be released this year. The movie is seen as an updated on the classic novel written by H.G. Wells.
3. Pet Semetery — Stephen King. This book has seen two film adaptations in 2019 and 1989.
4. IT — Stephen King. The book was adapted into a movie in 1990 as Stephen King’s IT as well as the 2017 version, IT, with the sequel It Chapter 2 coming out in 2019.
5. The Silence of the Lambs — Based off The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. This movie was based on the second book of Harris’s Hannibal Lecter series.
6. The Exorcist — the book was also inspired by an actual possession case, though the possession case isn’t what the book is about. The book was written by William Peter Blatty. The 1973 movie will end up with 2 movies following it in 1977 and 1990. The Exorcist was the first horror film that would be nominated for an Oscar. It was nominated for best picture.
7. The Haunting of Hill House — Netflix show based off The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.
8. Dracula — Based off of Dracula by Bram Stoker. When you think of Dracula and/or vampires you will more than likely picture Bela Lugosi’s iconic performance of Dracula or Edward Cullen.
9. Frankenstein- based off Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein. Mary Shelley’s works Frankenstein and Last Man is seen as the start of the science fiction genre. Though the sequels of Frankenstein didn’t do as well as Frankenstein, we still got the Bride of Frankenstein. You can even seen a version or almost a take on the frankensteinesque look of Herman Munster from the Munsters.
10. Jaws — based off Jaws by Peter Benchley. So with the book and movie a big difference is probably the fat that Spielberg gave us the great white and John William’s recognizable theme from this movie.
11. The Birds — Based on the short story “The Birds” by Daphne Du Maurier. This movie is another iconic movie of Alfred Hitchcock’s. It didn’t take on a similar form from its source material but it does have the same common theme of the unsettling notion of murderous birds. Taking “a murder of crows” to a whole extra level.
12. The Haunting — based off of The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.
13. Psycho — based off Psycho by Robert Bloch. Another Hitchcock classic. Even if you haven’t seen the movie, you could probably recognize the most notable scene, the bathroom scene. You can even see hints of this movie and book in other mainstream places. Such as the tv show, The Bates Motel.