You’d be forgiven for thinking it was pretty hard to make a work of literature feel as scary, grotesque and alarming as a film. After all, in a visual medium, you can see everything that unfolds in front of you.
Despite that, there are some books out there that haven’t been given their chance to shine as a moving picture, whether they’re too horrifyingly creepy, unforgivably taboo, or simply impossible to recreate (and have people watch) in film form. We’ve gathered together 10 of the most twisted horror books of all time, none of which have been turned into films… yet.
The Wasp Factory (Iain Banks)
Iain Banks’ first novel, The Wasp Factory, was the Scottish author’s attempt at becoming more mainstream and acceptable, having been rejected countless times by publishers for his earlier works. The book follows a psychopathic teenager on a remote Scottish island. It is told from a first-person perspective that details incredibly graphic violence.
The primary character retells three child murders he committed in a matter-of-fact, almost comedic way, prompting some particularly negative criticisms. Perhaps also acting as one of the reasons we’ve never seen this one made into a film, as this would be a particularly difficult role to cast, although Ben Frost has turned the novel into an opera.
The Long Walk (Stephen King)
Finding a Stephen King book that hasn’t been turned into a film is arguably a more difficult task than finding one that has. The Long Walk was written under his Richard Bachman pseudonym and follows a group of contestants in an annual, dystopian walking contest. There are some specific rules the walkers have to follow, and they create some particularly brutal issues, including the death of most participants. Interestingly, the film has almost been made many times since the book released, with George A Romero and Frank Darabont both almost getting their hands on it. As of 2019 the rights are held by New Line Cinema.
The Troop (Nick Cutter)
This book follows a group of young Scouts as they navigate the horrors of an infestation of genetically engineered intestinal hydatid worms. As you can imagine, the presence of the worms leads to some truly gruesome biological horror depictions, and with children being the primary victims. It’s no surprise we haven’t seen this reimagined for the big screen yet.
Having said that, Saw director James Wan has gained the rights to its distribution and will be directing the long-awaited adaptation very soon, so its place on this list won’t be valid for long!
Suffer The Children (John Saul)
Just the title, Suffer the Children, is enough to put a lot of viewers off any potential filming of this novel. The primary plot follows a child abductor, who after murdering a young girl one hundred years previously, has returned to capture and kill more kids. It’s obviously a taboo subject that might be difficult to grab public attention, but the horrifyingly scary scenes are ramped up in intensity by the children’s presence, and the graphic descriptions of the abductors’ acts make this a pretty harrowing read.
Carrion Comfort (Dan Simmons)
Dan Simmons adapted this novel from his own novella which was published in a magazine seven years prior to its full release. It has a distinct sci-fi element to its horror, as it follows a group called ‘The Ability’, who have psychic powers that can control people. It basically rewrites history, claiming that various major events across time were influenced by those with ‘The Ability,’ including the Holocaust.
While the depictions of violence and the incredible lack of morality shown by the characters is enough, the novel also holds itself back from a film adaptation by virtue of its huge scope and bold, history-rewriting actions.
Beside The Sea (Véronique Olmi)
Despite a relatively pleasant, fake-happy opening, Beside The Sea quickly takes a turn to reveal a truly shocking madness beneath. It follows a mother and her two sons on a seaside trip which she knows will be their last as she tries to ‘protect’ them from the cruel real world. It creates a creepy, claustrophobic atmosphere advanced further by never naming the central character. Honestly, it would be perfect for a film adaptation, but we assume directors have so far viewed this as too much, or too dark, of a challenge to adapt.
Outer Dark (Cormac McCarthy)
Just his second novel, McCarthy very quickly found his calling of writing particularly disturbing works of fiction. Just the opening of this book sets the tone: an incestuous brother/sister couple have a baby. The brother leaves the baby to die in the woods. The brother tells his sister/mother that the child died of natural causes. The sister goes on a mission to find the baby. With incest kicking things off and bizarre revelations and creepy settings keeping things moving, it’s no surprise that the most we’ve seen of this novel is a 15-minute short film.
Rage (Stephen King)
One of the most infamous books of all time, Rage isn’t even really a horror story, despite its plot playing a hand in some of the most horrifying real-world events of the past decades. Another Bachman Book, it follows a character named Charlie as he plans and carries out a brutal school shooting. We see into his demented psychology, and also read some graphic depictions of the murder of innocent people.
The book has been found in the possession of no less than five real-life school shooters. As such, Stephen King himself has let this book go out of print. It has been banned in many countries, and you can almost guarantee we’ll never see it adapted into a film.
Haunted (Chuck Palahniuk)
Truly one of the most disturbing works of fiction ever written Haunted can pretty much never be made into a film. Haunted itself is a collection of short stories, most of which are pretty graphic, but the centerpiece is the story “Guts.” Starting off with the narrator telling the reader to hold their breath for the duration of the story, he goes into detail as he recounts three graphic masturbation-centered tales. The worst of the three ends with (prepare yourself) a man getting sucked to the bottom of a swimming pool while his intestines prolapse, getting himself caught in the pool filter and ultimately having to chew his way through his own organs in order to avoid drowning. The reasons we haven’t seen this adapted for the cinema are self-explanatory.
World War Z (Max Brooks)
Okay, so this may be cheating. There is a film called World War Z. You’ve probably seen it. However, the actual original book World War Z is absolutely nothing like it. In fact, the whole draw of World War Z was its manic, intelligent, and brutal zombies. These didn’t even exist in the book.
The book itself is a harrowing series of accounts from the perspective of those caught up in a zombie apocalypse, with graphic violence and gore combining with heart-wrenching personal suffering the film completely shied away from.
