10 Films Whose Novelisations Took On A Life Of Their Own

Tobe Hooper is one of the most interesting case studies in a former great director seemingly losing whatever they once had.

Be it their own lack of competence or funding or a general misreading of what younger generations are into, Hooper's later years represent the kind of decline you dread for someone once beloved.

In the Eighties, Hooper was still fresh, with a perspective on horror that was both unique and uncomfortably familiar. His three-picture deal with Cannon represents the last of his truly great creative energy.

Prior to that, however, Hooper was pegged to direct a 1981 script by Larry Block called The Funhouse. Block had modeled his script after the success of Friday the 13th, and like Harvey Weinstein before him was attempting to cash-in on the micro-budgeted slasher.

The script is your standard hack and slash set at a deranged amusement park, with the requisite gore and nudity. But Hooper was of a slightly different stock than his contemporary slasher filmmakers, he managed to crank up the atmosphere and tension to a level most slashers tend to just hover near.

When it came time to adapt The Funhouse, horror writer Dean Koontz was hired. The film, however, suffered severe production delays, and the final product differed drastically from the script.

For a more thorough, almost laboured, retelling of the deranged family that runs the Funhouse, Koontz' novel is ideal. For slasher movie fans, Hooper's film delivers what's required.