10 Unfilmable Books That Would Make Great Films

10. House Of Leaves By Mark Z Danielewski

house of leaves Johnny Truant€™s move into a new apartment takes him into a world of make believe, love, despair and deceit. With one of the most unusual structures to any bestselling book, this cult classic is more like a maze than a novel. Packed with endless footnotes and appendixes, switching in fonts and colours, its multiple narrators and unknown €˜editors€™ conversing about an unknown documentary film, House of Leaves feels about as unfilmable as they come. Having said that, Danielewski has written something beyond a novel. House of Leaves is already a book that rejects the medium of the book. It is also highly visual- some of the pages only have one sentence, others contain unreadable scribbles- and it€™s firmly enmeshed in modern erdogic literature. House of Leaves is also open to interpretation as to just what the hell it€™s all about, potentially offering more leeway to any film version. Still, House of Leaves feels like there€™s just too much going on for a single film to tackle. Perhaps the only solace for any would-be director excitedly stroking his beard at the novel€™s end would be the fact he€™s one of only a few people who€™ve ever read it. House of Leaves has gathered momentum as one of the greatest examples of post-modern horror literature, but I have a feeling this one may never get made.
 
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David Hynes is a freelance writer, working in print, online, on stage and for screen. A film and book enthusiast, he has just finished his first novel.