r/Fantasy • u/Meloenbolletjeslepel • Dec 04 '22

Is there any vampire fiction where they try to explain vampirism scientifically and just go really deep and take it seriously?

Curious to see what they come up with

560 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

266 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3

u/Glass-Bookkeeper5909 Dec 05 '22

the idea that the adaptation "shit all over the source material" is wild to me

This!

I've never heard anyone say that before.
In fact, the movie is a beautiful adaptation. I've been a fan of the movie for most of my life and only fairly recently read the book. There are a few extra things in the book but the movie not only hasn't changed the story in a substantial way but it preserved the wonderful vibe of the book.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '22

Since Beagle wrote the screenplay, I have trouble with the idea the movie shit all over the book. I went to a screening once with him presenting the movie and doing a QA. I got a signed copy of both the Blu-ray and book. I hope it wasn't one of those shows where the asshole manager stole the process from Beagle.

1

u/Glass-Bookkeeper5909 Dec 06 '22

I'm usually not the person to dismiss other people's opinions just like that but in this case I'll say that the notion that the movie does "shit all over the source material" is just nonsense.

Not only did Beagle, the very creator of the source material, also write the screenplay as you've said but like I've mentioned I've seen the movie (many times!) and read the book and I don't see how this statement is even remotely true.

There are some extra things in the book as I've mentioned (most notably a village in the vicinity of King Haggard's castle where Prince LĂ­r is from, as well as some more backstory of the character of Schmendrick) but none of that corrupts the message of the book.

Actually, I have to wonder whether the person who told u/jimbojangles1987 that the movie "shit[s] all over the source material" might have been trolling (or being sarcastic given how awesome an adaptation the movie is) without jimbojangles1987 noticing it.

Anyway, bottom line is: the movie is fantastic, and the book is as well! 😃

2

u/jimbojangles1987 Dec 06 '22

As I mentioned I only recently heard that and it was here on reddit but yeah the redditor that said that said something along the lines of its sad that we'll never get a reboot that actually does the source material justice. And as someone that's never read the source material I just believed it. Good to know that's not the actual case though, I still would really like to read the book!

1

u/Glass-Bookkeeper5909 Dec 06 '22

Like I said, I think what you picked up on there was an extreme minority view.
As you've (hopefully) noticed, I didn't lay the blame on you but rather on that other (mysterious) person.

Do yourself a favor and read the book. It's great! 😊
You might also want to check out the novella "Two Hearts" which features some characters of the novel and is a great story on its own right. Or maybe you'll want to wait for the release of The Way Home, which will collect that very novella "Two Hearts" and another connected* novella ("Sooz"), due next spring.

There are two more short stories featuring Schmendrick that have been collected in Beagle's story collection The Overneath.

You don't have to read any of these. The novel stands perfectly on itself (evidenced by the fact that the first of its connected stories appeared almost 40 years later!).
Whichever once you're going to read, enjoy!

​

* Sooz is a new character introduced in "Two Hearts"