Obviously, movie novelizations (also known as tie-in books) are near and dear to my heart. I love them. I’ve written a couple of them, I’ve read a ton of them and I still read them.
When I was a young horror fan, horror novelizations were essential reading before my mom was cool with allowing me to go see R-rated movies. I was a bit of a nerd, I guess, because I mostly listened to my mom. (As long as I asked to go see it, she said “no,” and I didn’t go see it. It was when I stopped asking that things changed, but that was a few years later.) Many “films” I experienced the first time in book form. The biggest release for me was Halloween II. I had read the first book and seen the film (on TV) but there was no way mom was letting me go see Halloween II in the theaters in 1981. She was cool with me reading the book because… reading.
Maybe because of the circumstances, and I was reading it at the right time (I was 12), Halloween II became one of my favorite novelizations and was the gold standard among other paperback movie tie-ins like Dead & Buried, The Fog and Fade to Black. I read it a couple times before I saw the movie, and I knew the movie backwards and forwards before I ever saw it. (It upset me that it didn’t show Michael getting to the hospital in the reporter’s car, like in the book, but I figured it was something in the script that wasn’t filmed or just changed.)
I have fond memories of scouring used bookstores and collector shows at the mall for paperback novelizations, where I’d buy stacks of posters, paperbacks and old magazines like Creepy and Eerie. But that’s where I found tie-ins like The Car, Scanners, Asylum, Tales from the Crypt, Escape from New York, Final Exam and so many more.
I still buy them when I come across them. I’ve gone hunting for different titles on eBay. Not long ago, a copy of the novelization for A.I.P.’s Wild in the Streets was donated to my library and I about lost my damn mind when I got my hands on it.
Currently, a lot of classic movies that never had a novelization when the movie was first released are getting brand new adaptations. Brad Carter has written three very good ones for Severin- Cruel Jaws (which has recently been picked up by Encylopocalypse), Mardi Gras Massacre and Night of the Demon. Michael Gingold wrote an excellent tie-in for Romano Scavolini’s 1981 slasher Nightmare. The before mentioned Encylopocalypse issues reprints of older novelizations long out of print (Hardcore, The Re-Animator, Squirm) as well as publishes new tie-ins for older films like Chopping Mall, Attack of the Kilker Tomatoes, Titan Find and Vamp.
What is the point of writing and publishing a novel to a film that is decades old? From the perspective of someone who has written two of them (as well as being someone who loves reading them), adapting a screenplay to an older movie is just another way to remake the movie. The writer has the script and the completed film, and years of movie reviews and fan comments to use. They also have an unlimited budget. They can make it a period piece, set in the year it was originally made, or update it. (Most stick with keeping it in the year the film was made.) It is a new way to experience a favorite film.
Which brings us to Armando Munoz. Munoz, who is quickly becoming my favorite new writer, is a one-man novelization writing factory!
His first was My Bloody Valentine. I missed that one. I saw it was coming out but I waited. It was a fancy hardback. I like my novelizations to be paperback. When I decided to go ahead and get it, it was sold out. Like a lot of people, I’m hoping for a second edition. I’ve contacted the publisher, Stop the Killer, and even sent Munoz a letter and let him know how badly I’d like My Bloody Valentine to get a second edition. (My name is probably on a list somewhere now, I’m sure.)
I picked up his novelization for Silent Night, Deadly Night when it came available last year. (A mention was included in my Slashers of 2023 blog post.) I loved it. It was a wonderful balance of sleaze and fan tribute and I was hooked. I decided no matter what was next from Munoz, I was picking it up.
Now we come to Happy Birthday to Me. As a slasher flick, Happy Birthday to Me has a slicker sheen than most of the early 80s slasher films, I think because of director J. Lee Thompson’s participation. It seems somehow more mature than Madman or The Final Terror. Plus, it never rose to the level of what I (and I’m guessing others) refer to as the “Tom Savini slashers.” It didn’t have the graphic kills that Friday the 13th, The Burning or The Prowler had. None of the killings touched anything in Maniac. It always struck me as “slasher-lite.” (Closer to Prom Night and Terror Train than the Savini slashers.)
I watch Happy Birthday to Me every year on my birthday. It’s a favorite, but I’ve always considered it kind of tame. Is there such a thing as a nice slasher?
Well, after reading Munoz’s novelization, I have to say my opinion has changed. Maybe it’s not as nice as I thought. In fact, it’s downright nasty! While the author has certainly fleshed out the characters and situations, he has drawn from the actual script and explored some of the grittier aspects of the film that maybe didn’t strike you as sleazy as they really were.
Munoz does a wonderful job recreating the slasher scene of 1981 as the Crawford Academy Top Ten are introduced and the scene is set as young Virginia Wainwright’s eighteenth birthday approaches. Someone is whittling down the school’s honor roll in gory fashion.
The original movie is a slasher whodunit. Anyone could be the killer, but it’s not one you can figure out because we’re never sure why there even is a killer. The movie lacked a solid killer, the iconic slasher, like a killer miner, a psychotic camp caretaker, or a maniacal World War II vet.
Early on, Munoz corrects this oversight by introducing the character of the Cake Cutter- as in, they got a big knife and they’re gonna cut you up like a chocolate birthday cake. We learn what is going on in the Cake Cutter’s thoughts, then we learn who it is.
Introducing the killer in this manner is a solid hook to entice even longtime fans to get invested in the story.
Munoz then uses the original script like a map, re-creating favorite scenes while expanding on character motivations and setting up the book’s climactic shock.
He successfully ties up loose ends- of which the film had more than a couple- and treats fans to a real bloodbath that never could have reached the screen. (As much as I want to tick off the list of slasher mayhem this book delivers, it would be a disservice to anyone who hasn’t read it yet.)
Will all fans dig the book? I think more will than won’t. There are certainly fans who don’t like their movies altered, but when you look at these novelizations as remakes, it makes sense to find new avenues to thrill fans of a classic title. A straight up novelization would not have worked. It needed extra blood on the cake to really deliver the slasher goods.
Up next from Munoz is his novelization for Frank Henenlotter’s Basket Case (I can’t wait!) and he ends the year with an all-new adaptation of Bob Clark’s Black Christmas. You can pre-order from Stop the Killer. (Silent Night, Deadly Night looks to be out of print, but the Kindle edition is available on Amazon.)
A true slasher fan, Munoz also has two original slasher books available, Turkey Day and Turkey Kitchen, as well as Hoarder.
Have I mentioned how much I would like a new edition of My Bloody Valentine?