The book and movie of Dreamcatcher

[britt_any09]

I am in a Stephen King class at my school, and this is a project of choice, so please respond, if you can!

Has anyone read the book and watched the movie? I have, and I've noticed some minor and rather major differences between the two. In the book, Gosselin talks about weird things happening in the sky, but nothing is said about "weird things" in the movie. In the movie, Kurtz shot off a mans (blue group) finger because he lied about letting people out of the quarantined area, in the book he shot an unimportant man because he called the aliens something bad. A big thing that I noticed was that in the book, the people being quarantined started rioting and trying to get away because Henry "showed" them what was going to happen at day break. Kurtz's men went on a search, finding and killing the people that escaped. One more thing, at the end of the movie Henry and Duddits stay in the Humvee, partially because their brains have been connected and Duddits was dead. In the book, Duddits is the one that kills the gray boy. In my opinion, the book was better. It was more in depth, more action, and a definite better ending.

Thanks for your replies!

[busy91]

I have, and recently too.

A lot of stuff was left out/changed for the movie. The book was much better. I have problems with adaptations that were not adapted by King, and this was one of them. I didn't hate the movie though, and watching it after reading the book, helped me to better understand the whole story. Most adaptations try to do what works best for film. Some things work in print that you can't put in film, and Dreamcatcher was over 800 pages, and a lot was going on, for a movie that will be shown in a theater, it wouldn't work. If it was a TV movie, they could have done much more with it, but they have to condense a huge book into 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

[IfSoGirl]

well i'd have to agree. i wasnt really happy with the movie, i dont really understand why they did that to duddits. i thought it was a lot more moving that he was human, yes a special human, but not an alien slug monster or whatever that thing was. but that's hollywood for ya.

[JohnDalglish]

Hi,

Welcome to the MB, and keep posting!

It's been a while since I've read or watched them but I'd definitely agree with your conclusion about the book.

Long days and pleasant nights

[Ri The Lousy Translator]

Read the entire book at one pull (around 5-6 hours). Enjoyed it ALOT.
I haven’t quite enjoyed the movie. Plus I took mom to convince her about the dark side of the King’s world, and she was a little horrified in a bad way. I kept stuttering to her “ummm the book is different the book is different”.
And I was waiting to hear a loud version of Sympathy for the Devil while the choppers were chasing the aliens. And they didn’t put the song. Arggggggggggghhhhhhhh.
Actors were great, so I guess it was not the best adaptation, especially toward the end.
Poor Duddits… Watching that sweet boy turn into a mad alien… it was too much to see.
However, nice FX and photography.

[Goodlovin]

I thought that movie was pretty damn cool until the Mr Grey or whatever his name was got into Joney's head.

I thought it had the making of an awesome movie.

Well I will always have and enjoy the book.

[Ubasti]

I thought they were both good. The book is always better though. My mind usually comes up with better characters, etc. than Hollywood does.

[rjt65]

As in almost all movie translations of Kings work it is impossible to capture all the books plot, character development and feelings of the reader on film....

S king CLASS in school what the hell!!! what !@#$% of crap is that! where was this class when i was in school dang....

what other classes are you taking--appreciation of Pamela anderson? ;-) Lucky you! Enjoy the class what other projects or things does this class focus on.? share if you ken...

cheers

[LadyPain]

I read the book and loved it. I watched the movie and loved it even though it did not stay completely true to the book.

At least they did a better job of Dreamcatcher than they did with IT.

[Brayden Bull]

Wow, a SK class! I think a lot of us would get A+'s in that class!