Regular readers of this blog will remember that I have done a small review of ‘The Girl with all the gifts’ by M.R.Carey in a previous post, so I will try not to repeat myself too much in this one.
*This review contains spoilers*
As mentioned previously, TGWATG set itself apart from others in the genre, though it’s release date in 2014 was preceded in 2013 by the release of ‘The Last of Us’ a PlayStation game that seems to involve a similar disease transportation – the fungal parasite – since reincarnated in the very successful tv series and devoured by fans of the game and the genre alike. Of course, one doesn’t write and publish a book in a year, and the author himself shares that the idea evolved from a short story he had written for the horror anthology ‘An apple for the Creature’ published in 2012. So, while some might say the story wasn’t as original as first thought, some aspects do precede the pS4 game as well.
As suggested by the title, the original anthology was a set of ‘school days’ themed horror stories, and this is how the character of Melanie was ‘born’. The book explores parent/child relationships in an interesting way – Miss Justineau is clearly Melanie’s ‘mother’ from the start – and yet, Melanie protects her as often as Helen Justineau protects Melanie, particularly towards the end of the novel, although, I am still divided as to whether Melanie saves Justineau, or in fact dooms her to a lonely eternity of solitude inside ‘Rosie’ the research vehicle that becomes he home.
I wanted this blog post to be a comparison between the 2014 book and the 2016 film adaptation of the same name.
In truth there isn’t much to compare – aided by the fact that the screenplay was written by the author, the movie is a very strong reflection of the book on the screen. I was disappointed that the relationship between Justineau and Parks wasn’t explored as deeply (the physical aspect in chapter 68 of the books is entirely left out of the film) and his character development was much more rapid – squeezed in right at the end – to explain why he suddenly supports Melanie, though I assume this is one of the obstacles to which Carey refers when discussing his experience of writing the screenplay. What I did like was the way the film portrays Melanie’s power and animalistic aspects when she encounters the other ‘hungry’ children. I also preferred the ending in the film – the book ending was more of an epilogue – Helen being fetched to ‘meet’ her new class of hungries that Melanie ha gathered to learn. Whereas in the film it is suggested that more time has passed: rather than ‘a murmur rising and falling a some of the children – more than half – try to imitate her [Melanie saying Good morning]’ p460, in the film, the whole group chant ‘Good morning, Miss Justineau’ as Melanie acts as a behaviour managing learning support assistant. It makes it more of a denouement, tying up the loose ends of the plot.
The film ending feels like a less cold ending than that in the book, although there is still the understanding that Helen is unlikely to have any physical contact with anyone in the near future; even her contact with Melanie was short-lived and extremely risky. So it does feel a bit bleak.
What happens next with Melanie and Justineau is quite literally another story (while not the main characters, they do feature in the sort of sequel ‘The boy on the Bridge’.
As film adaptations go, this movie is right up there. Additionally, as zombie films go, this is right at the top of the list for me. One of my favourites even after numerous re-watches.
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