Book-To-Movie: Jeff Vandermeer’s 'Annihilation'

Credit: Pixabay

It's the fourth weekend of the month and so time for another Book-To-Movie review! In a Book-To-Movie, we review a work of prose fiction and its movie adaptation. Because Jeff Vandermeer's "Annihiliation" can be considered a science fiction horror book it was probably relatively easy to adapt into the 2018 film of the same name. That is, only when it came to mixing genres. Science fiction horror has tended to be more popular in movies than in books, especially during the present century. When it came to adapting specific scenes from “Annihilation” the novel, that was probably a big challenge for the movie’s producers. Many segments in the novel get so surreal to where they can only be perceived if read (or listened to on audio) rather than seen on screen. So, it’s perfectly understandable that director Alex Garland refined some of those scenes if not left them out altogether. What isn’t understandable are some of the scenes he added. The ones I have in mind are only two but that’s all it took to kill the film.

The Book

Vandermeer's "Annihilation" is Book One in the Area X Trilogy. So far, I've only read the one.  But it was so good I would eventually like to read the other two. The story: a biologist, who is not named, goes on an expedition into a forbidden zone of land called Area X. That is, it's forbidden by the government that controls it. However, little does the four-woman expedition know that another force is controlling Area X, one that threatens to take over the world. The biologist, along with the other expedition members, also not named but only referred to by their professions, search Area X to learn more about its mysterious nature and why so many members of previous expeditions have either never come back or, if they did come back, were changed for the worst. However, the biologist has her own personal reasons for exploring Area X: her husband who was part of the previous expedition. 

Even though the narrative tone of this science fiction horror book is monotonous, the events are unnerving making you want to continue reading. Also, the surrealism is a trip. The monsters are uncanny, such as tiny hand-like creatures found in an underground structure called the "Tower", which is a central symbol in the book, and another creature called the "Crawler" that may be as bizarre as a monster can get. I won't say more about this last one so as not to create a spoiler. 

The Movie

Alex Garland does an overall good job with his film adaptation of "Annihilation". It stars Natalie Portman (Marvel's “Thor” films, “Star Wars” prequels) as the biologist, who in this one is named--Lena. (As a movie aimed at a general audience, limiting the expeditionrs’ names to their professional titles probably would not work too well.) The movie mostly stays faithful to the novel. The overall filming is good with the cinematography's shots of the otherworldly landscape of Area X and the surreal and psychedelic sequences, which these last two are mostly shown towards the end. Also, the ending takes a big ironic twist from that of the book without making the story too dependent on it. There are more monsters that are overtly mutational than there are in the novel and the special effects for these are convincing. Unlike the book, the movie carries an intense, violent tone through the characters’ interactions in their predicaments which enhances the horror element. So, what’s really wrong with this movie?

The real problem with this movie is two exploitive scenes: an extramarital affair scene and a graphic gore one. Lena is involved in the former which is totally out of her character and the scene itself seems to have no connection to the rest of the movie. The graphic gore segment is one that actually occurs in video footage left behind by the previous expedition but seems to get a little too extreme without any real purpose. These two exploitational segments distract from the story and plays down the intelligence of the average viewer. 

I'd rather be reading Jeff Vandermeer's novel, "Annihilation", anytime over watching Alex Garland's movie version. Although it's a bit more difficult to comprehend than the movie, the author shows that he knows what needs to be in this type of a science fiction horror book and, through omission, what doesn't. Garland’s movie adaptation seems to try a little too hard to please pea-brained viewers and that’s what messes up what would otherwise be a good movie. 

Newsletter and BIP Report

I'm currently putting together my BIP report (book-in-progress report) of “Bad Apps” for the upcoming issue of my newsletter, "Night Creatures' Call" number 11. I'm going to try to get the newsletter out by the middle of the week. If you haven't subscribed to it yet, you can do so here. It's free! 

Have you read Jeff Vandermeer’s novel, “Annihilation”, or seen the movie adaptation?

Until next time . . .