Cohen and Director John Irvin know the limitations of the film medium and wisely do not attempt to exceed them. In Ghost Story, just like with Carrie, he skillfully paves the road that leads from the book to the movie. But this is a subject for another article.) What does one do about such a dilemma? Let’s ask Lawrence D Cohen, the screenwriter for Ghost Story.Ĭohen is a masterful screenwriter who first “came to prominence” for penning the screenplay for the 1976 film Carrie, a fine film based on a book by Stephen King. (I guess that’s where a television mini-series comes to “the rescue.” Ah but this often backfires. At the same time, it is nearly impossible for a film to lay out all of the plot points of a story-heavy book such as Ghost Story unless we allow for a nine-hour film.
A film based on a book is often forced to take shortcuts, usually to the detriment of the story. Simply stated, there is more opportunity for story and character development in a book than a film. I call this the “200 page/2 hour reel” ratio. In past reviews when I have compared a book to a movie, I have used a pseudo-ratio to show how books benefit from a structural advantage. All this and more make up Ghost Story, a novel by Peter Straub and then later a film by John Irvin. The deadly consequences of secrets buried long ago are only just beginning to surface. A mysterious woman unbound by time haunts successive generations of boys and men. Old, distinguished men in elegant attire sip their brandy and tell ghost stories.
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