BOOK VS FILM! There's Someone Inside Your House

The Trial: There's Someone Inside Your House: Book vs. Film 

Disclaimer:  spoilers ahead.

Bailiff: The Teen Book Guild Court with the Honorable Judge Rayna .S, is now in session. 

Today’s case regards the title, There’s Someone Inside Your House:  Perkins (author) v.  Brice (director).

Essential Information 

There’s Someone Inside Your House, written by Stephanie Perkins, follows Makani Young, a teenage girl who has recently moved to Osborne, Nebraska. But as students at Osborne High School are murdered by a mysterious killer, she starts to feel her dreadful past will come crawling back into her life. It is a title that will get your heart pumping from the thrill and action, but swooning from the romance and comedy bits. 

The movie adaptation, directed by Patrick Brice, can be found on Netflix. Now, the book and the movie in my--the amazing honorable judge, Rayna S.'s--opinion are very different, even though they follow the same plotline?! So let’s get into today’s case and find out which version, book or movie, is best.

The Book 

The book has WAY more detail than the movie; each murder that took place evoked a feeling inside me. Every time a death happened, the reader would be in the victim's POV, giving them an insight into what the victims were feeling before their death. Whatever emotion the victim, it can be 100% guaranteed that the reader felt that exact same. Throughout the book, the murders became more personal and gruesome so that sometimes I found myself going crazy:  "Come on, fight them!" "Get up!" "This is just sick!” or "NOOOOO!" (Side note: My mom came into my room with a concerned look on her face multiple times.) 

Also, Perkins beautifully mixes the romance between Makani and Ollie, with the thriller and action part of the book: the relationship did not overshadow the plot. I found myself enjoying the little moments between the two teens. Plus, this allowed for Perkins to really dive into the personal issues of each character.  

The only negative about the book is that it got really unrealistic and undescriptive around the last two chapters. Like it took the real out of realistic fiction, but just in those two chapters.

The Film

Click here to see the trailer

On the other hand, Brice’s movie did not evoke the same emotion; it was very underwhelming. In the first fifteen minutes, I thought the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes were overly harsh, but then after those few minutes I started to understand what people were saying. Unlike the book, I did not feel the need to scream at the television or even feel scared. 

The overall casting of the movie was decent, except for the character who played Ollie. In the book, Ollie had pink hair and piercings which contributed to his awkward and outsider vibes, but in the movie, Ollie looked and acted like a regular guy;  there was nothing physically extraordinary about him. Also, the dialogue made ALL the characters seem whiny and foolish. 

The filmmakers also made unnecessary changes to the book for the movie. First, they changed the motive of the killer, which made no sense (but I don't wanna spoil it). Second, none of the deaths besides one took place in a victim's house! This is completely against the title, There's Someone Inside Your House. 

Verdict 

In the case of Perkins (author) v.  Brice (director), I found that Perkins provided the best experience when it comes to the title, There’s Someone Inside Your House. The book provided so much necessary detail leaving me on the edge of my seat! In this case, the book is awarded the victory.

Now, we know what the honorable Judge Rayna, thinks, but what does the rest of the public decide?