It's not exactly a profound revelation to say that novels rarely translate well to film. The history of cinema is littered with movies that have failed as even shadows of their literary inspirations and the exceptions to the rule are so rare that I can only think of two instances where the film has surpassed the source material (Jaws being perhaps the most definitive example). That being said, it's not always obvious why these adaptations fail-which makes Andrew Van Den Houten's cinematic version of Jack Ketchum's novel Offspring valuable as a learning tool if nothing else.

One thing I'd like to make clear up front: I didn't hate Offspring. It's not a particularly good film, but I appreciate the novel it's based on (which is itself something of a lesser work in the Ketchum bibliography) and there are some fun moments to be had during it's relatively brief running time (some of them intentional, others not...). That being said, people who don't already love Ketchum's work (he's given us classic books like The Girl Next Door and Off Season) or can't appreciate low-budget gore flicks aren't likely to be won over by this film. This is a shame, because Ketchum's done pretty well with having his work adapted over the past few years. The film versions of The Girl Next Door and Red came out better than I expected, and even The Lost (despite a lot of problems) still had enough going for it to recommend it without any caveats. Offspring, on the other hand, feels rushed and cheap-all the more disappointing since Ketchum himself handled the screenwriting duties.

That Ketchum's screenplay is so slavishly devoted to his source material should be a positive. Too often we wander into a theatrical adaptation of a novel and leave annoyed because it didn't stick with the story of the book. Offspring demonstrates why being faithful to the original material doesn't always work as well. No one will ever mistake Offspring as a particularly deep novel-it's a sequel to Off Season and it feels as though it were a gore film presented in novel format. Ketchum's a good writer (arguably one of the most purely talented writers working in the genre) and even though the book feels like an extended battle sequence between a group of cops, suburbanites living in the country, and a clan of inbred cannibals, there's more going on than that. Unfortunately, the film drops all of the character development and subtext and instead concentrates solely on the action. It doesn't work as far as compelling narratives go.

Another problem with Offspring is that it's a sequel. Off Season first introduces us to these wild cannibal people living in the Maine countryside and Offspring is a return to check in on them years after the first book. Off Season has been slated for an adaptation as well, but hasn't come out yet (and will be handled by a different company). The issue here is that if you don't know that Offspring is a sequel to another work, a lot of the early scenes don't make a whole lot of sense. When the retired sheriff (played by Art Hindle) is brought in on this new case, the audience has no real idea why it's such a big deal to him. He hints at it through some expository dialogue, but it's such a throwaway line that it's easily missed. I'm rarely a proponent of placing flashbacks in a film, but if ever there was a time where a flashback was not only justified but almost required, this was it. Instead, Offspring never really acknowledges that it's a sequel-so viewers get the feeling of walking into a story in the middle of it, but never learn why.

Those are the film's two biggest issues, but they're far from the only ones. Offspring is a low budget film, and it shows it time and again. The costumes of the cannibal clan are more hilarious than scary-they're comprised of loin cloths and bad wigs for the most part. The cannibal children are particularly awful-they don't look even remotely inbred or as though they've been living in caves for their entire lives. The cannibal matriarch is supposed to be some hideous monstrosity in the book-here she's a relatively attractive woman who looks like she needs a good shower. The costumes are one of the things even a modestly budgeted production could have (and should have) gotten right. That they can't even be bothered to make the monsters scary is a huge disappointment.

The rest of the film looks equally cheap. It's shot on DV and it's not very flattering DV at that. Director Andrew Van Den Houten is a competent enough filmmaker, but his style often feels very staid and predictable. There are no standout shots here-everything's staged in the most perfunctory way possible. Is that a bad thing? Not really-but it is disappointing. Once again, some of the constraints of a small budget can be countered through inventive shot selection and that simply doesn't happen here.

Finally, there's just no way that Offspring could ever live up to the book that inspired it in terms of its depravity. Ketchum's novel is one of those books that's so unrepentantly violent and gory that even trying to bring it to film is courting disaster. This isn't to say that other equally out there subjects haven't been done justice in film, but it's the exception and not the rule. Offspring feels very tame in comparison to the novel, which is a letdown. These books (Off Season and Offspring) were essentially inspirations for things like Wrong Turn, yet Wrong Turn trumps Offspring in terms of disturbing imagery in a very major way.

It's not all bad, though-Art Hindle is fun, despite the fact that he spends most of the film mugging for the camera. Ketchum has a cameo as a medical examiner early on in the story. There's some nudity and just enough gore to keep the exploitation crowd happy and it's not like the film is unwatchable as a whole.

Instead, Offspring is just another movie trying to capture the magic of a novel-and mostly failing in the process. I'm curious as to how someone who'd never read the book would view the film-there's a part of me that thinks I'm being hard on the movie because it's not as good as the book. At the same time, there's a part of me that wonders if the film would even be as enjoyable as it is without the familiarity with its written inspiration. I'm glad that someone finally took the time to bring Offspring to the big screen-I just wish the finished project wasn't so tragically flawed.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day