A Review of Bird Box: Book vs. Movie

Source: indiewire.com

Josh Malerman’s horror novel made its name in the BookTube community a few years ago, and I’ve seen a lot of people recommending it, saying it’s one of the scariest books they’ve ever read. I’ve been intending to pick it up, but it wasn’t until the film adaptation was released that I finally got around to it. I’m a fan of Sandra Bullock’s work, so I immediately read the book after watching the trailer. Bird Box as a book did not disappoint. But as a movie, it did.

I’m not saying that the movie is bad because as evidenced by its many fans all over the world, it’s easily one of the most popular movies today. It’s just that I have the prejudice of one who knows the original story and expecting most of the scenes to be faithfully translated on-screen. Movies seldom successfully convey the messages and feelings that a book is able to. In books, you get to know the characters better, even the minor ones. There are also minor scenes in a book that may not be as significant as others but set the tone for the main story. There are understandable omissions and alterations that writers do in film adaptations to make the movie better. However, I honestly think that the writers of Bird Box made a lot of wrong calls.

What caught my attention first was Malorie’s sister’s name. For some reason, they changed it from Shannon to Jessica. Perhaps because Jessica is a stronger name which would highlight her strength and emphasize that committing suicide was very unlikely for her to do. I hadn’t recovered from that name change yet when the apocalyptic scene outside the hospital was shown. People were becoming crazy all at once and boom! Without warning, Shannon/Jessica dies after seeing the “creatures.” Immediately after losing her sister, Malorie was rescued by a woman who tells her to go into the safe house, where she meets the other major characters. Those scenes were just too fast-paced. The book spends more time discussing about Malorie’s doubt about the reported creatures. She insists on disbelief until the day her sister killed herself in the bathroom (not ran over by a truck as in the movie). After discovering her sister’s death, Malorie drives to the safe house which she saw in an ad. For most of the trip, her eyes were closed. She was supposed to seek the house, unsure of its existence, and unsure of whether the people there were still alive. She was not dragged from the streets by a woman who tells her to get inside. That was way too easy. This change robs the viewers of the chance to witness Malorie’s agony of driving blindly to a location while she was pregnant, uncertain of what awaited her, and bumping into unknown objects on the streets.

The manner of entering the house was also changed. They were supposed to have a system. Some people would grab broomsticks, instructing the newcomer to enter immediately. They would put their blindfolds on or close their eyes as they sweep the areas near the door to make sure no creature got in when the door was opened. It was a more thorough routine than closing their eyes and hoping for the best.

One of the major changes that I found both funny and annoying at the same time was the change in race and age of the characters already inside the house when Malorie arrived. It was as if the writers were trying to fit as much diversity into that single scene as possible. The elderly was represented. There was an Asian guy. There were both Black and Caucasian people. There’s a heavily tattooed young person. And when she appears, Olympia was played by a plus-size actress. A lot of these characters are not even in the book. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against the diversity. In fact, I love diversity in movies, but these changes scream of the writers’ desperation of representing as many groups as possible. Maybe they could have done it in a subtler way. They didn’t have to add more characters into the story that didn’t do much to help the plot move forward just for the sake of representation.

So how should the characters have looked like? There were supposed to be just four guys and one girl when Malorie enters the house, and they’re all relatively young. In fact, when they admitted Gary into the house, he commented on their youth. Tom was described as one with blue eyes, blondish brown hair, and freckles. Jules is tall with short dark hair. Don also has dark hair and was around 27 years old. Felix was perhaps the youngest, being 21 or 22, tall and thin, with a long nose and bushy brown hair. The only other woman upon Malorie’s arrival−Cheryl−was merely described as having brown hair. George, the owner of the house, was long dead when Malorie came. His name was also changed to Greg in the movie.

Sadly, the changes in the characters did not stop with the physical and numerical alterations. The most disappointing change was the relationship between Tom and Malorie. While it is true that Malorie was more reliant on Tom than everybody else in the house, it was not because of romantic reasons. It was because among all of them, Tom was the wisest, always looking for ways to better their way of living. He had also lost a beloved daughter, a fact which made Malorie closer to him because she was pregnant and felt that Tom would be able to sympathize with her more.

I was also not a fan of Malorie’s rapid development in the movie. Even though I love a strong female character, she became too strong too soon in the film adaptation. We didn’t get to see much of her vulnerabilities and her difficulty of adjusting to her new way of life. This is largely because she didn’t have much adjusting to do in the new house in the movie because they had almost everything they needed except for additional food. In the book, they had no water to drink or to clean with. They had to take turns fetching water from a nearby well and emptying buckets of feces and urine.

The movie also showed Malorie capable of doing house raids for food even when she was alone, maneuvering around the neighborhood quite easily. In the book, it was much harder for them to get around, taking the search volunteers days or weeks before they could get back. When they enter the house, they would often find the rotting dead bodies of the owners, making the task harder.

The one change I was quite happy with in the film adaptation was the fact that those already insane are immune to the creatures. In the book, this idea was considered by the characters but the only confirmation−if you could call it that−was in the person of Gary. They also discovered that the creatures had the same effect in animals. This mental sickness as immunity made Gary scary in a different way, especially because of the other insane people who had no problem surviving. In the book, Gary brings a briefcase with him, which piqued Malorie’s interest. She secretly took it from him while the latter was asleep, and finds a notebook inside. She discovered that it was filled with ideas that show the writer was convinced the creatures were harmless. When Malorie tells the others about her discovery, they voted to evict Gary from the house despite his declaration that the notebook was not his. Don voted against the eviction, but he was outnumbered. They closed their eyes and opened the door to let Gary out.

Unbeknownst to them, Don hid Gary in the cellar while the rest of the members had their eyes closed. As Malorie and Olympia were giving birth in the same room, they heard a noise downstairs. It was coming from the birds in the bird box that they used as an alarm, signaling that someone (or something) was at their door. Later on, Don (not Gary) strips down the covers and opens the door to let the creature in. Malorie and Olympia were left in the room, having already delivered their babies. All other members were dying downstairs, and finally, it was time for the creature to come to them. Gary reveals himself, cursing at Malorie for evicting him. The creature then enters the room. Yes, it actually enters as opposed to making a mere special appearance through the window as in the movie. Olympia sees it and talks to it. After she went crazy, she climbed out the window and was hanged by the cord that once connected her baby to her. Don’t ask me how that’s possible or how it should look like. I’m also confused.

In the movie, Gary was killed by Tom, who then rescued Malorie and the children. Imagine how much scarier Malorie’s situation is in the book. She’s left alone in the room with two newborn babies with a traitor in one corner and the creature on the other. Her friend hangs dead by the window and the others butchered one another downstairs. There was no Tom to rescue her. She had to do everything alone.

Now let’s discuss the titular bird box. In the movie, Malorie finds birds in an abandoned grocery store while on a supply run. They were in a cage, and Malorie kept them inside the house.  I was interested in this change because the bird box, which is this

Source: vinehousefarm.co.uk

was supposed to be their form of alarm to inform them that someone was at their door. It was Tom’s idea. The birds made noise when Gary arrived. They also made noise when the creature entered. In the movie, when they had to cross the river, Malorie takes the birds and put them in a box. There, I thought. They literally had the birds in a box. This will be the only “bird box” viewers will see. I was not a fan of this change, but I do find it quite funny.

Overall, I found the movie disappointing solely because I read the book first. I was looking out for scenes that did not make it in the screenplay and was let down by the changes. However, I do acknowledge that if I had watched the movie without having read the book first, I might have enjoyed it immensely. The actors did a good job, and the concept was novel. As always, Sandra delivered a wonderful performance. The children were also really good actors. John Malkovich (Douglas) knows how to make you hate his character so much. As for the plot, I loved the addition of the marauders because it gives our main characters additional problems. They had to deal not only with the creatures but with cold-blooded humans as well.

Although I did not like the movie as much as most people did, I’m still happy for its existence because it was what made me pick the book up in the first place. Without the hype, I may never have read it.

If you’ve enjoyed the movie, perhaps you should consider reading the book next. I know I had spoiled a lot of the scenes here, but trust me; there are others that would surprise you still.