Lit. of Horror, Fantasy and Sci-Fi: Annihilation

"ANNIHILATION"

Annihilation is one of my top favorite sci-fi movies, along with Ex Machina and Interstellar. I hadn’t realized that the movie was based off a book until my second time around of watching it, so I was curious as to what the book itself was all about.

Before reading, I did a bit of research on the book to see how much was different compared to the film adaptation; while the movie does branch off from the book, it’s not a bad thing. If anything, the visuals of the film help add to the story in a way the book couldn’t.

One of the big differences between the book and the movie is that the research team all have names and backstories in the film, whereas in the book the only thing known about the others are their jobs—biologist, anthropologist, surveyor, psychologist. The only character we know much about is the protagonist, who is the biologist. I personally preferred the movie’s direction with this because it helps the audience build a connection with the characters and actually feel dread or relief when something happens.

Another difference between the book and the movie is that the monsters in the movie never appear in the book; the skull bear and albino alligator are creations solely for the film, but boy do I wish that they did exist in the book. However, the fact that these creature do only exist in the movie makes it a bit special; I sure left me asking, “Why didn’t the book have that?” In ties with building connections with the characters, when Sheppard, the anthropologist, is brutally killed by the skull bear and you later hear her voice come from that creature gives one a sense of horror and dread.

A third big difference is with the word “annihilation” itself, and what it represents in the book versus the movie. In the book, the word is used by the psychologist as a trigger word for the research team to commit suicide—except for the biologist. But in the movie, Ventress—the psychologist—uses the word as to how the alien being is changing the world. This is another case where I much prefer the movie’s direction with this because I doubt anyone would want to see the characters take their own lives against their will because of hypnosis.

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