2009 |
Cannibals |
Book Adaptations“Offspring” is an adaptation of the Jack Ketchum novel by the same name, which itself is a sequel to his writing debut “Off Season”. While that one never was made into a film and I hope that someday someone will come along with a decent budget and some talent and do that since it’s a great novel with lots of film potential, I think this one can work work well enough as a stand-alone film. Although the ex Sheriff George loses his character depth since people who only know this film don’t know about his experiences in the first book, most of the plot works on it’s own.
Written by Ketchum himself, the screenplay sticks very close to the book. The dialogue is mostly lifted directly from the pages and almost every scene and plot point from the book can be found in this film. A couple changes here and there, but it’s very faithful.
While there are some nice practical effects and the film doesn’t completely fail because of it’s strong source material, it has problems. The biggest one is that it obviously had a tiny budget and the whole production looks incredibly cheap. Furthermore, the direction isn’t that good and doesn’t even come close to using the full potential of the book or the story. Lots of moments and plot points fall victim to the cheap production and the lacking direction and do not only not really feel cinematic, but come across without much impact and effectiveness. In addition, the film looks just as cheap as it was, except from some really good effects. Most of the acting isn’t good either and sometimes takes you out of the film. In combination with the aforementioned production and direction, the acting makes the characters pretty weak and uninteresting, despite them being strong in the book.
With a bigger budget, a better production and a more capable director, a more capable crew and more capable actors, “Offspring” could be a great film. As it is now, the books is miles better and the film doesn’t even come close. My rating is pretty generous and the film is not terrible, despite all my criticism, and has some good moments. But mostly my rating is due to the potential that is in there.
