The Forest of Hands and Teeth (book optioned for film)
In a world where the living are surrounded by a fence that protect them from the Unconsecrated, a young girl searches for the truth about the world outside.
I saw mention of this recently and, though it sounded familiar, a few searches of the forum didn't reveal mention of it here.
Anyway, this book, by Carrie Ryan, seems to be a fairytale-style young-adult () novel featuring zombies. It's apparently been fairly well received and has been optioned for film, albeit by what appears to be some small studio/company.
The slow zombies are the main stay in the book, apparently, but some fast(er?) zombies do appear and shake things up, so coupling that with it being a young-adult book, I'm not sure how well it will go over with some of the purists, gorehounds and cynics amongst us.
Plot Summary from wikipedia (with spoilers) is as follows:
Mary lives in a village ruled by a religious order known as the Sisterhood, and their military force, the Guardians. The village is surrounded by a large chain-link fence, beyond which lies a seemingly endless, zombie-infested forest. There are only three ways through the fence—two gates that open on paths that are themselves enclosed by fencing, and a corral designed for expelling those who've been infected by the zombie plague. Where the two paths lead, no one knows, for the Sisterhood says the village is the only human habitation left on Earth.
Mary has been raised on stories passed down from her great-great-great-grandmother about life before the coming of zombies. She is especially fascinated by the ocean, and believes if she could reach it, she'd be free of zombies.
She gets her chance when a new, fast-moving zombie appears in the woods and leads a major incursion through the fence. Mary and several friends escape down the path, where they discover that their village is but one of many enclosed settlements.
The Author's statement about the type of story it is and how zombies and GAR fit in (minor spoils):
George Romero has really sparked a lot of imaginations and while any book or movie with zombies inevitably owes a massive debt to Romero's world, I tend not to think of The Forest of Hands and Teeth as a "zombie book," but rather a book that happens to have zombies in it. The Forest of Hands and Teeth, which takes place generations after the apocalypse, is really about a girl struggling with growing up, desire, and a controlling society set against the backdrop of a world with zombies (called “Unconsecrated”) constantly pushing against the fences. The characters have already come to terms with the Return (the zombie apocalypse) and know nothing else: this is their world and they've accepted it.
So, since this young adult fiction, written by a female, featuring a supernatural/horror element, a female lead protagonist on a journey (of self-discovery, one would assume) and there's a movie deal, I'll get it out of the way and ask how many of you think this is an attempt to swim in the Harry Potter/Twilight slipstream? Who wants to rant?
So how long till someone mentions the words MTV and generation in conjunction? I am looking at my watch and timing you all.
Last edited by AcesandEights; 14-Oct-2009 at 02:51 PM.
"Men choose as their prophets those who tell them that their hopes are true."--Lord Dunsany
To be honest, the reason I love zombie films (and zombie fiction) is directly linked to why I hate fairy tales. I don't like it when things are "cleaned up" or "nice" when they should be nasty, violent and grim. It'll be an interesting movie, for sure, but trust me, this will end up being PG-13.
To be honest, the reason I love zombie films (and zombie fiction) is directly linked to why I hate fairy tales. I don't like it when things are "cleaned up" or "nice" when they should be nasty, violent and grim. It'll be an interesting movie, for sure, but trust me, this will end up being PG-13.
you ever read a fairy tale?, most of it before the 20th century is dark stuff that is more often than not ambiguous at best.
Self-mutilation (Cinderella), paedophilia (Pied Piper), murder (all of them), cannibalism (most of them, most notably Hansel and Gretel), beastiality (in the original version of Beauty and the Beast he was a bull she was forced to marry), kidnap (Rumplestiltskin), monsters eating people and being split open by big burly men with axes. Most of the heroes are freaks (Tom Thumb) or petty criminals (Goldilocks).
ned's so hardcore and tough that he eats steel ingots in the morning and shits swords at night.
back to the matter at hand: it does look, from the story at least, that this is an attempt to cash in on the whole teen angsty supernatural movie crush that's going on right now. let me state for the record and forevermore: i have no use for anything wrapped up in adolescent angst.
"The bumps you feel are asteroids smashing into the hull."
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) novel featuring zombies. It's apparently been fairly well received and has been optioned for film, albeit by what appears to be some 
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Originally Posted by EvilNed
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