The outsider is a book by Stephen King, it's not one of his best books but it has a lot of good moments.
1- the issue of music; good music in a horror film should be subtle. it should support everything and create the right mood without us noticing the change. but here, the music is completely in our face, it's often too loud and has no subtlety. it changes noticeably before something's about to happen and gets loud(sometimes doesn't even stop after the scene changed) it draws too much attention to itself and takes us out of the scene.
2- the problem of casting; if you haven't read the book you'll probably be fine, but for me, the cast are either really good for the role or really bad! I understand Bateman had Cynthia Erivo in mind for the role of Holly from the start but she is my biggest issue! I'll get into that;
she looks nothing like holly's description from the book(being very thin, almost anorexic) she's much younger than holly and I don't even have to say anything about her being black in the series!
though it's not just her looks, holly from the book is very likable but this holly from the very first interaction we had with her doesn't come off very well!
we meet her in the third episode, but in the book, she comes in almost halfway through the book. this makes me think Bateman was just focusing the show around this actress and his version of Holly. because the events of the first two episodes seem really rushed so we can get to holly! don't get me wrong, Holly was the savior of the book and the best character in it(especially considering she's one of the recurring characters in King's books) but here, she doesn't come in naturally and it feels really forced! and it's partly writers fault and partly Cynthia Erivo's fault. the way she plays Holly feels really forced, the first scene she's talking to Ralph and Alec doesn't feel natural at all, she's way too intense and trying too hard to play this character!
I don't even understand why they had to rewrite Holly? Holly is one of the best characters King created.
3- another big problem with Bateman's version is the early appearances of the outsider; his early appearances in the book are really subtle and terrifying but in the series, he's just there, you can easily tell Bateman doesn't have much experience in horror. the scene with Hoskins in the barn should've been terrifying like in the book but here it's was just weird and rushed!
4- one of my complaints about the book was that it over-explained everything and King gave too many unnecessary details about everything in the first half of the book and tried to set the moods and emotions more than it was necessary. here in the series, they fell off the other side of the horse!!!
on the positive side;
I like the changes they made and how they cut a lot of fat from the dull moments of the story(sometimes they cut too much tough)
Bateman as Maitland did a great job.
the cinematography isn't my favorite here but I actually appreciate it's style. it just needs more experienced people working with it.
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