By MICHAEL GINGOLD
Further fright favorites from past decades are making their way to the printed page.
Author/publisher Christian Francis of Echo On Publications has revealed to RUE MORGUE that he has a new slate of novelizations adapting past horror favorites on the way, joining the MANIAC COP trilogy, SESSION 9 and the upcoming WITCHBOARD, THE GATE, etc. Most noteworthy are the cult-favorite creature rallies THE MONSTER SQUAD and WAXWORK, along with the 1990 chillers NIGHTWISH and THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, the zombie comedy FIDO and the youth-crime film SHOPPING, which marked the debut of director Paul W.S. Anderson and the first lead role for Jude Law. Francis tells us that the MONSTER SQUAD book will contain plenty of story content not seen in the 82-minute movie.
“THE MONSTER SQUAD is a short film, but definitely not a short script,” Francis notes. “It’s actually 126 pages long and packed with a lot of extra material. The scenes are much longer and more elaborate than what ended up on screen. It really takes time to build the suspense! I’m excited for fans to finally read the full story, in all the depth that Fred Dekker and Shane Black originally wrote. It’s one of my favorite films, from two of my favorite filmmakers–I just hope I can do it justice. No pressure!
“WAXWORK, on the other hand, is the shortest script I’ve ever read,” he continues. “It’s barely 60 pages. But oddly, that gave me a lot of freedom–not to add new scenes, but to build out the characters and add some extra layers that were hinted at in the original screenplay. I tried not to go too off-track, though, as [writer/director] Tony Hickox is no longer with us. This was his baby, and I don’t want to disrespect that. This is my tribute to his memory, as much as a gift to the fans who grew up with the film like I did.”
These plus the other aforementioned titles will be released in first quarter 2026, with specific dates to be determined; keep an eye on echohorror.com for updates and pre-order information. Through all these tomes, Francis says, “I’m aiming to establish a new standard for genre novelizations by bringing care, passion and storytelling quality to the books that the original films deserve. This is about giving a second life to movies that should’ve had novelizations when they were first released, especially those that meant so much to me growing up. It’s not about churning out cheap adaptations of any old films for the sake of it, but creating something meaningful for both longtime fans and new readers. If Echo On has a mission, it’s to get people passionate about novelizations again, and for studios to see the value in creating them.”
