All right. So they hardly ever live up to the books. But I watched Monte Cristo the other day and could not believe it said Alexandre Dumas’ Count of Monte Cristo. I realize it’s a very complicated plot to tell in 2 hours but jeez… the movie just plain sucked.
What’s the movie that bothered you the most for not living up to the book?
The Time Machine, undoubtedly.
Hands down… Frank Herbert’s Dune.
The movie was gorgeous but it butchered the story so badly…
Nothing even comes close. So you may now lock the thread. 
The Sci-Fi channel or the Movie version?
Well, I hated the movie version untill I saw the Sci-Fi channel version.
They turned me into even more of a whinny bitch then Luke Skywalker.
sends a mighty herd of Shai-Halud after Sci-Fi executives
Flowers in the Attic, a truly wretched thing based on the VC Andrews book.
Simon Birch
geez, did they even read A Prayer for Owen Meaney ?
Oh… also every single screen adapation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
I had high hopes for Kenneth Branagh’s version of the same name… with DeNiro as the Monster even! But no… it was a gross divergence as well. Again a gorgeous movie but butchered the book.
Both were poo poo.
Where’s your Gom Jabbar now?
Well, I do forgive the feature film for a lot merely because the still suits were perfect (okay, they did leave the head uncovered, and this is a big mistake that is actually a major plot point in book four, but still…). The look of those suits was spot on. And don’t forget that Mr. Herbert helped moke the thing.
Though damned if I know where the hell the blood drinking, stupid sound weapons, and magically making it rain came from.
I’ve read the book, but never saw the movie version of Bonfire of the Vanities. Can anyone here verify if the film version was truly as bad as the reputation it got?
The postman.
Mildly enjoyable book, incredibly bad movie.
How long before someone mentions “Starship Troopers”?
(For the record, I enjoyed the film when I actualyl though about it, rather than treating it as a SCI-FI action film played by the cast of Beverly Hills 90201, but I found the book to be bordering on uneradable.)
Do short stories count? If so, then the honor should clearly go to The Lawnmower Man.
Well, I was thinking Starship Troopers when I opened the thread, but it’s hard to believe that it was based on anything.
Worst movie based on a book that even remotely resembled the book? Battlefield Earth.
Worst movie based on a book that was worth reading in the first place? Nightfall.
Worst movie (after Starship Troopers) based on a book that no one involved with the movie read? The Running Man.
Angela’s Ashes.
actually, both book and movie sucked ass.
Nah, my guess is they just read the jacket, and said “oh, there’s probably a movie in this”
I haven’t seen The Cider House Rules, but from other examples I’ve seen, I’m guessing that even if you’re trying real hard, it’s tough to make movies of John Irving novels. I think his characters work better in print than on screen (not saying that the makers of Simon Birch were trying very hard)
Given the fact that “Battlefield Earth” is an adaptation, that’s got to be the winner, doesn’t it? “Battlefield Earth” is a movie of legendary badness, one of the five or six worst theatrical release movies ever made. I can only think of a handful of worse movies, and none of them were adapted from novels.
I mean, “the Postman” and “Starship Troopers” were friggin’ awful, but they were Citizen Kane compared to the horror, the horror, that was John Travolta’s “saga.”
Raise the Titanic
How about 1966’s The Bible? 
How can you say this, yes it’s VERY difficult to try and do well over a 1000 page book with tons of sub-plots into a movie. However, I think that Count of Monte Cristo is a very good movie, yes they did change a lot around but the movie still flowed and I liked the way they did it. I’m in the process of re-reading the book now and still think they did a good job.
As for worst movie like that I don’t know, I think I’m forgeting a lot of movies any more, oh and I stayed away from Battlefield earth. 