Best-selling author Nicholas Sparks is heading to the big screen again as an adaptation of his romantic cowboy story The Longest Ride galloping into theaters. What does that have to do with horror movies?
His fans know that Sparks endeavors to weave different thematic elements into every love story he's written. Drawing inspiration from his electrifying memory of reading Stephen King's epic horror tale The Stand when he was just 15, for example, he was compelled to create fright and tension in his 2003 novel The Guardian (unfortunately, not yet filmed). Yet imagine if Mr. Sparks continued to mine the rich territory offered by horror themes? What movies might have resulted?
Message in a Bottle (1999)
Let's start with the first Sparks-to-screen adaptation. Kevin Costner stars as a boatbuilder who is still grieving the loss of his beloved wife when he meets newspaper worker Robin Wright Penn. Can he love again? It's a tender story, enhanced by Paul Newman as Costner's father. But what if Costner channeled his grief into an abiding anger and hatred of anyone who reminded him of his wife? It's an easy step to a terrifying tale of a potentially fatal stalking.
The Notebook (2004)
Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams generated a lot of heat as a couple who connect in their youth, break up, and then reconnect. It's a passionate and extremely romantic tale that would become a somewhat different movie if, during their separation, Gosling's character was killed and came back as a zombie. That would really test their love, wouldn't it?
Nights in Rodanthe (2008)
Richard Gere and Diane Lane are both carrying a hefty load of emotional baggage, he from a broken relationship with his son, and she from a broken marriage. They meet at a bed and breakfast in North Carolina, where a romance blooms. But all that's needed to make this a great horror movie is for both of them to be vampires who are hiding away from the world as they deal with guilt over their bloodsucking ways.
The Lucky One (2012)
Zac Efron stars as a U.S. Marine who completes three tours of duty in Iraq. But he credits a picture of a beautiful women (Taylor Schilling) for saving his life, then goes in search of her. Things go romantically in the movie, of course, but it would be simple to imagine Efron as a far more traumatized soldier who unfairly blames Schilling for his troubles, and seeks her out to gain mortal vengeance.
Safe Haven (2013)
We'll tread carefully here, so as to avoid spoilers, but this movie is already pretty close to horror territory. Julianne Hough is a young woman fleeing an abusive husband (David Lyons); she meets the widowed Josh Duhamel and falls in love with him and his two young children. Things get sticky when the husband shows up. All that's needed here is a massive change of tone; pick up the pace, show more explicitly the violence, make the music more jolting, and we've got a Nicolas Sparks movie that is pure terror.
