6 Book Scenes The Movies (Thankfully) Left Out

6

Rambo The Cold-Blooded Dog Murderer

First Blood, the movie that introduced John Rambo to the (non-reading) world, has the lowest body count required to qualify as a body count. If you don't count dogs, that is. To be fair, it's not entirely clear what happens to the dogs in the movie. You see them run off-screen, hear some yelps, and the rest is up to you to decide. Maybe Rambo scared them off, or taught them to yelp on command with liberal belly rubs and praise.

But the book leaves nothing to the imagination. Rambo ruthlessly shoots the dogs with a rifle from the comfort of a "cool underbush," in the process making a cop fall off a cliff.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishing GroupThe book omits the moment when the cop pulls out a sign that says "Uh-oh" before falling.

So Rambo kills all the dogs ... except for one. That one he leaves to suffer in agony, with its insides spilling out of its stomach, forcing a cop to mercy-kill it. Yes, the book makes a cop shooting a dog in the head come out looking like the good guy.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishing GroupThen he also slipped and fell off a cliff.

The whole thing turns out to be a ruse to distract the cops so that Rambo can kill them too. Whoever read this and saw a mainstream action movie must have had some serious imagination, been seriously psychotic ... or most likely, both.

5

Dinosaurs Eat A Baby In Jurassic Park

Nothing kills the mood of a blockbuster quite like babies getting eaten (Snowpiercer aside). And that's one thing Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park absolutely did not skimp on. The book goes right ahead and treats us to not one but two scenes of babies becoming dinosaur food, neither of which made it into any of the movies.

First there's a scene in which a baby in a nursery is found surrounded by small lizard-like dinosaurs. Assuming you've seen any dinosaur movie ever made, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out that they aren't standing around gushing over how cute it is. No, the gushing comes later:

Ballantine BooksEven the guy making Schindler's List thought this was too depressing.

4

The Oz Books Are Full Of Gore

The 1939 Wizard Of Oz movie isn't remembered for a plethora of decapitated limbs, severed heads, or broken necks. The same can't be said of L. Frank Baum's Oz books. A more faithful adaptation would have resulted in Hollywood running out of red paint.

Take the Tin Man, who after trying to marry a Munchkin was cursed by the Wicked Witch to chop off his own arms, legs, and head. Luckily, he knew a tinsmith capable of recreating all his missing pieces (even the intimate ones, presumably). The Wicked Witch then sends 40 wolves after him, and the Tin Man handles it by brutally axing down all 40 of them.

L. Frank BaumHe missed a huge opportunity by not then replacing his tin parts with wolf parts.

3

The Bambi Book Really Dials Up The Carnage

Felix Salten's Bambi, A Life In The Woods was the basis for the classic Disney movie, and it is a full-on goddamn bloodbath. Bambi witnesses enough horrific stuff to scar him for life. Fortunately, as a deer, his life expectancy isn't long enough for that to be much of a worry.

2

The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen Had Invisible Rape

2003's League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie (LXG if you're nasty) isn't what you'd describe as "well-received," or "fondly remembered," or "passably enjoyable." Kevin O'Neill, who drew the original comic book series, once claimed that the movie's awfulness was a result of it not being "respectful of the source material." Let's consider what's in that source material, written by the venerable Alan Moore. In the comics, the Invisible Man is a serial rapist who moonlights as the Holy Spirit in order to take advantage of young women. And he's not a bit shy about doing so in front of an audience.

DC ComicsA rape scene? In an Alan Moore comic? There must be a mistake.

1

Alex's Sexual Partners Are Way Younger In A Clockwork Orange

There's a scene in A Clockwork Orange wherein protagonist Alex has consensual sex with a couple of girls around his age. And that scene is in the original book, except it's not so consensual, and each of those girls is a perfect 10 ... years old.

W.W. Norton & CompanyThe bed is unmade? We're starting to get the impression this guy is no good.