15 Iconic Monsters As Described in the Script Vs. How they Appear On Screen
![15 Iconic Monsters As Described in the Script Vs. How they Appear On Screen](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/9/9/886699_320x180.jpg)
When adapting written work, it’s almost a given that fans will complain about the casting or the visual depiction of their favorite characters. Well, the sad reality is that producers usually don’t consult each and every fan about the character they envisioned while reading the novel. Even if they did, there are other factors at play. The written description might not be all that visually interesting, the character traits might change based on the movie’s story line, or maybe the technology isn’t quite sophisticated enough at the time to bring a really descriptive character to life.
Adaption-wise, villains and monsters might be the trickiest to get right. Eliciting fear and intimidation in a visual (and audible) medium is a lot different than on the page, and these movies did their best to mold plain old words into some of the most iconic antagonists in movie history. Here are 15 villains and monsters that are a lot different on screen than they were on the page.
Frankenstein’s Monster - Frankenstein
![1931's Frankenstein was nothing like the novel. CRACKED.COM In Mary Shelley's novel, he has yellow skin that scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries. His hair was of a lustrous black and flowing. The 1931 film Frankenstein had Boris Karloff look like 1927 theatrical adaptation.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/0/0/886300.jpg)
Sauron - Lord of the Rings
![Sauron is a giant void. THE LORD OF THE RINGS CRACKED.COM Sauron is widely known as one big, fiery evil eye, but the books describe him as a window into nothing, resembling the predatorial eyes of a snake.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/8/886298.jpg)
Severus Snape - Harry Potter
![Alan Rickman is much older and subdued than the OG Snape. HARRY POTTER CRACKED.COM Rickman's Snape is a quiet, looming presence, but in the books he's quick to anger and shouts at Harry often. Rickman is also 20 years older than the novel's Snape.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/6/886296.jpg)
Shae - Game of Thrones
![Shae never cared for Tyrion. GAME OF THRONES CRACKED.COM In the book series A Song of Ice and Fire, Tyrion is just another client for Shae. She was never heartbroken or scorned when she was forced to betray him.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/9/886299.jpg)
Vizzini - The Princess Bride
![Wallace Shawn needed one longer leg to play an accurate Vizzini. THE PRINCESS BRIDE CRACKED.COM In William Goldman's The Princess Bride, Vizzini (played by Wallace Shawn in the film) is actually a hunchback with legs of a different length.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/7/886297.jpg)
Norman Bates - Psycho
![Norman Bates is actually a chubby nerd. PSYCHO CRACKED.COM In the 1960 film (and all other iterations) Norman Bates is a thin, attractive man, but Robert Bloch's novel describes him as an overweight, middle-aged man with thick glasses.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/1/886291.jpg)
The Arachni-Lobster - The Mist (2007 Film)
![Maybe gray made it look more sinister? THE MIST CRACKED.COM A glimpse of the Arachni-Lobster's silhouette is enough to see that it's not red, the angry color of a cooked lobster with huge black lusterless eyes the size of giant handfuls of sea grapes, as Stephen King describes.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/5/886295.jpg)
The Thing - (1982 Film)
![The Thing film had visual limitations. CRACKED.COM Author John W. Campbell describes 3 eyes on a face ringed with a writhing, loathsome face of blue, mobile worms that crawled where hair should grow. The 1982 film shows a humanoid, plant-based alien due to limited special effects.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/3/886293.jpg)
Ursula - The Little Mermaid
![The unnamed Sea Witch wasn't that bad. THE LITTLE MERMAID CRACKED.COM The Disney movie made Ursula the clear villain, but Hans Christian Andersen's story describes a nameless sea witch who warns the mermaid that going to the surface is stupid.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/2/886292.jpg)
Hans Gruber - Die Hard
![One man's villain is another man's freedom fighter. DIE HARD CRACKED.COM Hans Gruber was a pure villain, but the book's Anton Little Tony the Red Gruber was trying to expose a corrupt corporation's association with a Chilean dictatorship.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/8/6/886286.jpg)
Jane - The Twilight Saga: New Moon
![Dakota Fanning is small, but that's about it. THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON CRACKED.COM In the novel, Jane is as tiny as Alice, with lank, pale brown hair trimmed short. The body under the cloak-which was darker, almost black - was slim and androgynous. They casted the pale, blonde and not androgynous Dakota Fanning.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/8/9/886289.jpg)
The Mothman - The Mothman Prophecies (2002 Film)
![Really cool (but untrue) dialogue. THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES CRACKED.COM In 1966, over 100 Point Pleasant, West VA residents reported a 9-foot-tall, black, winged creature with glowing red eyes. In the 2002 film, when asked about his appearance, the Mothman says, depends who's looking.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/4/886294.jpg)
Gollum - The Lord of the Rings
![Gollum has many wrong iterations. THE LORD OF THE RINGS CRACKED.COM More human-like in the films, and more amphibious in animated versions, a more accurate Gollum is a middle ground between a Hobbit and the broken figure of a lizard beast.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/0/886290.jpg)
Dracula (1931 Film)
![Dracula is much hairier. CRACKED.COM Bela Lugosi's 1931 portrayal has an iconic look, but the 1897 novel describes him as having massive eyebrows, bushy hair, and a heavy mustache.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/8/7/886287.jpg)
Ramsay Bolton - Game of Thrones
![Iwan Rheon is a way hotter Ramsay Bolton GAME OF THRONES CRACKED.COM The nearly 30 year old actor was a flattering portrayal of the book's ugly young man, even when dressed finely. Не has sloped shoulders, wormy looking lips, and is big-boned with a fleshiness indicating he will be fat later in life.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/8/8/886288.jpg)