Nightbitch
As a post-script to the book review1 I should mention that the people at the book/film club really did not get on with Nightbitch at all.
Why does this matter for the film review? Well, what quickly became clear to me while watching this adaptation was that by putting this story to film, its major weaknesses really get highlighted. The very core concept of the ‘Nightbitch’ barely holds up, and you begin to question what Yoder was trying to achieve with the book.
As a film, it’s fine. Amy Adams was the right choice for the role. The screenplay is reasonably faithful to the book, but the tweaks it makes are odd and surplus to requirements. The end in particular is an evocative well written passage in the book, surely ripe for a movie, but the film decides to completely ditch it.
Frankly this needed someone to go nuts with it, rather than play it straight. It doesn’t do the book dirty because the book is no masterpiece to begin with, but you can’t help but think what this might have been in the hands of someone willing to really take the idea and run with it.