MovieChat Forums > The Visitation Discussion > This twists the entire story

This twists the entire story

posted 16 years ago by waldron32282
4 replies | jump to latest

The Visitation was one of my favorite books of all time. I actually paid full price for this DVD because I couldn't wait to see it. I have watched other book based movies before so I was prepared for it to be a little different. What I was NOT prepared for was an entirely different story with a whole new meaning behind it. In the book, Peretti's entire story centers around the Lord, how He works and His love for us. If I were to watch this on TV, I would never have known it to be a Christian film. Travis' wife is not murdered, she dies of cancer. It has nothing to do with Brandon. The whole scene about Brandon asking Travis for help as a kid never happened. As a matter of fact, Travis only finds out about Brandon's past by going back to his home town. Brandon has no grudge against Travis, in the book he likes Travis because he feels like they have both been hurt by God. Randy Travis does a great job acting, but he is not anything like Kyle Sherman. Pastor Sherman in the book is a brash, young, passionate pastor in his twenties. He's nothing more than a kid but he grows into a man of God as the book progresses. Morgan is not a vet but a lady minister. As you can see, these are not minor details. It is changing who and what the book is all about. The climatic ending is also changed to something more politically correct. This could have been such a powerful movie but was not. If I was Peretti, I would be so mad. It is a shame.

[–] Angelfalls916 16 years ago

I agree, I was so excited to see this after being unable to put the book down. The movie was so rushed, and so changed it was almost unrecognizable. I was very let down by this version. I know movies are most never as good as the book, but the huge plot and character changes made this an utter disaster. I am shocked that the move had Peretti's name on the credits, if I were him I would have been appalled.

[–] WolfsChild 16 years ago

Haven't seen it but now i'm not sure I want to, it sounds like they disney ified it, or in other words sliced mansled and peat it then put it together in a story that has almost nothing the same!

RREEDDIICCUULLOOUUSS

[–] Devans00 16 years ago

It would take a very dense person to think this movie was not a Christian film. That was a very obvious message from the first 10 minutes.

No two persons ever watch the same movie.

[–] MikeRinaldi 16 years ago

I hear ya. This is my favorite Peretti book and I worked on this movie. Some of the changes were necessary for a couple of reasons. One being that film is a different medium than literature. Another being that you have to condense certain things to cram into a cohesive two hour story. Also there were some tonal changes because the intention was to make a mainstream supernatural thriller with Christian theology rather than a "Christian film" so to speak. But ultimately these changes deviated a great deal from the book and some of them hurt the story.

However, I think you just have to accept the book as one thing and the movie as something else entirely. If you watch it without the expectations of the book (yes, I know I'm asking a lot), I don't think it's that bad for a low budget movie.

I'll add this: the process of making this movie was probably of infinite more value than the resulting product. Even if you're disappointed with the adaptation, lives were affected and changed forever while this movie was being made and that definitely made it worthwhile in my opinion.