Needful Things (film) - Differences From The Novel

Differences From The Novel

• The film takes an immediate left turn in the beginning when Alan Pangborn and Mr. Gaunt meet during his opening day. In the novel the two do not meet until the climax as Mr. Gaunt takes careful measure to avoid any face to face with the sheriff.
• Danforth Keeton replaces John "Ace" Merrill, who was Gaunt's helper in the novel and does not appear in the movie.
• Most of the characters in the novel either do not appear in the movie or are much less prominently featured, undoubtedly due to time constraints.
• Brian Rusk (Gaunt's first customer) succeeds in his suicide attempt in the novel, but is said to survive in the movie.
• Polly Chalmers owns a sewing shop called the "You Sew and Sew" in the novel it is hinted that her profession caused her arthritis; in the film, she is a diner owner.
• Polly Chalmers breaks the necklace in the novel and must fight the rapidly-growing spider-like creature within. In the film, she merely throws it down.
• Alan J. Pangborn is in mourning for his wife and son in the novel. This plotline was dropped for the movie, as was a plot about Polly's dead son and decision to leave town when pregnant and return later.
• In the novel, the sheriff refuses to give Gaunt his bag, which contains the souls of all those he has tricked into committing sins. Pangborn opens the bag and something is released and a furious Gaunt reveals his true monstrous form as he drives off.
• In the novel's end, Gaunt boards a Tucker Talisman that transforms into a medieval peddler's horse-drawn wagon and rides off into the night sky. In the movie ending, he drives a black Mercedes-Benz Type 300 limousine that mysteriously vanishes after leaving Castle Rock. Though the book ends with a premonition that Gaunt is opening yet another cursed store called "Answered Prayers" elsewhere in the U.S., the movie does not.
• In the movie, Gaunt leaves, predicting he will meet Pangborn's grandson in the distant future. This relationship between a local law officer, his son, and a mythical antagonist was later revisited more deeply in King's Storm of the Century.