Brannon Braga's Hulu original horror movie Books Of Blood is adapted from Clive Barker's six book collection of the same name — here's each story that the movie adapts.
Clive Barker has become a horror legend over the years with his movie adaptations such as the Hellraiser franchise and Candyman. Barker's works commonly include social commentary as well as themes pertaining to mental illness and sexuality. His stories have been popular for decades. In recent years, there's been a resurgence with Nia DaCosta's sequel to the 1992 supernatural horror movie, Candyman, and Brannon Braga's Books Of Blood. There are even rumors that Hellraiser could be rebooted in 2021 once the the movie rights revert back to Barker. The latest adaptation of the horror icon's works, Books Of Blood, serves as an anthology that intertwines several stories to create one cohesive narrative, unlike any other that's preceded it.
Books Of Blood has been adapted before with 2009's Book Of Blood, and individual stories held within the six book collection have undergone their own feature-length movie transformation as well. Volume 6's Lord Of Illusions was adapted by Barker himself in 1995. In 2008, volume 1's The Midnight Meat Train was directed by Ryuhei Kitamura. Anthony DiBlasi directed volume 2's Dread in 2009. While each of its predecessors took on one story in particular, Books Of Blood adapts three volumes from Barker's original collection.
"The Book Of Blood"
The most obvious story included in Books Of Blood is the one Barker used to frame every piece in the collection. It tells of a man named Simon who fakes the ability to communicate with spirits. When investigating a supposedly haunted house, he begins his false act of communing with the dead. Suddenly, ghosts attack him and carve writing into his skin. He becomes a human book, with the words written in his blood. Books Of Blood begins with a book store owner telling a man where he can find the Book Of Blood. Volume 1's "The Book Of Blood" is adapted for the segment of the movie titled "Miles", about a mother who has lost her son to leukemia. Simon takes advantage of her vulnerability by lying that he has been communicating with her son's spirit, which results in him becoming the titular Book Of Blood. While it originally served to frame the collection in Barker's series, it doesn't do this in Hulu's Books Of Blood.
"On Jerusalem Street"
Volume 6's "On Jerusalem Street" is actually the beginning of Books Of Blood. It follows a man named Wyburd who is hired to find the Book Of Blood. Braga's characters stray from the original source material by building on how Wyburd's story began, and follows his attempts to find the mysterious book. It serves as a wrap-up story to the entire collection, but Books Of Blood makes it the framework instead of "The Book Of Blood" itself. The volume 6 story serves as a way to create tension throughout the movie while not detracting from the other stories that are included. Due to the fact that the Wyburd character—named Bennett in Braga's movie—never finds the Book Of Blood, it is entirely possible that the movie will get a sequel. There is a wealth of stories to build off of and "On Jerusalem Street" is far from being complete.
As seen in the trailer, Brannon Braga's Books Of Blood includes various elements from across the entire 6 volume collection that weave together to create one cohesive plot. With every adaptation, there are always drawbacks, whether big or small. In this instance, Books Of Blood strays so far from its source material that it attempts to reinvent the entire structure of Clive Barker's collection. In doing this, it includes all new stories based on already written and established material from Book Of Blood. Brannon Braga's Books Of Blood directly adapts "The Book Of Blood" and "On Jerusalem Street" in order to frame the complete story, but the rest are an amalgamation of several stories found in the original source.