I have the tendency to pick horrible horror movies that have great plots but end up being really stupid. My question is can I write a book based off of the movie? Since it was based off a folklore to begin with?
It's called "novelization", and it's not uncommon. Usually, a writer is approached about doing it as a marketing ploy for the film. At least that's my understanding.
Since it was based on a folklore could I just recreate it and write a story about the folklore with my own twist?
You could give a folklore story your own twist but if you are adapting a movie into a book you'd need to remain true to the film's interpretation. If it's a bad film, that means you can give the story more depth as a novel. A lot of people consider the novelisation of the original Wicker Man as a great novel in its own right. Can't go that far myself, but it was a good read.
There is a gig difference between basing a book on a movie and basing it on the folklore the movie was derived from. If you tink no one will notice if you derive iyt from the movie, you have another think coming. Make absolutely certain you are basing your story entirely on the folklore.
Cogito is right. If you are setting out to "recreate" the movie in novel form, even with a twist, you could be looking at trouble. The thing to do is to create your own original story based on the folklore and don't use the storyline of the movie.
I agree with Ed, you could probably do a novelization of the movie and they might really appreciate you for doing it. Just if you want to get it published, you should probably triple-check that all your copyrights are in order, you have permission from whoever owns the rights to the movie, etc. so that you're not looking at any legal trouble.
If the rights-owners want a novelization made, they'll contract it out. They probably won't appreciate someone doing it without coming to an agreement with them first, and publication will be a problem if you're infringing on their rights. If you really want to do a novelization, I'd approach the rights holders before starting to work on it.
a movie is copyrighted just like a book is, so to use it as the base for a book, without having the owner's permission is a major no-no... getting permission from the copyright owner [usually the producer] before starting to do so is a MUST, if you don't want to be sued for all you own or ever will own... better study up on copyright rules 'n regs: www.copyright.gov
