Movie of The Ruins not Ruined (in my opinion)

April 5, 2008

After taking care of my 8 month old neice yesterday (yes! I fed the baby! mashed sweet potatoes!) I decided I needed to go see The Ruins. (how’s that for a segue/non sequitur?).

If you haven’t seen the commercials, The Ruins is the new horror film about the group of young, attractive people who find themselves trapped on a Mayan Ruin with a hungry plant. (sounds crazy, I know).

I had read the book by Scott Smith (author of A Simple Plan)– which was pretty darn scary in itself. I hadn’t read a horror book since I was a kid, and this was (according to me, and many reviews) very literary horror. Scott Smith also wrote the screenplay for The Ruins– a very good thing.

Well, the movie was, in my opinion, an effective little creeper (no pun intended. maybe). Sure it’s silly, a plant is eating people… but it was quite dreadful and gruesome. There’s not a lot of movies that make me close my eyes because I don’t want to see what happens– and I read the book, I knew the story, folks!

Yes, the movie deviates somewhat from the book, characters are switched around slightly (mostly the minor characters), and some of the scariest, strangest parts of the book do not show up in the film (the sleeping bag scene!… if you’ve read the book), and the ending is very Hollywood (I prefer the devastation of the book). But…

Some of the scenes that remain are truly horrifying, and the ’secret’ talent of the vines/plants is definitely there (though not used AS effectively in the book, it’s still pretty freaky). Also, the acting, I thought was pretty strong for a youth-oriented horror film– Jena Malone (who’s always good), Jonathan Tucker (who’s been on the radar since he played the son in “The Deep End”), Shawn Ashmore (of X-Men fame), and newcomer Laura Ramsey (I think she started in some MTV movie– “The Real Cancun” or something)–she showed surprising range and probably had the toughest role of all of them.

Credit must definitely go to (openly gay) Director Carter Smith–a former fashion photographer and video director. He seems to be quite adept at pulling out not only the scares, but the humanity in the characters. Here’s an interesting interview with him from (the very cool) Suicide Girls Website. I only wish there had been more time spent with each of them– the two minor characters are barely a blip, and Shawn Ashmore’s character is the least developed of all of them. (Smith photo from Filmakermagazine.com)

Still, I had fun watching this film and trying to figure out what was new and what was faithful to the book. Go see The Ruins if you want a gruesome scare. And if you haven’t read the book, read it, it’s a real treat. But don’t read it too late at night or that scratching at the window by the tree outside will really start to freak you out.