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The Ruins

Movie Review
August 11, 2008

About:
2008 / R / Horror
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First there was the book, which was creepy and tense. Now there is the movie, which is… neither. Horror movies made from popular horror novels generally tend to suck (yes, Stephen King, I am looking at you), and this flick is no exception to the rule—but, to be frank, it was hard to expect that it would be good, considering that the villain of the piece is a species of man-eating vine. The movie differs from the book in several key plot and characterization points—why, I don’t know, because the plot then makes less sense and is considerably less scary. All I can figure is that Scott Smith—who also wrote the novel—figured that a reading audience could be trusted to keep up while he ratcheted up the tension, while a viewing audience would get confused and restless and end up leaving early. He has therefore sacrificed important plot points (and important characters) to make absolutely sure that we understand how very bad the situation is. As usual, that kind of Screenwriting for Dummies pandering totally backfires, leaving the viewer feeling bored and restless as the movie trudges tiredly through the usual routine: hot young people get into bad situation, hot young people scream a lot, hot young people die in unpleasant ways, the end. Read the book; avoid the movie.