Mini Review: The Ruins

Posted on Jul 30, 2008 in Films/Theatre, Music | 0 comments

It was The Ruins alright… specifically, it ruined my dinner, which I almost lost while watching this one. Not scary, but gory and gross (remember Kathy Bates bashing James Caan’s legs in Misery? The Ruins has a scene that puts that to shame).

In the “pro” column is an excellent concept: a Mayan temple covered in a diabolical man-eating vine. It’s sequestered by the locals, avoided by birds, and apparently only a cab ride away from a party resort. Another pro: actor Jonathan Tucker (Jeff in the movie) looks a hell of a lot like Christian Bale. Made me think I was watching Batman on vacation in Mexico.

In the “con” column is just about everything else. It’s ending suffers from the typical “let’s keep the horror going!” syndrome (The Ring is the only movie that did that well). A few scenes feel like they’re shoe-horned in from the book, such as Stacy’s accusation of infidelity between Amy and Eric. If I read the book (which I won’t, but Matthew Baldwin did and provides a review over at DefectiveYeti) I’m sure it would seem less forced. The first major “attack” of the vines in the temple was unbelievably cheesey (think Muppet-show quality), but later interactions with it were much better and the under-the-skin stuff actually looked good, too.

In retrospect I may be too hard on it. It grossed me out, couldn’t watch during a few scenes, and was tense while anticipating something bad about to happen. That pretty much sums up this sort of movie.

Oh, and kudos to my friend Tara. At the opening scene, she correctly identified the only character to survive until the end. Her guess? The only actress she recognized, Jena Malone (she was in one of my favorites, Donnie Darko, and voiced a character in Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle). It’s a pretty safe bet in a horror movie.

Related: If you liked this, check out:

1. Cloverfield Last weekend I had the opportunity to check out JJ...
2. Acting Tomorrow morning I’ll be acting in my brother-in-law’s movie Unseen...
3. More than meets the eye Bear in mind I grew up in the 80s, so...
4. First official Librivox recording available It’s official. You can now not only see what I...
5. Tony Jaa is today's Bruce Lee Sometime last year I saw Ong-bak: The Thai Warrior and...