ANOKS: The Ruins

One of the classic plot devices in horror movies is isolation. The protagonists (or victims, whatever you want to call them) are in a terrifying situation because they’re alone, with little or no chance of calling for or finding help. Think “The Thing”. Think “The Shining”. Heck, even movies we’ve already talked about like “Vacancy” or “The Strangers” rely on the bad guys isolating their targets – because face it, it’s just not as scary if you can dial 911. (Actually, it can be scarier if you can call for help and it doesn’t matter, but I digress…)

Author Scott Smith used isolation to great effectiveness in his novel “The Ruins”. In it, four friends just out of college are partying in Mexico and decide to get away from the same-old same-old of the resort and go see some nearby ruins. As you might imagine, this turns out to be a Bad Idea and there’s all sorts of red-flags associated with it, but being young and not-very-wise, the crew plows on.

The friends (and a hanger-on from the resort that wanted to go along) get to the vine-covered ruins of an Aztec-ish pyramid after a fairly arduous journey. Upon exploring it, they are “quarantined” on it by gun and bow-wielding locals. Then, Really Bad Things start to happen. Because you know what? Those vines aren’t just there for show.

In his previous book, “A Simple Plan”, Smith explored the psychology of greed and disintegration of personal relationships after some friends make some bad choices (it’s a great book if you’ve never read it). In “The Ruins” there is a similar proposition: the friends make some bad choices and get into a bad spot. We begin to watch them crack – both individually and communally – from both a physical (they have little water and food) and mental standpoint as things go from bad to worse to… worse than worse. It’s a really great, creepy mix of horror and psychology.

And I would love to say that film version captures the isolation and psychological horror of the story effectively. But I can’t. Two things missed the mark in the movie: first, they focused too much on the physical horror and not enough on the psychological stress and friends’ relationships unraveling. Second, the movie is too short. Part of the effectiveness of the book is that Smith covers the down time – the worrying, the dread, the hopeful-to-hopeless cycle of not being able to get out of their predicament – and punctuates that with short bursts of action. The filmmakers move the story too quickly – cramming parts together so that is seems like the friends are being knocked around like ping-pong balls and never get to really reflect on their situation.

Still, as a straight-up horror flick, it mostly works -- it’s just too bad about the missed opportunity.

7 stars.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to throw out all our houseplants.

The Losers and Boondock Saints 2-spoiler free

Cover of The Losers (Vol.1): Ante Up

Last week, I picked up a copy of The Losers from Red Box on the recomendation of my friend Mary.  It is a DC property that was part of their Vertigo Line from 2003-2006.  While much of the DCU is inconsistant and worthless, the Vertigo line is very consistently good diverging into great on occasion.  I did not follow the Losers vertigo line and did not read the 1960's version it was based on either, but I may be looking for the trades of these in the future. 

The movie follows some black ops soldiers as they witness atrocities and are almost killed.  Of course they want revenge on the person that set them up and many explosions and funfights later they finally catch up to him.  This movie was a lot of fun.  There were a couple of I didn't see that coming moments along with a villian that you could really hate.  Recommended to action movie fans that may have enjoyed the A-Team.  A-Team is the better movie if you have to chose.  The movie does have a pre Captain America Chris Evans in it. 

Boondock Saints 2 isn't our usual fare  here at SciFi Media, but I watched it and it fit nicely with the Losers.  I loved the first movie.  It was funny, violent, and it had vigilantes.  The second movie brings back a lot of the same cast, but loses most of the magic.  It all seemed rather forced.  Not sure they should have brought the brothers back, or maybe they should have just done it differently. 

I would recommend it to fans of the original that just have to see the sequel and to people who enjoy violent vigilantes.  Like I said, it doesn't stand up to the original, but I liked the female Fed. 

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