The Ruins - a book
I just finished reading The Ruins by Scott Smith, took me long enough. I thought it was thoroughly enjoyable. I found that every day I wanted to get back to it to see what the characters were doing, and what was being done to them. To me, that’s the sign of a good book. One that makes you want to set other things aside and get reading. One that you think about while you are away from it. One that makes you want to read. That’s what it’s all about.
I love the idea of The Ruins, a bunch of holidaying kids get stuck on some type of South American ruin site where killer vines are out to get them, and local are there to make sure they do not escape, for whatever reason. It’s a golden idea, and I hoped it would be handled well. A great high concept idea.
I love stories about small groups of people set against an outside menace, be it; killer vines, birds, zombies, vampires, killer tomatoes, werewolves, or a deranged step-father. The genre is a real favourite of mine. So this one had me from the outset, but it was going to have to work to keep me. I hate seeing my babies done wrong.
The characters are interesting, and I don’t think that it all played by the numbers. There are some genuinely shocking moments and images, and some very cool concepts for the vines. Also, it is one of very very few books that made me gasp when something happened. Usually I don’t read like some overreacting housewife at a movie, but one scene just really got me and I did not see it coming like that at all. It was very well done.
I hear that the book is good but the movie is not so good. That sucks, if true. But I think I will be checking it out anyway, just because I am a fan of seeing how they translate the word onto the screen.
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Speaking of high concept, I was discussing why the remake of Day of the Dead sucked so hard. It’s because, in good zombie flicks, zombies are merely the MacGuffin, and then your characters have to carry the movie. Romero knew this. The Walking Dead knows this, 28 Days Later knew this, and James Gunn and Zack Snyder knew it when they remade Dawn of the Dead. Sadly, no one on the set of Day of the Dead knew this, it just seemed like a really badly thought out pastiche of what they thought made Dawn of the Dead work. Ving Rhames. An indie darling actress; Mena Suvari replaces Sarah Polley. They have a ‘Vegas good looking’ guy out for himself. A ghetto black guy keepin’ it real, some nobody with a bum fluff ‘stache replaces Mekhi Phifer. A car drives downhill into a tree. The zombies are fast. A fat person eventually turns and then is impaled in the head quickly. It ends with a scare; whereas Dawn’s kicked ass Day’s I have seen in a bad car commercial. Seriously, and I love me some zombies, they’re up there with peanut butter as a weakness, but Day of the Dead sucked major sweaty balls. I would tell all zombie fans to see it, but only once, but at least then you will appreciate the better fare that you love out there.
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