By coincidence, they meet German tourist Mathias (Joe Anderson), who tells them his brother went off with a young archaeologist to investigate a Mayan temple no one has ever explored before, because it’s not even listed on local maps. That perspective is long overdue for a re-haul.īoth novel and movie begin with two American couples on vacation in Mexico - best friends Stacy (Laura Ramsey) and Amy (Jena Malone), along with their boyfriends, Eric (Shawn Ashmore) and Jeff (Jonathan Tucker). At the time, the book was so existentially depressing and successful that I think we mostly dismissed the movie out of hand, as a standard Hollywood bowdlerization. The Ruins, meanwhile - Carter Smith’s adaptation of the novel, with a screenplay by Scott Smith himself - moves skillfully back and forth between stark, bright sun and deep darkness, often juxtaposing both at once to incredible effect. Gemma: The title of Ramsey Campbell’s classic collection aside, it’s hard to evoke demons by daylight, especially on film - but it can be done, most often by setting horror in the desert (Elle Callahan’s recent film Head Count comes to mind, available on Netflix, with its vengeful, shapeshifting “hisji”) or some sort of other rural area (Vincenzo Natali’s adaptation of Stephen King and Joe Hill’s In The Tall Grass, also on Netflix). The Ruins feels like Midsommar’s evil sister, its ferocious tropical sunshine the twin to Midsommar’s unending midnight sun. Smith of course shot to fame with A Simple Plan, and its accompanying wonderful, noirish film.
Sandra: Today we’re talking about The Ruins, based on Scott Smith’s book of the same name. Day 10 of our ongoing October horror movie series here at Speculative Chic - and now for more sunny horror for The Kasturi/Files! Chitchat, film discussion, book recs, and cocktail ideas from Gemma Files and Sandra Kasturi!
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