I read a great book back in 2006 called The Ruins by Scott Smith and, along with The Road, it was one of my favorite books of the year.
Smith also wrote A Simple Plan, which was turned into a movie starring Billy Bob Thorton back in 1995, a film that turned out to be pretty good. I still want to read that book.
Now The Ruins is also being made into a movie, or more precise, HAS been made into a movie and is currently in post-production.
I loved the book and had totally forgotten about the fact that a film was being made until I saw Sweeney Todd on Friday afternoon. I walked in after the preview started, but all it took was a brief look at the screen and a sample of the dialog for me to do a double-take.
The plot sounded very familiar and I about jumped in realization that it was The Ruins.
I will preface all this by saying if I hadn’t read the book and just saw the preview, it might look like any dumb horror movie to come along starring young kids who likely will become half-naked at some point during the bloodshed.
It stars Jena Malone from Saved and Pride & Prejudice, Jonathan Tucker from The Black Donnellys (A good TV series canceled early), and Shawn Ashmore, otherwise known as Jimmy Olsen on Smallville.
So with a cast of young actors, none of which you’d consider great (Although I loved Tucker on Donnellys), the promise of a good rendering of the book is a bit iffy.
Still, I will likely check it out just for the fact that the book was a unique and scary horror novel that I couldn’t put down for a single moment. Smith actually wrote the screenplay for the movie, so that’s a confidence booster right there.
The basic plot revolves around four friends who meet a German tourist in Cancun and decide to help him find his brother, who was last seen headed to some old ruins on an archeological dig.
That’s all I’m going to say about it. Much happens and it will make your skin crawl, goose bumps perhaps form on your arms. I’d suggest reading it in full sunlight.
Regardless, the trailer is below for your enjoyment and if you think it looks interesting, go buy the book at Amazon.com and get ready for a real treat.
The book was awesome. I just hope the movie comes to being as good.
Scott’s last blog post..Merry Christmas to all…and to all a goodnight!
I really like Jena Malone…I think she’s a good actress.
My question though is….how is Sweeney Todd?
Donald Case’s last blog post..What to Read: Replay and Journeyman Joined at the Hip
Sweeney Todd review coming soon….
[...] UPDATE: Thanks to a tip from Mike in the comments, here’s a trailer for The Ruins. Mike had some good things to say about the book over at his blog. [...]
[...] about the new horror film The Ruins back in December when I first heard about it, which included a teaser and since then, we haven’t gotten much else in the way of posters or full-length [...]
[...] and checked out the articles Mike had done on the movie and watched the trailers for the film (Scott B. Smith’s “The Ruins� trailer, New poster and Red Band trailer for horror flick ‘The [...]