the Mind’s Chew Toy

After hearing a bunch of positive reviews about the latest horror movie to hit DVD, The Ruins, I figured I’d give it a shot.

Prior to this, the trailer had kind of underwhelmed me, and I had added it to the long list of movies I’ll watch at some point. However, once I heard some friends saying they enjoyed it, I figured I’d bump it up a couple of notches and check it out.

So had my friends led me astray, or were the right on the money with The Ruins? I sat down and decided to find out…

The cast of characters is largely unrecognizable, at least during the film. A quick look at the credits shows “Iceman” Shawn Ashmore and Jena Malone have large parts. While these two are somewhat familiar, they aren’t big enough names - or recognizable enough faces - to really be considered “well-known”.

Anyway, while many horror films these days do their best to toss in a well-known name (The Grudge (2004), The Strangers (2008), etc.), a lot of the smaller horror films (like the recent Turistas (2006)) are letting their films generate the buzz, not a well-known name.

This can be a good thing. Without a well-known actor in any of the scenes, the audience already knows it’s open season on any of the characters they see. While this does tend to distance the audience somewhat from the character, it also generates a much-needed element of surprise to the horror film.

With well-known actors in the mix, the audience knows chances are good that familiar face is going to survive the trauma ahead. With no familiar faces, however, who lives and who dies is totally up in the air.

Having said that, with the possiblity that any character the audience sees is more than likely to suffer a horrific death, it’s much harder for these lesser-known actors to garner the viewer’s interest. Since the audience expects the relationship is going to be short-lived, they tend to step away from the actors if there’s no familiarity to draw them in.

The characters in The Ruins - as in Turistas (2006) - are a mixed bunch, but these actors do a much better job of connecting with the audience. Maybe it’s the mystique of the ancient ruins, maybe it’s the man vs. evil nature concept - or maybe it’s simply a better told story (my bets are on man vs. nature). No matter what the reason is, the audience will be able to connect with these folks much better than the characters in Turistas (2006) - and the movie is much better off because of it.

As mentioned above, the plot could be one of the things that draws the audience in - and The Ruins does a good job of bringing an interesting plot to the table. Like most horror films, how the victims get into the mess they find themselves in is a bit far-fetched (a friendly - and completely honorable - German befriends the group, and suddenly they are best pals, willing to follow him on an all-day hike deep into unknown territory).

Once the group arrives at the Mayan ruins, however, the film gets much better. When one of their group is suddenly killed for no reason they can discern, and they are forced to hoof it to the top of the Mayan temple, audiences will perk up a bit - and from there on, The Ruins really finds it’s stride.

Once on the temple, the plot delves into twisted levels of man vs. nature, tossing in some creepy shudder-inducing scenes for effect (thankfully, the special effects are first-rate, so the audience is never distracted from the “reality” the film is trying to build).

As the minutes of the film tick by, their number is gradually reduced in a way that seems entirely plausible (if the man vs. nature aspect is accepted), and the audience will lap up every disturbing moment.

While The Ruins is a bit formulaic, it does a good job of turning that formula into something that seems refreshing and new - something most recent horror movies barely even try for.

Sure, it could have been better, but not many horror fans will be entirely disappointed with The Ruins, since even the most accustomed horror fan will have to fight to suppress a shudder or two.

What more could a horror fan ask for?