Ruinations

Despite my disappointment with Scott Smith’s novel (which fights the good fight to maintain an even balance of character and creepiness but gets its teeth kicked out on both counts), I’ve been pretty pumped about The Ruins. I’m counting on the movie being a bit more intense than the book, hopefully with a bit of the sordid, pulpy vibe sorely lacking in the novel – the kind of thing that can make even adventure-horror crap like The Tomb seem more appealing than it actually is.

That’s why I’m trying to avoid the film’s promotional campaign – I’d like to maintain my ignorant enthusiasm, but that ain’t happening if I keep running into posters like this:



If only Swamp Thing had legal counsel…

The graphics themselves look like they were swiped from the wall of your local video store in 1994, but I might be able to get past the visuals if it weren’t for the hackneyed tagline tucked in beneath them. Terror may have evolved, but Dreamworks’ prosaic approach to marketing apparently hasn’t, a fact that’s reinforced when you head over to the film’s website, which evokes none of the creepy jungle atmosphere of the movie’s setting, but does remind us that “there are places man was not meant to go.”

Remember that when they ask for your $9.50 at the box office.