The Ruins by Scott Smith

A few years ago, Scott Smith's The Ruins was recommended to me as one of the best new horror books available. Having grown up as a massive fan of Clive Barker and well read of Stephen King's better works, as well as having evolved into reading Richard Matheson's short stories and novels, I was intrigued by the recommendation.

The Ruins certainly did not disappoint. Although it had the beginnings of a teen slasher flick somehow based in print, it quickly evolved into an extremely tense, thoughtful, and at times gruesome story that captured my complete attention and still, years later, provides imagery that haunts my memory.

Shortly thereafter, I picked up Smith's A Simple Plan which, without the horror-story gore, provided much of the same positive qualities. Being more of a drama (with perhaps a bit of mystery weaved in), it provided a desperate trip down a path of bad decisions and compiling problems.

For both tales, the ending was just stunning; no matter how good many authors in telling a gripping story, many just don't know how to let go of their creation. I'm not talking bringing full closure, exactly (although Smith does pretty much shut the door on all loose ends), but he provides a method for ensuring the situation closes believably and dramatically.

The film adaptation for The Ruins, which Smith authored, debuted on cable last week, so I gave it a watch. As mediocre as the comment will sound, it was about as good as I thought it would be. The internal deliberations that drove the book were mostly lost as were a fair number of the main tension points of the story. The grisly scenes were displayed in full force, making the film miserable at times without the character setup necessary to care about who bad things were happening to. Of course, it is hard to abridge a novel so extensively to fit in an 80 minute movie, and the film contents just didn't go far enough to make me either believe the protagonist or appreciate the situation for the ultimate victims.

The film adaptation for A Simple Plan, also by Smith, was just altered too drastically to be taken seriously, seemingly catering to Billy Bob Thornton as the star versus the intelligent original plot.