The Ruins Horror Novel is an ‘Inescapable Nightmare’

 

Credit to 10 Years Later, ‘The Ruins’ Still Gets Under the Skin! — Bloody Disgusting (bloody-disgusting.com)

I have finally read The Ruins horror novel, written by Scott Smith. I had already watched the film, one of the few horror movies that never left the back of my mind. The concept of The Ruins is one of the worst outcomes for horror characters. It is one of the worst fates and is in my top ten worst ways to die in a horror film.

The Ruins concept focuses on plant-like creatures, that psychologically torture their victims while slowly eating them alive. The worst part is that it is completely impossible to escape from the deadly vines.

The characters go visit a different country, and make the grave mistake of going to check out an ‘archaeological dig’ that takes place on a hill. (The movie takes place on a pyramid). The characters are forced at gunpoint by the villagers to stay on the site until they each die, in fear that letting them live would end up infecting the villagers with the carnivorous vines.

Reading the horror novel was a different experience from the film, but just as effective.

I was curious to learn if the novel was just as dreadful as the film, and wow, I was not expecting to feel that disturbed. The story plays off very similar to the movie, random survivors are pulled into a situation where they cannot escape, being forced to endure death and pure terror at the ‘hands’ of the plant creatures.

Reading the story was a completely different experience from the film. While the film focused more on the visual aspect of the story, reading the novel’s detailed description of every horror sequence was very haunting.

I loved reading the point of view from every character, I was glad the author decided to go for the third person point of view. The reader can get an understanding of how every character feels in such a horrifying situation, and it is so sad to read, knowing the fate of the characters.

The Ruins novel is as awesome as the film, it is a hard read to get through; because of how terrifying the concept of killer plants is. Scott Smith truly did adapt a great plant-like creature for horror fans. It surprises me that horror media hasn’t created that many plant horror monsters.

In my opinion, it is a fun concept to play with. Plant monsters can be just as deadly as our favorite and overrated horror monsters.

Thank you, Scott Smith, for scaring me into visiting new places. If I see a plant that looks fishy, I immediately cut my trip short!

Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn