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S2:E10 - The Ruins (2008 Film)
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Welcome to episode two of April Adventures! This week, we’re diving deep (and we mean deep) into The Ruins by Scott Smith and its 2008 film adaptation. What starts as a group of friends looking for a good time in Mexico quickly turns into a claustrophobic, skin-crawling nightmare. (Spoiler alert: we are never going into the jungle again.)
Hosted by Lindsey with co-hosts Crystal and Keri.
Books & Adaptations Mentioned:
Question of the Episode:
- Would you rather be trapped in the jungle with an unknown deadly force OR stranded in the ocean with something circling beneath you?
Share your opinions with us on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube or email us at basedonabookpodcast@gmail.com.
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Intro/Outro Music - Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!)
Thanks for listening to Based on a Book - see you in the next chapter!
Chapters:
(00:00) Introductions
(02:05) Ratings
(07:43) Book vs. Movie Breakdown (SPOILERS)
(1:08:30) Final Verdicts
(1:11:00) Question of the Episode
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to April Adventures
00:00:09
Speaker
Crystal, and before go tell I'm going to and when should be back. And Carrie, and these are definitely not the vines chose quote.
Exploring 'The Ruins' by Scott Smith
00:00:17
Speaker
i'm crystal and before i go hiking i tell people where i'm going to be and when i should be back and i'm carrie and these are definitely not the vines i chose to quote In today's episode, I'll be leading you deep into the heart of April Adventures, where last time we got cozy with a robot making friends in the wilderness, and now, well, we're in the wilderness again.
00:00:46
Speaker
ah this time it wants to kill us.
Book vs. Movie: A Comparative Discussion
00:00:50
Speaker
We're talking The Ruins, a 2006 horror novel by Scott Smith that it proves that botany is secretly horrifying.
00:01:02
Speaker
True. and So buckle up, grab your machetes, and for the love of all things good, do not touch the vines because we're breaking down the book and it's 2008 film adaptation produced by Ben Stiller's company.
00:01:17
Speaker
Or live in the vines, as Crystal is currently doing with her plants right now. thought I'd set the moon. You didn't lesson. not at all. my My vines are nice.
00:01:30
Speaker
They're nice. Maybe. If you say so Yeah, that's what they all say. So just to give a very brief explanation of the story...
Character Analysis in 'The Ruins'
00:01:41
Speaker
Amy, Stacy, Jeff, and Eric look for fun during a sunny vacation in Mexico, but they get much more than that after visiting visiting an archaeological dig in the jungle.
00:01:54
Speaker
ah The story falls into the survival horror genre, in which characters would go to any length to conquer their environment and survive. So first, we're going to get into our ratings.
00:02:08
Speaker
And I know who the obvious choice is So instead, I'm going to start with Carrie. number Oh, man.
00:02:18
Speaker
Okay. For the book, and I was sending out mentally what my rating system was to both of you.
00:02:31
Speaker
I rated it three tequila shots. Yes! Did you get it? did! Yes! but I didn't. And I'm glad. Yes!
00:02:43
Speaker
Three tequila shots. Honestly, if this book was a novella, I probably would have loved it. i think it was a little too long. That's fair.
00:02:54
Speaker
I think it just, like, dragged for me. But I like weird horror. I like Bonkers.
00:03:04
Speaker
Even if it's body horror. Because I think I would categorize it as body horror. I mean, i was not I'm no horror expert over here. But I think it was just a little too long. And I did listen to the audiobook and I don't think the narration was the best.
00:03:19
Speaker
Narrator kind of sounded like he had a cold the whole time. Not gonna lie. But yeah I would give it a three. Okay. Crystal? I...
Narrative Length and Suspense
00:03:30
Speaker
kind of agree with Carrie that it was a little too long and that I listened to the audio as well that the narrator I feel like the nas are narrator sounded like he was bored like he didn't really he read it very dry he read it very very dry reminds me of the Stephen King the miss like that narration yeah the way that Stephen King books are narrated a little bit but I gave it
00:03:58
Speaker
1.5 annoying tourists because I'm not going to lie. i wasn't scared. This did not. I don't do scary. We all know that at this point, but this wasn't scary and it was supposed to, it wasn't even super suspenseful to me.
00:04:15
Speaker
The most interesting part was trying to figure out like, how each one was going to die. Like I was trying to guess how everyone was going to die in my head or who was going to make it or who wasn't going to make it or who was going to die first.
00:04:28
Speaker
And that was what kept me reading because legit, I would have DNF'd this. Yeah. I honestly like thinking about it, the book, not talking about the movie, but the book kind of didn't feel scary to me. It just felt like disturbing and gross.
00:04:44
Speaker
Yeah.
Character Dynamics and Humor
00:04:45
Speaker
Yeah. And that's, I think it's, more supposed to be like that like that's how body horror is i think it just didn't do it for me in any way whatsoever yeah no that's totally fair I gave it four shots of tequila I really enjoyed the story i thought it was a little suspenseful like I knew who the technical villain was i'd say who
00:05:16
Speaker
guess I should say what. What? who But there were there were scenes that i I was reading that I felt that I was holding my breath. i was like oh my God, what is what's going to happen? like and I really enjoyed the story.
00:05:32
Speaker
But I do agree that it was a little long. Yeah. Yeah. This is just the book. I'm not talking about the movie yet. Yeah. I was like, let's wrap this up. Like we got to wrap this up. Because if it was a novella, like I'm talking like the sweet spot, like the 200 page, maybe like the 230, I'm thinking.
00:05:52
Speaker
Yeah. Like that would be the sweet spot for a really good horror novella for me. I will say, without any spoilers, I did like the way this ended.
00:06:03
Speaker
ah did too. Yeah. Yeah, me too. It was good. Very satisfying ending. um Was there anything else that we wanted to discuss before we get into it?
00:06:16
Speaker
I mean, have tons I want to discuss. Yeah, was All spoilers. So let's just go. I want to talk about everything. All the spoilery bits. Actually, I want to give a heads up.
00:06:27
Speaker
This is one of those books where, like, nine characters are introduced within the first like three pages and they're not introduced with a lot of description. and so I struggled keeping track of who was who for a little bit and ended up having to like go write it out so that I could keep track.
00:06:45
Speaker
But as you get further in, I feel like it got better. So that's not a spoiler, but the rest of what I have to say is. yeah i had Yeah. I had to write it out, all the characters down in their relationships. Yeah.
00:06:57
Speaker
yeah That was like a big thing for me. i didn't I didn't have that problem. Normally I do have a hard time keeping up with characters. if this one wasn't so bad I think part of that though, is that like Carrie and I both listened to the audio. The audio was really dry, but I think that probably had a lot to do with it.
00:07:14
Speaker
If I had it in front of me, I might've at least had a, like the, I don't know, maybe a tangible name to look at and touch and feel it to. That's all I can figure. Cause usually I'm not bad about it, but seriously, in the first five minutes, like nine different names were thrown at me and I was like, Whoa, they hold on. No, that's totally fair. I did read it. So that was probably why it was easier.
00:07:38
Speaker
But alright, adventurers. Consider this your official spoiler warning. I do want to say, this is kind of crazy. where Wait, ah like wait, wait. want to say that I feel like this is very, like a really large range of ratings right now.
00:07:58
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I'm not surprised with crystals, honestly. Yeah, yeah. Well, but it's not because I didn't, it's not because I was scared though. Like with the mist, I was legit scared. I didn't like it because I did not enjoy myself.
00:08:10
Speaker
This book wasn't because like I was scared. It wasn't because I didn't like want to know the story. And I was a little intrigued, but overall I found it kind of,
Plot Developments and Horror Elements
00:08:23
Speaker
I don't want to say boring. It's not boring, but like, well, without spoiling it I can't really tell you what I felt. So I didn't think it was because you were scared. I just, yeah, because you didn't like it.
00:08:38
Speaker
Yeah. It's not your genre. It's not my genre. It's not my jam. Yeah. And that's okay. Yep. Yep.
00:08:46
Speaker
All right, let's get into spoilers. let's do it. From this point on, we're diving deep into the ruins, both the book and the movie. So if you haven't read it, watched it, or if you're still blissfully unaware of why you should never, under any circumstances, touch mysterious vines in the jungle, this is your chance to turn back.
00:09:04
Speaker
We're about to discuss every chilling moment, every gruesome detail, and every questionable decision these characters make. So, if you don't want to be spoiled, go read the book, watch the movie, and then come back to join the horror.
00:09:16
Speaker
Otherwise, let's descend into the ruins together. Or not. Yeah, or not. I'm scared. I'm scared. But both the book by Scott Smith and the 2000 film adaptation, which...
00:09:33
Speaker
The screenplay was also written by Scott Smith. ah They contain intense and graphic themes that may be distressing for some audiences, including body horror, gore, violence, death, paranoia, psychological horror, parasitic horror, self-harm,
00:09:51
Speaker
Amputation. Medical horror. Suicide. Trapped or no escape. Implied cannibalism. Minor animal harm. Helplessness. And slow death.
00:10:04
Speaker
Anything else?
00:10:07
Speaker
Did miss anything? that that That was a lot. Sounds about right. yeah So, if you're sensitive to these topics, please proceed with caution. This one is brutal.
00:10:18
Speaker
Yeah. It's gory. Very gory. Yeah. So we're going to start off with the movie. Normally we start with the book, but um the movie, the beginning of the movie kind of gives us this, this little backstory that is mentioned in both the book and the movie, but we don't really hear about it in the book like we do in the movie.
00:10:44
Speaker
But anyway, We see a girl, she's crouching alone in the dark, and she's holding a cell phone, and she's crying for help. And then you see her get dragged away.
00:10:57
Speaker
that's pretty much all we see of her. You're like, what the hell's going on? And it's it's dark. It, like, legit, the screen is dark. And so, like, you barely can tell even what's going on.
00:11:09
Speaker
yeah Which I kind of liked, because, like, I like that setting the scene for, like, creepy dark scary yeah honestly for a second i thought it was one of the main characters i thought we were gonna have another we have always lived in the castle right where they start at the end yeah yeah i thought that too even i was thinking him like um good girl's guide to murder like we get like a little snippet in the very beginning on the first episode i was like oh is that one of the characters and then it wasn't yep
00:11:42
Speaker
um So with both the book and the movie, we have four American tourists, Amy, Stacy, Jeff, and Eric. And they are vacationing in Mexico.
00:11:54
Speaker
Amy is dating Jeff. And Stacy is dating Eric. Most of them are about to go off to college.
00:12:05
Speaker
I know Jeff is going um going to ah Medical school. In the movie. I don't think he is in the book. He is. Oh.
00:12:16
Speaker
ah but I thought they switched it for like- is so casually mentioned in the book. But I thought Amy was the one going to medical school. Jeff is. Oh, okay, okay, okay.
00:12:29
Speaker
i thought they I thought they mixed that up Between the two. They mixed a lot of Amy and Stacey up. Okay. They mixed a lot of all the characters up. Yeah. They did they were mixing up personalities and it was really throwing me for a loop. I did not like that.
00:12:42
Speaker
Yeah. Personalities, the things that happen to different characters happen to different characters. There was a lot of... Well, I will say... will say this, though.
00:12:55
Speaker
This might be a little controversial. I think... The movie made more characters. I'm not saying all the characters because i we'll get into one character I really don't like.
00:13:08
Speaker
oh But one of the characters, or some of the characters, in the movie, I think, made them a little more likable than they were in the book. Yes.
00:13:19
Speaker
I agree. I think other characters in the movie made worse in the That's my opinion. But I think it crossed over. Some other characters, they made way worse in the movie than were in the book.
00:13:31
Speaker
Okay, I agree with that. Yeah. like Well, I felt like, I didn't feel like anyone was likable in the book. At all. I only liked one character in the book and then I just didn't care for the other characters. Yeah. Like, yeah, I liked one character in the book. Well, like, I feel like you should be able to care about whether you really hate them or really like them, but you shouldn't feel any, nothing about any of the characters.
00:13:57
Speaker
Right. doest You what mean? Yeah, that's true. But in the movie, you either, you like them or you hate them. Mm-hmm.
Horror Elements and Emotional Impact
00:14:05
Speaker
I didn't feel like neutral about any of the characters besides the one dude in the very beginning.
00:14:14
Speaker
I did not like Eric. Nobody liked Eric at all. Not in the book. I didn't. I liked him in the movie. I didn't like him in the book at the movie. He was just kind of mayor in the book.
00:14:27
Speaker
Did not like that dude. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I just like, for me personally, I felt like I felt more for the characters in the movie than I did in the book. Okay. Like, whether it was hate or like, you I didn't love any of the characters in there, but I felt like something towards them.
00:14:44
Speaker
In the book, I was like very neutral feeling. Like I wasn't feeling anything for anybody. Okay. And I was like, interesting. I was feeling a little hatred towards the author.
00:15:00
Speaker
Like at one point, except look, he like like, it's like you said, it was so long and he would just like go into detail about like why this particular character is feeling a certain way and tie it back to their,
00:15:11
Speaker
Things that happened to them in their childhood. And then as they grew up. And the things that they got. But none of those things actually apply. To any of what's happening. And this would go on forever.
00:15:22
Speaker
if we're we're learning about. Someone's you know. Buddy in high school. or Or middle school that died. Or whatever. yeah just like oh like they their flashbacks. and Yeah and their flashbacks. Don't have anything to do with what's happening now. And they don't help to endear us. To the characters at all.
00:15:41
Speaker
So it was just kind of like, why? Feeling so neutral the entire time. That was me. I was like, dude, like, can I skip this section, please?
00:15:51
Speaker
But somebody out there absolutely loves this book. So I, and I, I just don't want to be that person who's like, everyone should hate this. For me, I don't do this kind of scary story in general.
00:16:03
Speaker
i don't know if this is typical of the genre that they offer backstories like that, but it was not for me at Yeah. Yeah. Well, while they're in Mexico, they become friends with Mateus, a German traveler, and Pablo, Juan, and Don Quixote, three Greeks who prefer to go by these Spanish nicknames that they've given themselves.
00:16:27
Speaker
But in the movie, there is no... Dimitri. His name is Dimitri in the movie. It's also Dimitri in the book, but they don't find that out until much later. He just goes by Pablo. Mm-hmm.
00:16:40
Speaker
Did he in the, in the, he did in the book, but did he in the movie? and No, in the movie, he's just Dimitri. Okay. Yeah. I'm sorry. Yeah. I i was confused. Cause I was like, where are these Greeks? Like, yeah.
00:16:52
Speaker
Yeah. And then they spoke English in the movie. Not consistently. Like I think he spoke English one time. Right. But yeah, we're gonna, I'm probably um'm probably gonna stick to calling him Pablo.
00:17:05
Speaker
I don't think I'm goingnna call him Dimitri.
Plot Execution: Book vs. Movie
00:17:07
Speaker
Cause then I'll get them confused. That's fair. Makes sense. Jeff volunteers their group, which, again, is Amy, Stacey, and Eric, to accompany Mateus as he searches for his brother, Onridge, who went missing after following a girl he met to an archaeological dig.
00:17:32
Speaker
Which never in my life... You'll never see me do that. Absolutely not. And not just any archaeological dig. One that's not on any of the tour guides or the maps or anything. And he was like, no, it's a VIP only. They're keeping it very hush hush.
00:17:47
Speaker
Like, if it's not on a map, you had to hand draw me a map, I ain't going. If it's not on Apple Maps or Google Maps, I ain't going. Nope. No. I'm not gonna go with a stranger that I don't even know.
00:18:02
Speaker
Who's Joe Anderson with his fake German accent. I ain't going with him. and the ruins Nope. I don't trust this man. No.
00:18:13
Speaker
No. So, Onridge leaves Matthias a handwritten note with the map to get to the dig site. And... The group, they're leaving, they're going to follow this map, and as they're leaving the hotel, Pablo joins them, and he leaves a separate hand-drawn note with the map for Juan and Don Quixote, so that they can find them later.
00:18:40
Speaker
And the six of them travel to... i think it's Coba. um And then... Apparently that in Spanish that means lie or scam...
00:18:55
Speaker
Oh, okay. I thought that was interesting. but While they're there, they hire a man with a yellow pickup truck to take them to the spot that Onridge marked on his map, ah which is the on the outskirts of Coba.
00:19:11
Speaker
And once they reach the drop off point, the driver informs Amy that the destination is not good. And he offers to drive the group somewhere else. And I would turn my ass right back home.
00:19:23
Speaker
and that yeah Exactly. He's insistent. He's not just like, this is not a good spot. Let's go somewhere else. He's like, no good. No good. Come, i'll I'll take you somewhere else. Come, not here. No good. And he's like basically begging her yeah to come back.
00:19:38
Speaker
And the movie doesn't really show that urgency. No. No, the movie. He's like, no, you don't want to be here. And the other guy's like, I'll give you 20 bucks. He's like, I'll take you. Exactly. okay Which is kind how capitalism works, folks.
00:19:52
Speaker
Like 20 bucks. Let's go. Yeah. You're going your death, but I got 20 bucks. Yep. um And in the book, Amy doesn't understand the message and they walk away. They go anyway.
00:20:06
Speaker
ah So they come across a hidden path near a Mayan settlement. Also, they're not prepared. Like, literally, they're out in this jungle. Like, they're hiking and...
00:20:17
Speaker
The girls got flip-flops on. Stacey in the book has flip-flops on. And Amy in the movie has flip-flops on. They flip-flop the characters. Yeah.
00:20:28
Speaker
But they don't have hardly any food. They don't have hardly any like water. They have enough water for the day, basically. Because they thought they were just going to go up there. a boy and head on back.
00:20:40
Speaker
Because they're supposed to fly out and go home tomorrow. Like the next day. In the movie. In the movie. In the book, I think they had a few more days. They had a whole week. Yeah. In the book, it made it sound like they were down there for like a month.
00:20:52
Speaker
They were down there for three weeks in the book. Yeah. Like, that's not... I want that kind of vacation. i know. But I think in the in the book, Mateus and Pablo are supposed to leave in, like, three days or something.
00:21:06
Speaker
Right. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So it's it's very, like, shifty on who's going where, when, and who's wearing what, and who's carrying what. But...
00:21:18
Speaker
Long story short, they ain't prepared for this. No. They were barely prepared for a hike. Like, let alone an archaeological excavation. Yeah.
00:21:33
Speaker
So, they find this path and it leads to a big hill covered in vines and surrounded by dirt. In the movie, it's actual ruins. Yeah.
00:21:45
Speaker
And in the book, it's just a hill. Well, and it was in the book, though, wasn't it like a mine? They were mining for stuff? It's a hill, and there's there's a mine shaft on the top of the hill Right, but they knew it was a mine to begin with.
00:21:57
Speaker
Like, when they were going out there. They were going they to an old, like, silver mine or gold mine or something. Like... they They knew that the mine was part of the archaeological dig. Right.
00:22:08
Speaker
It wasn't like some like ruins of an old temple. It was ruins of a different kind, kind of. Well, they said that there were ruins nearby and that they were going to, you know, two birds, one stone. They were going to check out the ruins.
00:22:24
Speaker
Okay. Because I got lost on that part in the book. I was like, why is it called the ruins if they're just going into this old mine? Because, like, we got those in Kentucky. they we don't call them ruins you go up to a hill you're like look at this like i got i got that out here no we can go home for that we got that at home look yeah we don't need to go travel on a plane to go see that we got that at home we got that at home i'm
00:22:56
Speaker
just thinking i'm telling you
00:22:59
Speaker
Oh my god. In Mexico. Like, nope. You want to go to a zoo? We got those at home. And it's not that hot. Let's go. You want to go to ruins? We got caves at home. Let's go.
00:23:12
Speaker
It's a lot cheaper. Save your money, folks. <unk>ve Come to Kentucky. Come to Kentucky. Hey, man. We got... You want margarita? We can do that, too.
00:23:25
Speaker
But we're we're better with bourbon. Just saying.
Character Interactions and Drama
00:23:28
Speaker
fair to them. but So the group approaches the hill and they are met by armed men from the village.
00:23:38
Speaker
And Jeff tries to communicate with the Mayans. But Amy steps on the vine-covered hill while attempting to photograph the entire group.
00:23:48
Speaker
Her and this camera was really irritating my soul. Through the whole book, every time they were like, Amy took a picture. I'm like, shut up, Amy. While these people are like actively holding guns up at them, holding arrows at them.
00:24:04
Speaker
And she's like, I'm going to take picture. And she's like this, I need to get back and get the shot. late Me ready to take a TikTok?
00:24:14
Speaker
like that If that that movie was remade for 2025, that would have been someone trying to make a TikTok.
00:24:28
Speaker
Oh my god. Tell me I'm wrong.
00:24:34
Speaker
I can't. Making vines on a vine. Oh, God. That was a bad joke.
00:24:46
Speaker
So, because Amy steps on the vine, the men force the group up the hill. And in the movie, Pablo, Dimitri, he approaches the villagers in an attempt to calm them.
00:25:02
Speaker
But he's shot and killed immediately. So in the movie, he's gone. Which was shocking. Oh, yeah. I audibly gasped. I didn't see that coming. Yeah, that was shocking because that doesn't happen in the book.
00:25:17
Speaker
I was like, I just read this. That's not right. but Yeah. Honestly, I was okay with it, though, because we had so many characters in here. like Honestly, get rid of one of them right now. It's okay.
00:25:27
Speaker
I was really curious to see where they were going to go from here. oh it it got nuts. But my note for that part is... No Pablo, sub Dimitri, oft him in first act.
00:25:38
Speaker
but's yeah That's my note. Yeah. like i And like we said, this is super gory. So. Yeah. You see everything. Yep. In this movie.
00:25:50
Speaker
And this is just the beginning. This is just the beginning. Yeah. Yeah. yeah the top of the hill. We're only like 10 minutes into the movie at this point. Right. Like 100 pages into the book. Yeah.
00:26:04
Speaker
Yep. At the top of the hill, there is an abandoned encampment with tents and the mineshaft that we mentioned. And there's a rope that leads down into the mineshaft.
00:26:16
Speaker
And much of the camp is overrun with the vines. jeff Okay. and i'm Sorry to stop you here, but I have to stop you here because in the book, they're described as these like green vines with glossy leaves and big red flowers. Yeah.
00:26:33
Speaker
And all I could think of were the plant, because I've been playing a lot of Mario. The plants from Mario, like, crotch, crotch. It's all I could think of through the whole thing. And so from this moment on that this is why this book did not scare me.
00:26:50
Speaker
This is it. That'll do it. Yeah. So there you go. and I hope I didn't ruin it for you. Maybe. I'm seeing it. Yeah, I do see it now.
00:27:01
Speaker
Yep. Jeff and Mateus believe that they can escape down the opposite side of the hill, so they go down the other side to find more Mayans, and they are building a perimeter around the hill with bows and guns ready to shoot at them if they try to flee.
00:27:20
Speaker
ah They also locate... Mateus's brother's body and it's been overgrown with vines and they're able to determine that he was actually killed by the Mayans because he had he was shot by arrows. Well, whenever they first like touch the vines, like whenever they're approached by the Mayans, the Mayans are trying to get them away from it.
00:27:46
Speaker
They're like, come on, you need to, and I don't think it's shown very well. in the movie no the book they're like no you need to come with us we need to go we need to go don't step anywhere closer to it you need to come with us and they kept trying to push and they're like no no no and freaking that one girl's like keep walking
Horror Techniques and Tension
00:28:05
Speaker
backwards and that's what causes them to be like well now you touched it you're staying you're not leaving yep And that was the whole setup of it. And it wasn't portrayed that way in the movie.
00:28:17
Speaker
No, and in the movie, when Amy gets in the vines, I mean, she's in the vines. And I think it was Eric that tried to help her up. Yeah. yeah And he's in the vines. Yeah.
00:28:29
Speaker
It made more sense as to why everyone was trapped on the hill. Yeah. And not just Amy. But...
00:28:37
Speaker
But as they return to the camp, they discover that the vines secrete an acidic sap, which has burned their hands after they ripped the vines from Matthias' brother's body.
00:28:49
Speaker
And none of this is in the movie.
00:28:53
Speaker
not Not the body, not the acid sap. No, they did see his body for a second, but it was a very It way later, too. But it's also not Matthias. No. It doesn't really...
00:29:06
Speaker
there's there There's no evidence that it's his brother. Yeah. Right. And they're like. You just see like a watch or something. And they're all like when when they realize that the one dude's hands are are messed up, they're like, oh, he's having an allergic reaction to the vines.
00:29:19
Speaker
They don't realize that like it's eating through his skin. Right. Mm hmm. let's see Back at the camp, they begin to hear a cell phone ringing at the bottom of the mine shaft.
00:29:34
Speaker
So they use the rope to lower Pablo down in the book. But the acid from the vines has weakened the rope, which causes it to snap and sends Pablo plunging down the shaft.
00:29:48
Speaker
And in the movie, Pablo's dead. So this happens to Mateus. Yeah. Which I hated because legit, are Mateus is my favorite character in the book. Mateus was my favorite character in the book. He's the only one I really felt like somewhat connected to yeah at all.
00:30:05
Speaker
I didn't trust him at first. know least about him. yeah And yet somehow I felt more connected to him and his responses to everything that was happening yeah than everybody else. Yeah.
00:30:17
Speaker
I thought he was going to be like sinister at first, like taking us into like the middle of this place and like lying about his story or something. That makes sense. He's he's in here with us, like screwed as well. Yep.
00:30:31
Speaker
Yep. Also in the book, Pablo at the bottom of this mineshaft was like awful. Yeah. And yet in the movie, Matthias down there is like, I think I'm hurt.
00:30:46
Speaker
like he's just this part was so awful hate this part he's like i think i'm hurt he's not like screaming bloody murder yeah yeah pablo was for six chapters well there's not really chapter 600 pages yeah it felt like it felt like it every time every time the book said that pablo started screaming i was like oh o yeah it's not good yeah But Amy and Jeff actually go down the the temple steps to speak with the Mayans again.
00:31:18
Speaker
And in a rage, Amy tosses a clump of vines at a little boy. in the movie, not in the book. Yeah. And the Mayans just killed the little boy. Because yeah vine the vine touched him. Mm-hmm.
00:31:35
Speaker
i Here's the thing. I think that was a nice touch, not because it was a good thing, but because without that in the movie, if you hadn't read the book, you might not have realized exactly what the Mayans were up to yet.
00:31:47
Speaker
and It did make it more obvious. In that moment, you were like, it's the vines. Like, you knew something was bad up there and it was probably had to do with the plants, but like... Now you know. yes they just And like the mom was right there like screaming, like, no, no. And nobody was going near him and the kid's just standing there and they just shoot him. Yeah, that's so true because sometimes when we see these adaptations, we notice a theme that sometimes...
00:32:12
Speaker
We're like, I can't even imagine watching this movie without knowing what we know in the book. Yeah. Because it's like, how do you even, especially the mystery ones that we're doing, how do you even come to a conclusion here of the possibility? Because you need clues. Like you need some kind of clues coming here.
00:32:27
Speaker
And yeah, that was a perfect added touch to it. But that's when Jeff and Amy realized that the Mayans are scared of the vines. And that's why they're not able to leave because they've all touched the vines.
00:32:40
Speaker
And after they doctor the rope, they lower, in the book, they lower Eric down into the mine shaft. But basically, like, we're down a dude, right?
00:32:52
Speaker
Because, like, in the book, we have three, no, we have four men and two women, right? Because we have Pablo, Matthias, Eric, and Jeff, and then Amy and Stacy at the top of this hill.
00:33:05
Speaker
And in the movie, because Pablo was killed right off, we're We're down a dude. So now there's Matthias at the bottom of the well and it takes two people to crank the thing down. So it has to be Eric and Jeff that stay up.
00:33:19
Speaker
Whereas in the book, Matthias was helping to crank the thing down into the well. Yeah, I did. I did have a theory about this. I did have a theory. Maybe this is me being cynical.
00:33:34
Speaker
The clueless detective. No, cynical. But I did have a theory because, you know, this is a, what, 2000s horror movie, 2008 horror movie, you know, and I was like, you know what, I really feel like, because, you know, all the female characters are like half naked the whole time and all the male characters are fully clothed because, you know, that's what they do.
00:34:00
Speaker
every single time in these horrible movies and i was like i swear on my life they have this girl going down here and being the one that's cut so that she could be in her underwear for the remaining of the the remainder of the movie honestly it makes sense So she could be just like in her underwear, barely any clothes on for the rest of the movie.
00:34:21
Speaker
yeah Because the girl didn't have no pants on for so much of the movie. much of the movie. For no reason. If I got Vines coming out to kill me, best believe I'm wearing clothes pants.
00:34:33
Speaker
Yep. Even if it's the pants that ripped, I'm wearing freaking pants. Yep. You're in the jungle already. So talk about sunburn everywhere. Exactly. And i was like, I swear they did this to this character. I mean, Crystal, you're...
00:34:49
Speaker
Your idea totally 100% makes sense. But that was my immediate thought in my head. was like... I think you're right. think they changed the story this way so they would have an excuse to send the girls down the well and then end up with no pants list. They have to have sex appeal in this movie. What was the weirdest sex in the book?
00:35:10
Speaker
Well, I mean, it's later. Oh my god. Yeah, but... Why? there are these survival situations, who's thinking of that? yeah Who's thinking of that? There's the weird sex in the book.
00:35:22
Speaker
The weird just like... Pantsless people. Just gross, different things. Like pissing, shitting, everything. Throwing up.
00:35:34
Speaker
Yeah. Anything that's coming out of your body is fully described in this book. Yep. I'm glad they left lots of that out. of them Yeah, I was scared. i was like, that's going to be the true horror here. ye Yep. I mean, it's still disgusting. This movie is. But some of it ended up being unnecessary and some of it was kind of necessary.
00:35:57
Speaker
i mean, I want to save how I feel about the movie until the end. Okay. Okay. So they docked the rope. They send Eric down or Stacy, depending on if you're talking about the book or the movie.
00:36:10
Speaker
And Eric or Stacy jumps to the bottom after they realize that the rope is too short. And I'll say Eric because it's in the book. Eric injures his leg.
00:36:22
Speaker
Yep. Cuts his leg. Yep. And the remaining people that are... Not in the mineshaft. ah They construct a makeshift rope to make the rope longer.
00:36:36
Speaker
and Using one of the tents, they they braid the strands of the tent together. And Eric discovers that Pablo's back is shattered, which has paralyzed him from the waist down.
00:36:50
Speaker
Like, this is like... I hated this. Yeah, this was dark. This was so dark. In the movie... When they're trying, literally, so I was screaming at the top of my lungs when they're trying to get him on that.
00:37:05
Speaker
Oh. i can't even think about it right now. I put a pillow in front of my head and I was literally screaming. couldn't, I don't even, I didn't even watch it. The sound in the movie of them trying to get him onto the makeshift. We'll just pick him up. Yeah.
00:37:22
Speaker
The man with the broken back, he can't even feel his legs. Like, they pick him up in the book, too. And it sounds like they- It's gruesome in the book, but it's because we get to see it in the movie and hear it. And hear it.
00:37:37
Speaker
And hear it. And it's two girls who do it, and they don't do it well. No. no No. Like, that immediately they're talking about not wanting to shift him or move him. And then they're like, we'll just throw him on. it Like, fuck.
00:37:51
Speaker
what well they pick him up and immediately like squish his body in between them was like what are you doing you're not even trying that was actually probably the worst scene i think and there's so many there's terrible sad gruesome moments and that was honestly the scene that most affected me it really did hate it for real they get him out of the mine shaft mm-hmm does They have to construct a makeshift rope with the tents with the backboard, too, because they have to put them on the backboard. They have to actually... would have been better off just putting a sling under his arms and and like limping, like letting him be limp, than they were scrunching and tossing him the way they did.
00:38:36
Speaker
Oh my god. I can still hear it. I can still hear it. Yep. two You get traumatized over here. It was awful.
Endings and Plot Resolutions
00:38:46
Speaker
But they... This is when Amy goes down to the mineshaft in the book. So it's Eric and Amy in the mineshaft that actually get Pablo onto the backboard.
00:38:59
Speaker
So then they they lift Pablo out and it's just Amy and Eric in the shaft. And they start to hear the phone ring again.
00:39:11
Speaker
um but Eric is looking around. He still can't find it. You know, they're looking for a light because they're in there in the dark. He doesn't see anything. And it's like, first they hear it. They think it's over here and then they think it's over there and, and it's too dark for them to really tell. And yep.
00:39:28
Speaker
That was annoying to me. i was in at that moment in the book, I was like, we don't give up. Like set all these vines on fire, find the fricking phone. Right. Well, the lamp ends up going out too, like right as Pablo gets out.
00:39:43
Speaker
So the group is actually still confident that Juan and Don Quixote will arrive After following Pablo's note. So.
00:39:54
Speaker
Jeff begins to ration food and water. And he determines. Before they go to bed. That they should have someone stay awake. And they'll take shifts to watch over Pablo.
00:40:07
Speaker
I don't remember. Jeff being so. Damn annoying. As he was in the movie. The movie Jeff. Really irritated my soul.
00:40:20
Speaker
The Jeff in the movie was irritating. The Jeff in the book was also irritating, but we at least got his perspective a lot. Yeah. i So it made more sense. Yeah. I i firmly believe I'm a Jeff.
00:40:34
Speaker
Like, I would have been the one who was like, you guys. I wanted to fight Jeff every 10 seconds. I know. And as I'm reading this, I'm like, I get it, dude. And they all are going to hate you. but I also understand exactly. And that's why that's why i loved Matthias. Because he really...
00:40:51
Speaker
Like, he understood what Jeff was trying to do. He was also like, I'm going to let you be the bad guy, dude. hey You know what i mean? Well, like, Jeff was like, this is me. I watched five seasons of Grey's Anatomy, so I'm going to cut off and do all this surgery on everybody. that Now, look, he was an Eagle Scout. So for him being all like, I know how to ration in water.
00:41:12
Speaker
Like, I know how to to create things. Now, the surgery part was a little different. Yeah, he just wanted to cut everybody. that's That was his favorite thing to He was like, I got the knife, and I know how to use it. That's all he wanted to do.
00:41:25
Speaker
In the movie, yeah, I'm no doctor. I'm no expert. But I wouldn't hold a knife like this and cut into people. Like a car carving a turkey going in and out to cut someone.
00:41:38
Speaker
Especially if you're going to medical school. Yeah, no, would not. I'm no doctor, but I wouldn't have used a rock. Yeah. to do what he did here in a couple of minutes. Yeah. No. I also like the fact that you, somebody that doesn't listen to anybody else's opinions on anything and literally, and he kept saying, yeah he kept saying like, he's like, no, we're fine. They're going to be coming any day now and all this stuff. And it was just driving me crazy that he wouldn't listen to anyone else when they were saying their opinions.
00:42:09
Speaker
I was like, who died and made this guy in charge? Yeah. He's an Eagle Scout. He was an Eagle Scout. I don't care. i don't either, but he was real proud of it. I don't care.
00:42:20
Speaker
you could be an Eagle Scout all day long. You're still going to listen to me. We had a flashback in the book about his mama. You're still going to listen to me. How proud she was. And the flood or something. I don't remember. he was an Eagle Scout.
00:42:32
Speaker
No, I'm not to have no Eagle Scout be telling me what to do when I'm like, look, this is my idea. Just listen to my idea. idea is going to suck. No, it's not. it's not. It's not. But that's what Jeff thinks. he's he And that's why I didn't like him.
00:42:47
Speaker
Because he really did think that, like, Amy was dumb, Stacy was dumb, there's no point in listening to them at all. yeah And it was really... Now, in his defense, they kind of were.
00:42:59
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, well, the thing was, is that, especially with the way that... Eric in the, don't remember how it was in the book, but Eric in the movie was really fighting to go to the truck the entire time. I'm going all over the place.
00:43:15
Speaker
But he kept arguing the entire time, like throughout this and all the scenes about trying to get to the truck. And he would not listen, would not listen. Like we're all dying out here. Like, we're all about to die.
00:43:27
Speaker
We just watched them shoot a little boy yeah and our dude Pablo. Yeah, we need to make a plan. We're not going to be sitting here and surviving and wait to make maybe... paul He's like, this doesn't happen to Americans. Americans don't just disappear. He kept, like, saying that over and over again. like People don't just disappear. Have you watched the news, bro? What are you ah Aren't you an Eagle Scout member?
00:43:49
Speaker
but Is this what they, is this what's going on there? I'm telling you. Is this what they teach in the Eagle Scouts? Yeah, like what is going on? Is there any evil scouts out there? Please let us know.
00:44:03
Speaker
Yeah. I was getting, literally, I was so triggered by this man.
00:44:12
Speaker
as night falls, Jeff returns down the hill to find that the Mayans are still there, but he notices an opening where he may be able to escape.
00:44:23
Speaker
And as he approaches the base of the hill, he hears a flock of birds nearby. That end up alerting the Mayans to his location. But this is just in the book. This doesn't happen in the movie.
00:44:36
Speaker
And the next morning, everyone wakes up to see that the vine has wrapped around Eric's leg. And it has pushed itself into his wound from where he jumped down to the bottom of the mineshaft.
00:44:53
Speaker
And the vines are also wrapped around Pablo's legs. Slash Matthias. Slash Matthias. Depending on the book or the movie.
00:45:04
Speaker
Correct. As they take the vines off of... but Well, okay, so even this is different. In the movie, they can't get the vines off of Matthias' legs.
00:45:17
Speaker
But in the book, they do take the vines off of Pablo's legs. But they either way, they end up noticing that the vines have eaten so his lower legs and it's just bone, basically.
00:45:30
Speaker
And this leads to Amy throwing up in the book. And she and Stacy see that the vine comes and actually absorbs the puddle from the dirt.
00:45:48
Speaker
Trying to keep it clean. It's gross. I was like going in but but Jeff decides to post signs at the base of the hill to urge the Greeks to stay away and to seek help.
00:46:06
Speaker
And as he moves around the hill, he discovers more bodies of other people who have died there. And he also realizes the vines only consume organic things.
00:46:19
Speaker
since the Since the victim's passports, jewelry, and the arrowheads and the bullets are still intact. yeah And he discovers that the Mayans are terrified of the vines because they've salted the dirt around the hill to keep the vines away.
00:46:35
Speaker
And they're willing to kill anyone who tries to leave. And he also notices that that's how the vines are spreading is that the spores are attaching to their clothing.
00:46:50
Speaker
So Jeff returns to where he originally placed his signs and the signs are gone. He initially suspects that the Mayans stole the signs, but he looks into some brush and he notices that the Vines took the signs.
00:47:09
Speaker
And there is actually a warning sign that was left by a previous victim that was carved into a pan. So Jeff returns to the camp and he shares the news with the others.
00:47:21
Speaker
He also has someone wait at the bottom of the hill in case the Greeks arrive. And meanwhile, Pablo's condition is getting worse and his flesh is gone. And Jeff is worried that he's going to get an infection.
00:47:41
Speaker
So while Amy's at the bottom of the hill looking for the Greeks, the rest of the group, decide to amputate Pablo's legs. This part in the movie was gross.
00:47:55
Speaker
Yep. It was rough. They actually did at least do it pretty close to the the book. with Yeah. Yeah. So they he had the rock in the fire he used the rock to break the legs and then he sterilized the knife in the fire and then he used the fire, the knife to cut the legs off. Yeah. Yeah.
00:48:18
Speaker
He's like, don't worry, guys, I'm a doctor. Yep. Yep. So with their supplies running low, Jeff decides to return to the mine shaft in search of the cell phone accompanied by Amy.
00:48:33
Speaker
And in the mine, he creates a torch and they search for the phone by following the sound down another shaft. And in the movie, this is Amy and Stacey. Mm-hmm.
00:48:49
Speaker
ah Jeff realizes that there is no phone, that the vines can mimic sounds that they hear, and they've been trying to trick him and Amy into falling into another shaft.
00:49:00
Speaker
As Amy is removed from the mine, the group hears the vines laughing. And meanwhile, Eric becomes increasingly agitated.
00:49:12
Speaker
Because he's convinced that the vine is growing inside of him. And no one believes him. And in the movie, this is where the girl that we saw in the very beginning is down in that... In the mineshaft. In the mineshaft. This is where the the cell phone comes back into play.
00:49:28
Speaker
Right. So later, Eric, Amy, and Stacy get drunk on Pablo's tequila. In the book.
00:49:40
Speaker
And this results in an argument. And they are horrified to discover that the vines can also imitate voices. And Pablo wakes up and asks for water, which Amy gives him, along with a grape from the group's rations.
00:49:55
Speaker
Jeff returns, and he's furious because they're all drunk. And they don't have any water in them. They don't have any water, period.
00:50:06
Speaker
Actively dehydrating yourself. And Eric decides to hurt himself again while attempting to remove more of the vine from his body.
00:50:17
Speaker
After Jeff and Amy get into an argument, she leaves him so that he can watch over Pablo. And later, into his shift, Jeff hears Amy calling out to him and She's getting sick. She's throwing up.
00:50:34
Speaker
But he just assumes that it's from the alcohol and he ignores her. And the next morning, they find Amy dead. Because the vines have grown down her throat and have basically suffocated her.
Personal Ratings and Preferences
00:50:51
Speaker
oh So in the movie, they the vines do that to Matthias.
00:50:57
Speaker
And then Eric says, thank God we cut his legs off. Yeah. And I cracked up. I was like, this you can't have one funny moment in like this whole movie, but I needed that.
00:51:10
Speaker
I needed that. At that moment, I needed that break, because damn. And he showed the vines crawling into his mouth and everything. It's messed Yeah, and literally choking him, and it was...
00:51:22
Speaker
And of course he's paralyzed and he's missing legs. So it's not like he can get up and run. And the vines had distracted everybody else with their weird mimicking thing that they were doing. Their mimic powers.
00:51:33
Speaker
h And Amy is alive in the movie. Yes. In the movie, Amy is alive. Yep. The vines have wrapped around Eric's leg again.
00:51:47
Speaker
Eric was asleep in the tent. Every time he goes to sleep, the vines come back. So the vines are back in his leg, in his cuts, and now they're also in the cut that he's made in his chest.
00:52:02
Speaker
And they end up placing Amy's body in a sleeping bag after Jeff tries to get them all to agree that they should preserve her body. Mm-hmm.
00:52:20
Speaker
And...
00:52:24
Speaker
Sorry, I lost myself.
00:52:28
Speaker
Well, they're all... like So, Amy's in the in the sleeping bag. Uh-huh. Dead. Eric is slicing himself open still because there's now there's more vines. Mm-hmm. Jeff and Matthias, who's still alive in the book, are, like, talking to each other about, like...
00:52:44
Speaker
you know, really there's no hope. We just need to try to survive a little bit longer. And, you know, because you never know if the next minute is going to be the right one or whatever. Stacy is mad that they were potentially going to eat her friend, you know, and so she's trying to snuggle with Eric, but Eric's getting colder and colder and colder and she's freaking out.
00:53:09
Speaker
In the movie, it's Stacy, who has the has had the cut the entire time. So Stacy is the one who's having this crisis with vines growing inside of her and she keeps freaking out and feeling like this vat these vines are growing inside her and keep wanting to cut it out.
00:53:30
Speaker
That's the difference with those characters. And she's half naked the entire time. And Matthias is already dead at this point in the movie. Yeah. Yeah, it's so different at this point. It's hard to keep up with the two different stories. Well, they kind like cut out this section because like in the book, like they've already, like they're kind of mad at each other, kind of pouting. And like it rained at one point. So he's trying to collect water.
00:53:53
Speaker
and And then like suddenly the sleeping bag moves. Mm-hmm. And like Amy's talking, but we all know it's not Amy. It's the vines mimicking Amy trying to get them to open the bag.
00:54:10
Speaker
Well, not only is she calling for Jeff, she's also like kicking like the sleeping bag is like, it's like she's kicking. Right. And so they they do end up opening it up and they I think they find something in the bag or whatever. She's just disgusting. And of course, Stacy freaks out even more because the vines are eating her friend worse.
00:54:28
Speaker
and Like the vines are mentally torturing these people at this point. And like even Stacy's like, they're just plants. They're just plants. And Jeff is like, are they though? Or do they just look like plants?
00:54:41
Speaker
like We don't know. We don't know anything about them except they're killing us. yeah and i kind of like that there's even a point like they're not even like mimicking like they're mimicking voices but they're also like creating conversations
Final Thoughts on Adaptations
00:54:56
Speaker
because they're also like trying to create problems where it tries to say saying to like eric that like you know amy was sleeping with Yeah. Or whatever. Like, it's, yeah I heard you sleeping with him. I heard you talking together. And they're like, dude, know
00:55:15
Speaker
Whatever. and so, like, these plants are messed up. I will say one big difference between the movie and the book is in the book, they get blitzed on that tequila. They get trashed. And in the movie, they really don't.
00:55:27
Speaker
And one of my notes was at this point, after the vines have smothered Matthias, I was like, at this point, I'd be trashed. Why are they not trashed? Yeah. Yeah. Because if i knew I was going out, like, I'm going out pickled in tequila.
00:55:41
Speaker
Mm-hmm. just all there is to it. Yeah. Oh. that That night, after whole Amy incident in the sleeping bag, Jeff is on the lookout for the Greeks.
00:55:53
Speaker
And this is when it begins to rain for the first time. And the this forces the Mayans to seek shelter in the trees. Yeah.
00:56:03
Speaker
Is this the first time it rains or is this the second time? This a really big rain. This is like a storm. Yeah. yeah um So Jeff sees an opportunity to flee to find help.
00:56:14
Speaker
who But he is killed by the Mayans. Yep. And as he dies, he feels the vines pull his body back to the hill.
00:56:25
Speaker
And during the storm, Stacy uses the rain to wash herself. While. Matthias looks after Pablo.
00:56:37
Speaker
And Eric is sleeping in the tent. And later. this is as Crystal was saying. The vines are mimicking the sounds of Stacy and Matthias. Having relations.
00:56:49
Speaker
While Eric is asleep. Having relations. And. Stacy is. known offender. so I'm actually curious if it happened because Stacy says it doesn't happen.
00:57:06
Speaker
But Matthias was like, like why why what does it matter if it did? like Yeah. Oh, true. So i'm I'm actually kind of curious. And Eric makes the point that the vines don't create words or conversations.
00:57:21
Speaker
They mimic. Yeah. So aro I was actually really curious if it did happen. i don't know. Yeah. Also, in the movie, Jeff does not die yet.
00:57:34
Speaker
and No, Jeff is still alive in the movie. Yeah. Yeah.
00:57:40
Speaker
Basically, everyone is alive but Matthias and Pablo. Pretty much. this point, me yeah. The final four, it's the couples. it's Yeah. Right. Yeah. It's the Stacey and Amy and Eric and Jeff, the four American, couple the two couples.
00:57:57
Speaker
And they're the only ones left in the movie. And they make it right up until, like, this moment. Because, like, it's it's the next day, right? That, like, in the book, Eric has... they' They don't know where Jeff is. He hasn't come back. And Eric's slicing himself open. But in the movie...
00:58:16
Speaker
It's Stacy slicing herself open. um And like in the book, Matthias goes to Eric and is like, dude, stop. Give me the knife. Give me the knife. Cause the very next morning, right? that mathia Yeah. This
Conclusion and Audience Engagement
00:58:29
Speaker
is the next day. Matthias.
00:58:31
Speaker
After this argument. Discovers that Pablo was smothered to death by the vines. Right. So Pablo is dead in the book now. Pablo is dead in the book now.
00:58:42
Speaker
And. When Matthias goes, because the the vines start sounding like Pablo breathing. So when he goes to investigate, he finds Jeff's hat on Pablo's head. Right. And so they know that obviously the vines wouldn't have had Jeff's hat unless Jeff is gone.
00:59:04
Speaker
And so they go to try and stop Eric from slicing himself open. Well, the vines taunt Matthias. w Right. With his brother. With his brother and his brother's voice. And he's speaking German. And this is how, you know, he, he says that Onridge is dead.
00:59:22
Speaker
And then they do it again, but with Jeff. and And it says that in German, it says that Jeff is dead. And. wonder how many languages those vines know and They didn't learn Greek, though.
00:59:39
Speaker
Maybe it will. with the with the yeah but yeah Yeah. Okay. um So, yes. Matthias removes the vines from Eric's chest and leg because there's more. They see them.
00:59:55
Speaker
Matthias and Stacy go down the hill. This is when they find out that Jeff is dead, technically. But they go down the hill to look for Jeff, even though they've they've already found the car. They're yeah. yeah And Eric is left alone at the top of the hill with the knife.
01:00:09
Speaker
And he begins cutting himself open to remove the vines himself. And... Again, in the movie, it's Stacy that's slicing herself open. She's not wearing any pants, and now she's covered in blood.
01:00:23
Speaker
Yes.
01:00:26
Speaker
But then Stacy and Matthias start hearing the vines say the same thing in German, but it's Eric. And they try to tell them that Eric is dead. So they run back up the hill to the camp.
01:00:39
Speaker
They find him alive, but he's covered in blood. who And he's cut off his own ear. And Matthias attempts to steal Eric's knife.
01:00:52
Speaker
And he gets stabbed in the chest.
01:00:56
Speaker
ah Straight in the heart. In the book they describe the knife moving with his final heartbeats. It's very...
01:01:04
Speaker
Gross. Yep. But in the movie, it's Amy or Stacy who's slicing herself open and Eric goes to stop her.
01:01:17
Speaker
Eric, hit her boyfriend. The one with the bullseye on his shirt. Yeah. Right. Well, before, whenever she was, like, asking for them, because whenever she saw, they did see vines in her whenever they kept saying, no, you're fine, you're fine, you're fine.
01:01:32
Speaker
And they said finally believed her because they saw vines in her. Then we got Mr. Cutter over here was, like, cutting it like a turkey, you know, trying to get the vine. I mean, ah you didn't hit anything like a spleen or something whenever you were doing that. Right.
01:01:46
Speaker
And so then she's like, okay, fine. And then she's like, I feel like it's still there. It's still there. It's in my head. And they're like, no, it's okay. It's okay. And you see the little vine go across her forehead.
01:01:58
Speaker
and they're all like, oh, no, it's okay. It's fine. Everything's fine. I'm like, oh my god. Right? And they all realize they can't cut her anymore because she's lost so much blood. Yeah. But at this point, it doesn't matter that there's vines inside you. We can't keep cutting you. Yeah.
01:02:14
Speaker
And so she, like, starts going insane and just starts literally chopping herself up all over the place. And then Eric goes to get the knife from her. Yeah. And this is where the book and the movie somewhat are the same.
01:02:30
Speaker
Because just... turns around and stabs him in the chest. Yeah. And my note on that is bye bye Eric. Yeah. And then she's so distraught by it because stabbed her boyfriend in the chest and she's like just kill me kill me and Amy's holding her because Amy's still alive in the movie. Mm-hmm.
01:02:50
Speaker
And holding her being like really about it. I can't. I can't. And then Jeff is list watching. Jeff's like, I love doing this. I'm used to it. Jeff is watching the vines pull off Eric's body. They just come and take it.
01:03:03
Speaker
And he's looking around and he looks down and all he sees is Amy holding Stacey. Yeah. Stacey's begging for Amy to kill her. yeah And so he's like.
01:03:15
Speaker
He's got to do it. And, you know, Amy's all like, I can't, I can't. He's like. I guess I have to. He's like, don't worry, I got this. Well, first of all, I was going to get so pissed if he was going to let the body go with the knife still in it. was like, can you grab the damn knife?
01:03:31
Speaker
For real. Mr. Boy Scout, go get the knife. He's not the smartest Boy Scout in the world. He thought he was. He sure did. Med student, go get the knife. So now we're down to two.
01:03:44
Speaker
But in the book, we're down to three at this point. Mm-mm. No. Are we still just down to Jeff and and just Jeff, isn't it? No, no Jeff.
01:03:55
Speaker
No. Stacy. Stacy. Just Stacy. And then in the movie, we have Jeff and Amy. Yes. So, yes, in the book, Eric kills Matthias.
01:04:08
Speaker
The vines get Matthias, drag his body away. Eric is in a lot of pain and he's cut up. He's too weak. To do anything himself. So Stacy stabs.
01:04:18
Speaker
Eric in the heart. In the book. um So Stacy's now alone. And she walks to the bottom of the hill. To wait for. Juan and Don Quixote.
01:04:32
Speaker
And the Mayans believe. That she is the last survivor. So they've started to tear down their camps. And clean up. And by the end of the day. When the Greeks don't arrive.
01:04:43
Speaker
They're. Stacy cuts her wrists and thinking that her body will serve as a warning to keep anybody from going up the hill.
01:04:56
Speaker
ah She bleeds out right there at the end of the path, but then the vines pull her into the undergrowth. So there's no warning in the movie.
01:05:09
Speaker
I thought this was interesting. I actually enjoyed- Did you guys like this? Okay, I was going to ask if you guys like this or not. I mean, I don't like this ending. Like, of the two endings, I prefer the book ending.
01:05:20
Speaker
Yeah. Because we're not quite there yet. But I don't hate that they changed Yeah. yeah I like it when a movie is different enough from the book that I can enjoy them both separately. And I think this was it, so- I'm thinking and you wouldn't like the ending of the movie because it's so open.
01:05:36
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of the end of the movie. It is what it is, though. like it's It's not bad. It's just not great, either. Yeah. So at the end of the movie, Amy... Jeff covers Amy in the blood from Stacy and has her play dead.
01:05:53
Speaker
Jeff carries her down the steps of the temple and lays her on the ground, and he distracts the Mayans... ah So that Stacy can get up and escape.
01:06:05
Speaker
And she runs through the jungle as Jeff is shot. She makes it to Onridge's vehicle, which wasn't in the book at all.
01:06:18
Speaker
Mm-mm. She gets it to start and she drives away. She makes it. So we have a survivor in the movie. But we see like in the last cutaway scene as she's run as she's driving away, we see a little vine. don't remember if it was in her eye or in her forehead. thought that was just in the... Okay, and that's in the alternate ending. Alternate ending. That's just an alternate ending for the DVD. Oh, well then i that's the one I saw.
01:06:48
Speaker
yeah Yeah, there's like an unrated version that has an alternate ending to it yeah where you see a little vine that goes across her head. yes And there's also, i don't know if it's a different alternate ending or if it continues after that, but like we know we see like...
01:07:06
Speaker
The other friends that were supposed to come eventually, eventually get there. But then it goes later where this guy who's like walking across like past gravestones.
01:07:20
Speaker
He's a caretaker in a cemetery. Yeah. And he walks past her gravestone. Mm hmm. And those vines are growing out of her gravestone. didn't see that.
01:07:31
Speaker
I wonder if it was after the credits because I definitely turned it end don't know. Yeah. I'll have to go back and check. That was the unrated version. I didn't have that, but I looked up and saw that there was like an alternate ending to And I was like, well, that would have been cool because my ending just was her driving off.
01:07:46
Speaker
Yeah. That was just my ending too. Yeah. Well, I got the squiggle. I got the, and then the, the, like the Greeks and they brought a couple of people with them. Like getting off the bus to head to the ruins and like finding the path.
01:08:00
Speaker
in the Yeah. In the book, it's the Greeks and some other people, some Brazilian tourists. In the movie, it's just the Greeks. But yeah, they find the path and a small girl runs to the village and warns them about the new visitors.
01:08:13
Speaker
But they're already halfway up the hill and they're yelling for Pablo. well So the cycle continues. Yeah. Dun, dun, dun. Dun, dun, dun. So final verdict, book or movie?
01:08:28
Speaker
I hate to say it. Neither? I say neither? You can say neither. like the movie more. I didn't hate the movie. I didn't hate it. Is that bad to say?
01:08:40
Speaker
No, because the movie is faster paced. You get yeah get the gist of it. There is more psychological terror in the book, in my opinion.
01:08:51
Speaker
Yeah. um But no, I mean, it's the same premise. Even, like, the horror part of it, like, the gross parts that are not my favorite thing in horror. i didn't mind.
01:09:03
Speaker
I just like when stuff has such like an effect on me, even if it's bad. And I am a character-driven reader. I'm a character-driven... Even though you could... There is an argument that this book is character-driven.
01:09:19
Speaker
But I just didn't feel anything for the characters in the book. But when I watched the movie, I felt for the characters. Whether it was loathing... Jeff. Or if it was like... I felt like...
01:09:34
Speaker
not I'm not going say I'm rooting for anybody, but like I felt kind of bad that yeah they were in these circumstances. i will say I also like the movie.
01:09:44
Speaker
like i It's not the genre I ever watch by choice, ever. But if I knew someone else was like, you know, i would recommend this to someone who I know likes these types of things.
01:09:56
Speaker
like Because it really didn't seem that awful to me. But I also really like Jenna Malone. so Yeah, I love her. She's pretty awesome. And Sean Ashmore, who played Eric, has a twin brother who's also an actor.
01:10:10
Speaker
They're identical twins, Aaron Ashmore. And he played my one of my favorite characters in Warehouse 13. He played Jinx. And at first I was like, is that Jinx? And so I had to go looking up like, no, they're twins.
01:10:21
Speaker
That's not confusing at all. I wonder how difficult that is in the industry. Right? Yeah. What about you, Lindsay? Yeah.
01:10:31
Speaker
yeah Yeah, you know, if you want fast paced, I say go for the movie. The book is pretty slow, so it's kind of hard to get into. But I really did like the book, so it's hard for me to choose one or one over the other. Yeah.
01:10:46
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. um But that leads us to the question of the episode. Would you rather be trapped in the jungle with an unknown deadly force or stranded in the ocean with something circling beneath you?
01:11:03
Speaker
I'm going to start Crystal. I mean, I'm going to say jungle because like ocean, like what are the chances of me ever finding land? What the chances of me finding anything to drink? what are the chances of me finding any food?
01:11:15
Speaker
Like my chances of survival there are slim to none. jungle, i at least have a chance at finding something to eat, something to drink, a little bit of shelter.
01:11:27
Speaker
you know, and if it comes down to it, like, I'll just drink myself to death. Like, you know, give me that tequila. like Damn.
01:11:38
Speaker
Carrie. Okay, so I'm stranded in the middle of the ocean. what do I have in the middle ocean? Like, what am I stranded on? I floating?
01:11:51
Speaker
Small island? Raft? like Yeah, am I on an island? not Not an island. You're in the ocean. I haven't decided if you're on a raft or a or a door.
01:12:03
Speaker
A door. A door. It's the cold ocean and then. There's icebergs. Look out. I'm not even a boat. going to say a life raft. A life raft? Oh, I'm going to the jungle. Yep.
01:12:17
Speaker
I got tequila. You can come with me. Okay. I also went with jungle because ah can't swim. Hearty. Yeah. Midnight margaritas.
01:12:29
Speaker
And ah if there's something circling beneath me in the ocean, I don't want to be some floating charcuterie board or something. so ah Yeah, I hate, I don't like water. So don't think if I had like a big boat, I could like work with that.
01:12:47
Speaker
Being stranded in the middle of the ocean on a boat? Maybe. With food. That's my main concern. What am I going to eat? What you can catch fish?
01:12:59
Speaker
Yeah.
01:13:02
Speaker
No.
01:13:04
Speaker
No. but guess that's going to wrap up this episode. Hopefully not the kind of wrapping ah that's like deadly sentient vines or anything. Yeah, nothing. nothing Fast.
01:13:17
Speaker
We've hacked our way through the book, survived the movie, and debated just how doomed we'd be in this nightmare scenario. Whether you'd ah take your chances with flesh-eating plants or lurking sea creatures, one thing is for sure, nature is terrifying.
01:13:32
Speaker
And we're never going outside again. But before we retreat, we want to hear from you. What would you do if you found yourself in the middle of the ruins? Let us know on our socials. We've got Blue Sky, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram.
01:13:48
Speaker
As always, if you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to follow, subscribe, and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platforms, Spotify, Apple, all those.
01:13:59
Speaker
um And we will be back next week with another adventure. So until then, Maybe just stick to the resort pool. And if you hear a vine whispering your name, you should probably run.
01:14:11
Speaker
Okay, bye! Bye!