Jena Malone and Laura Ramsey in The Ruins Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

Scott Smith's novel The Ruins is a guilty pleasure to pick up in the airport bookstore — the kind that makes you feel a little dirty when you put it down, even though you couldn't stop reading it. It was favorably reviewed by Stephen King, Booklist, The Washington Post, Publisher's Weekly, Salon... the list goes on. Naturally it was snapped up for a movie adaptation, and under the aegis of Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld's production company, Red Hour Production, it was shuttled into theaters in April earlier this year, and now onto DVD.

I didn't love the book, even though it was right up my alley. The characters rubbed me the wrong way; they're annoying, petty American tourists, two couples bickering with each other, on the brink of breaking up but still in that masochistic struggle of trying to make it work just a little bit longer. There's some random Greek dude that they call Pablo, since they can't speak Greek and he can't speak English. And then there are the vines — sentient plants that eat human flesh down to the bone and can also mimic sounds, like cell phones ringing or human voices. But mostly, the gore touched a nerve — plants that can infiltrate your wounds, grow under your skin, move their tendrils around, into your muscles and your brain... Yuck. But that's the point, right? Right.

Scott Smith's screenplay for the movie manages to smooth out the rough edges — no more Pablo, for one. The plot is more concise, partly because the book took turns telling the story from different POVs, but also because there's more action and less ruminating over who's drinking too much water or not getting their fare share of grape rations.

Adorable indie actress and Donnie Darko love interest Jena Malone also manages to make one of the most annoying characters in the book, Amy, somewhat more palatable, or at least more human. Amy's boyfriend, steely-eyed Jeff (Jonathan Tucker), is also less abrasive than in the book, even when he's putting his pre-med school education to some rather horrendous real-life tests.

The special effects are a mixed bag. Whenever the vines were supposed to be particularly menacing, they were laughable — cackling flowers do not strike terror into my heart. On the other hand, the scenes of amateur surgery were effectively stomach-turning. I also enjoyed the alternate endings; well, two out of three, and that ain't bad.