Movies

The Ruse Review: Boring Pacing and Terrible Sound Doom This Slow-Burn Thriller

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A unique concept in the horror and thriller genres that’s caught attention is stories centered around a hospice worker’s chilling experiences while caring for patients. This narrative theme has been utilized in numerous ways, from the voodoo-influenced ending of ‘The Skeleton Key’ to the latest Irish folklore-infused release, ‘Fréwaka’. However, writer-director Stevan Mena attempts to create a more realistic and gradually escalating thriller, but it fails to generate any suspense or tension.

The storyline revolves around Madelyn Dundon playing the character Dale, a hospice nurse who’s yet to come to terms with the death of one of her patients under her care. She yearns for release from her probationary period at her nursing agency. An apparently fortunate break comes when she’s tasked with caring for a bedridden composer following the disappearance of his original nurse. As she navigates her way through the woman’s demanding habits and clingy demeanor, she simultaneously uncovers a string of mysterious events within the house, which the woman attributes to her deceased husband, leading Dale into a spiral of dwindling mental stability.

The Ruse‘s Plot Takes Forever To Get Interesting

It’s All Set Up With Little Pay Off

The main issue I found with “The Ruse” was that it took quite some time to hold my interest. Unlike many films in its genre, Mena aims to be distinctive by emphasizing character development over the typical haunted house elements such as slamming doors, vanishing items, and ghostly apparitions. This shift is refreshing and provides a nice change of pace. Furthermore, the characters’ personalities, on paper, promise an engaging variety of individuals to track throughout the story.

In essence, it gets tedious when too much attention is given to the characters without much progress in the storyline. If The Ruse were more about creating an atmosphere rather than advancing a plot, I might find its suspense and drama appealing. However, considering it involves the enigmas of the missing nurse and the ghostly husband, the narrative should have been more coherent and engaging than it turned out to be.

One significant problem with the film’s flow is that it dedicates an excessive amount of time to establishing its complex finale, which often involves characters sharing unnecessary and uninteresting backstories to confuse each other. The information presented fails to add anything fresh or engaging, resulting in a hasty and cluttered ending that feels more like a summary of the entire movie, akin to the style seen in “Knives Out”, complete with flashbacks of key events.

The Ruse’s Sound Design Is Quite Terrible

From Low Audio To An Over-The-Top Score, My Ears Were Unhappy

In contrast to movies that often reveal their modest budgets through subpar visual effects and economical sets, the budget constraints in The Ruse are evident in its poor sound design. The dialogue in the film is frequently hard to hear, even with my volume at maximum. This detracted from some of the movie’s attempts at emotional scenes for me. Even more frustratingly, other scenes suffer from static audio or overpowered microphones.

In a movie featuring a character who was once a renowned composer, and where classical tunes play throughout, I had anticipated the music would serve some significant purpose. However, I found myself struggling not to feel overwhelmed, as the score seemed more like an oppressive attempt to dictate the emotions of each scene, rather than being a harmonious part of it.

The Ruse’s Cast Is A Little Dull To Watch

Veronica Cartwright Is The Sole Interesting Actor Here

The movie leans heavily on its cast, but many of them aren’t particularly strong performers, which weakens the overall impact. It seems that the direction, the script, or the actors themselves lacked the necessary depth, making it appear as though they were given a limited number of attempts to deliver their lines instead of multiple opportunities to refine their performances.

Among the characters in “The Ruse“, Veronica Cartwright stands out as Olivia, Dale’s enigmatic patient, serving as the film’s most compelling aspect. At first appearing as a harsh and pushy elderly woman, my fascination with Cartwright’s portrayal grew as I delved deeper into her character. She skillfully navigates the challenging aspects of her role, effectively conveying Olivia’s rough exterior while also evoking the poignant emotions of impending death and the fear of losing loved ones. Unfortunately, it’s a pity that Cartwright’s powerful performance is overshadowed by a rather dull narrative, despite its moderately intriguing twist ending.

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2025-05-16 21:18

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