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Welcome to How to Spend $20, BOP's look at the latest DVDs to hit stores nationwide. This week: Attractive people get outsmarted by a pesky plant, the United States gets split in two and the Scary Movie people continue to drag down the credibility of the American film industry.

PICK OF THE WEEK

For people who go on archaeological digs: The Ruins (Unrated Edition)

Adapted by Scott Smith from his own 2006 suspense novel, The Ruins tells the story of a group of hot, young people (of course) who become unsuspecting victims from a trip to the Cancun that goes terribly, terribly wrong. While atop a pile of Mayan ruins, the young ones are slowly outsmarted by a spectacular (albeit quite supernatural) vine. Its abilities include launching instant attacks on any given target, perfectly replicating sounds and voices and other absurdities. I didn't get around to seeing the adaptation, but the acclaimed novel is quite good (as far as suspense-thrillers can be, at least). Though critics, including myself, seemed to like the novel, criticism was a bit harsher on the adaptation, with just 52 percent of critics giving the film a positive review, according to RottenTomatoes. Although for suspense, that's about as good as you can muster, unless you're named Silence of the Lambs.

Disc includes: Commentary by director Carter Smith and editor Jeff Betancourt, Making the Ruins featurette, Creeping Death featurette, Building the Ruins featurette, additional scenes, alternate ending, six extra minutes than the theatrical cut, trailers.





For people who think there's no cause for concern in continuing to drive their gas guzzling Land Rovers: 10.5: Apocalypse/Category 7: End of the World

Broadcasted on NBC in May 2006, miniseries 10.5: Apocalypse, sequel to the 2004 miniseries about a series of catastrophic disasters wreaking havoc on the United States, surely had viewers going absolutely wild over its destructive special effects – did they really just cut this fine country in half? Three days later, Al Gore put ManBearPig hunting on hold by releasing An Inconvenient Truth, and people didn't find this global warming business all that entertaining anymore. Case in point, NBC has yet to squeeze another miniseries out of its original idea. And the same goes for CBS, whose Category 7: End of the World, sequel to the equally destructive Category 6: Day of Destruction, has yet to spawn more calamitous offspring. Even so, both sequels are available today in one bundled package.

10.5: Apocalypse disc includes: Bare bones.
Category 7: End Of The World disc includes: Bare bones.

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