Imagine being able to soak in the saltwater-tinged grandeur without having to look at other visitors like yourself. It’s all right here, buddy, wrapped up in a care package filled with unfettered Maine landscapes as unique to the state as those bright red hot dogs and whoopee pies. Cinematographer Cory Geryak turns Blue Hill inside out with his marvelous visual compositions and stellar drone shots.
Any filmmaker looking for a cost-effective way to add tons of production value to their film should shoot in Maine. The Ruse shows you how your dialogue sequences will sparkle with seaside vistas framed behind the actors. While the spectacular nature is omnipresent, great care is taken to capture the details of the residences found in life in the slow lane. Mena is able to find the Maine I grew up in, but rarely saw depicted in films until now.
“His script was especially adept at capturing the non-stop struggle of the state natives…”
Mena also uses the star power wisely by snagging Cartwright, who has been in some of the best genre movies of all time. Cartwright is absolutely marvelous in her role, embodying the indignity of how aging can take you down from even the loftiest heights of achievement. She also knows how to work the horror genre in a truly wicked way. There is a fair debate as to how much of The Ruse is horror versus how much is more mystery-oriented.
In the end, it matters as much as how much the contents of your mug is coffee versus the bourbon you topped it off with: it’s a combination that gets the job done regardless of measurements. It is dark enough and clever enough to really light up your evening. All of this is streamlined by the fantastic musical score by Mena, which seems to know when to crank it up to Eerie Town. His script was especially adept at capturing the non-stop struggle of the state natives to provide the comfort that the transplanted residents demand. It is a rich cinematic mine awaiting further digging in the state, with at least a much potential as all those wicked fun New England drugs in the lobster trap movies. The Ruse is an excellent spooky diversion, like a picnic in the graveyard in the great state of Maine.
"…dark enough and clever enough to really light up your evening..."
