The Ruins (2008) User Reviews

Nothing ruinous about this crafty chiller.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 5 October 2012]

The Ruins is directed by Carter Smith and adapted to screenplay by Scott B. Smith from his own novel of the same name. It stars Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone, Shawn Ashmore, Laura Ramsey and Joe Anderson. Music is by Graeme Revell and cinematography by Darius Khondji.

Two young couples on holiday in Mexico make friends with a German tourist, Mathias (Anderson), who tells them of his missing brother who had gone off to view a Mayan ruin deep in the jungle. Their interest piqued, they agree to go on the adventure the following day. Once arriving at the remote ruin, though, they all find more than they bargained for....

Hot young cast in horror film that follows a stagnated formula? Well no, actually. It has all the hallmarks of being yet another in a sad long line of horror movies that con the faithful into watching it, only to disappoint with an unadventurous plot, making a quick bit of cash before disappearing in the stale popcorn tinted wind. The Ruins has generic moments, certainly the first half hour is your standard meet and greet your young protagonists stuff, but once we get to the ruins of the title the film shifts into a different world. Our fears that this is going to be just another case of guessing what order the young holiday makers are going to be sliced and diced, are quickly vanquished, this is a tale of survival, of a youthful group dynamic under severe threat, and bonus here is that the antagonist is something very different to what normally stalks these genre movies.

This really could have been a cheese fest, an unintentionally funny film, using gore and nudity to hide shortcomings in the screenplay, but it's not, writer Scott Smith has provided director and cast with material that pulses with an unexpected bleakness, a facing up to mortality at a young age, and crucially the characters do viable things given their circumstance, and that's mighty refreshing in a era of horror bulging with stupidity. It helped me personally that I knew next to nothing about the film before viewing it, and unlike some film lovers I'm not overly familiar with the young cast, though Joe Anderson is always on my plus list after his turn as Peter Hook in Control. But while it clearly didn't revolutionise horror as a genre, it at least had the gumption to veer in a different direction, going deeper in basic thematics than similar big budgeted films have.

Tension is deftly mounted, what blood and body horror there is (and a couple of scenes are genuinely wince inducing and well staged) is not cheap and exploitive, while the finale doesn't cop out. True, there are some unanswered questions that leap out when the end credits roll, and anyone expecting a fast paced thrill ride are right out of luck. Yet for those who lean towards a good psychological horror then this is very much recommended. 7.5/10

The Day of the Triffids with Cabin Fever

[Kashmirgrey · 7/10 · 22 June 2008]

Director Eli Roth should take note of and learn from this film. It is what Cabin Fever hoped to be... spooky.

Two twenty-something couples are vacationing in Mexico when they are invited to witness the excavation of some ancient ruins. Instead of fun and excitement, however, the four are held captive at top of the ruins by the locals. But it isn't long before they find they may be in even greater danger. Something cunning, hungry, and green has a taste for human flesh and the four vacationers have rung the dinner bell.

The characters seemed real. The mood was gripping. There were some good scares. I enjoyed it.

Much better than I thought it would be.

[brightonxxx · 7/10 · 19 January 2021]

This is one of those films where IMDB rating is well below than what it should have been. Yes, it is not the best horror film out there but it was certainly good. The story was not boring, there were some very clever scenes and the acting was not bad for a horror film. I actually enjoyed it throughout.

Pass the weedkiller

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 27 February 2011]

A surprisingly decent pulp horror outing with its roots (no pun intended) purely in the 1930s: this is based on a contemporary novel which I'm convinced must have been inspired by the Clark Ashton Smith short story The Seed from the Sepulchre (coincidentally one of my favourite stories ever). The story is simple, an age-old tale about naïve teenagers on a holiday from hell, not dissimilar to PARADISE LOST in its own way. Once the characters find themselves trapped in an ancient Mayan temple and at the menace of a most unusual monster it really picks up.

The horror is a neat mix of slow-building fear with graphic surgical gore, a la HOSTEL. It certainly doesn't pull its punches, with one graphic set-piece particularly difficult to forget afterwards. There are plenty of other chilling moments, like the bits involving mimicry or a later scene that literally gets under your skin. The youthful cast is typically dull, with only the German character provoking interest, but that doesn't matter when the story and pacing are so well achieved. It's amazing what a little originality can do: compare this to something like the exceptionally dull PROM NIGHT remake and you'll see what I mean.

"Four Americans on vacation don't just disappear!"

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 11 November 2012]

Scripted by Scott B. Smith based on his own novel, "The Ruins" at least has a somewhat interesting if not entirely novel premise that helps it stand apart from other modern horror films. Granted, its characters have the potential to grate on the nerves of some viewers, but their situation is a grim one indeed and compelling in its disgusting little way. It may get under your skin just as the people in the story find their bodies invaded by an insidious natural force.

Two couples - Jeff (Jonathan Tucker), Amy (Jena Malone), Stacy (Laura Ramsey) and Eric (Shawn Ashmore) - are on vacation in Mexico when a new acquaintance, amiable German Mathias (Joe Anderson) convinces them to accompany him to an ancient Mayan temple that's the sight of an archaeological expedition. Once there, they're accosted by hostile locals and flee to the top of the temple where a much worse danger awaits them. As it so happens, the plants here are aggressive meat eaters - and pretty darn clever to boot.

As things go from bad to worse throughout this movie, it's hard not to wince and feel a moderate amount of sympathy for what our protagonists go through, even though they get annoying at times. The special effects are quite well done, and we get to see the plants envelop our hapless quartet and force themselves down their orifices. The gore in the unrated version is very juicy as one character goes utterly crazy and mutilates herself in her attempt to remove the offending vegetation. The location shooting (actually done in Australia) is excellent and the atmosphere is therefore quite effective. The acting from all concerned is pretty good, with Anderson standing out in the most sympathetic role of the bunch.

Horror fans looking for something a little different may find this to their tastes. It's played very straight, with no winking at the audience or obvious self-conscious genre references. Overall, a good effort.

Seven out of 10.

It could have been more than the pointless movie it is

[capt0474 · 1/10 · 14 April 2008]

I saw this movie with very low expectations. I didn't know a lot about it so I wasn't sure if it was going to be worth it.

The story did an OK job of getting you curious about these ruins they travel to. The suspense continues when the Mayans show up and force them to stay at the ruins.

Then the movie turns from somewhat suspenseful to pointless. The amount of gore found in this movie did not balance out compared to whether it was truly necessary or used more for shock value.

The fact that they didn't make any attempt to fight the vines from hell. They had fire and didn't try to burn it nor did they try to cut it with a knife to see if they could destroy it or not. They quickly jumped into a victim role and their helpless attitude was not real. It reminded me of the old horror movies where the people just scream and yell and don't have half a brain to try to fight back.

Body Horror Meets Torture Porn In Memorable Shocker

[Theo Robertson · 7/10 · 12 July 2010]

A few years ago the word " torture porn " became a more and more common phrase involving cinema . With the exception of PASSION OF THE Christ they seemed to revolve around a formula of " Backpackers meet up abroad , get kidnapped by indigenous nutters and get explicitly tortured to death . The end " On the surface THE RUINS may be just another horror film where horny teenagers get bumped off one by one but dig a little deeper and you'll find something different . Oh and isn't that last sentence appropriate as to happens to these characters ?

Set in Mexico some American backpackers meet a German who suggests visiting an ancient Mayan temple which the backpackers agree to , only to be attacked by some locals who kill one of their party and chase them up to the top of the temple . Why do they do this ? Strangely this inciting incident is never really explained but this shouldn't be taken as a massive criticism because it's an enigmatic horror film that whilst having some truly stomach churning effects never really talks down the audience . Both the director Smith and the screenwriter Smith combine to tell the story via the characters situation . By this I mean the audience are never one step ahead of the characters . When a plot turn - of which there are many - happens both the audience and characters see the revelation on screen at the same time . Certainly the whole premise of people being murdered and mutilated by semi intelligent flora is ridiculous but it's written , directed and acted with such conviction that the laughable becomes very credible within the film's running time .

What THE RUINS sets apart from other films in the sub genre of torture porn is that there's a strong element of body horror along with character's optimism being crushed . These two aspects are summed up with one of the characters finding out that there's vines growing inside her . She has them graphically cut out " Ah she's saved " gasp both the backpackers and audience . She screams that they're not all been purged and cries that there's one inside her head . Sure enough a small bulge in her forehead moves around . Hopes are built up and quickly dashed in this pessimistic shocker

All in all this is a rather memorable horror film . It's a film however that will not appeal in any shape or form to those who don't like gore . Interestingly enough I once had a conversation with a professional film critic that the banned video nasties of the 1980s are often tame compared to more mainstream horror films of the early 21st century and he agreed . You'd be very hard pressed to name a more stomach churning film than THE RUINS but that said it also concentrates on suspense and mystery and struggling against natural adversity which while perhaps not making a great horror certainly a very memorable one

The monsters are vines, like a bad 1960's adventure film

[ApolloBoy109 · 1/10 · 8 April 2008]

The characters are spoiled, vapid lame brains. There's no one to cheer for. I am so tried of movies where the characters have to make bad, stupid decisions in orders for the plot to make sense.

Killer foliage ? This just not threatening enough. Plant matter is so fragile. And there were just so many logical ways to deal with the lame attacks. The junk about "not getting" a signal on a cell phone is wearing thin. The first appearance by the vines is laughable. All 30 people in the theatre last Friday broke out laughing. The mimicking flowers sent us all over the edge.

Clearly what worked in the novel, and our own imaginations, simply does nott transfer to film well.

It's no wonder it bombed at the box office. It's silly and unbelievable . And every thrill is telegraphed to the audience minutes before it happens. My 14 year nephew got bored and went to see Nim's Island. The acting was so god-awful. Who are these people?? None of the pretty boys and girls could convey an honest sentence of dialog if their life depended on it. Are the actors from TV shows or just cheap labor?

In a way I am glad it failed, perhaps now the coke heads of Hollywood will stop shoving hip horror films down the throats of our cinemas.

The Mayan Ruins and the Climbing Plants

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 8 July 2008]

While on vacation in a resort in Mexico, the Americans Jeff (Jonathan Tucker), his girlfriend Amy (Jena Malone), her best friend Stacy (Laura Ramsey) and her boyfriend Eric (Shawn Ashmore) befriend the German Mathias (Joe Anderson) in the swimming pool. Mathias invites the group to visit the ruins of a Mayan temple with his Greek friend Dimitri (Dimitri Baveas) in an archaeological field where his brother Henrich and his girlfriend are camped eighteen kilometers far from the resort. They hire an old taxi and when they reach the spot, they are surrounded by Mayan villagers armed of revolver, rifle and bow-and-arrow that kill Dimitri and do not allow the group to leave the place. They climb a construction covered of creepers with red flowers, and remain under siege of the locals. When they hear a cell phone in the bottom of a well, Mathias decides to seek the apparatus using a rope that breaks and he has a serious accident breaking his back. Amy and Stacy go to the bottom of the mine to rescue Mathias and they find many corpses covered by the climbing plants; further, they realize that they had been lured by the plants that are vibrating with the sound of a cell phone. When they are attacked by the carnivorous creeping plants, they understand the reaction of the Mayan villagers.

"The Ruins" is an original horror movie, with a different and creepy story, good performances of the young cast and great special effects. The beauty of Laura Ramsey is impressive, and the great actress Jena Malone performs an annoying character. The scene of the amputation of Mathias legs is extremely gore and gruesome. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Stupidity ruined the Ruins

[Quebec_Dragon · 4/10 · 11 June 2009]

I certainly hope the book this is inspired from is better than this poor attempt at an horror flick. I remember a quote from Stephen King on the cover saying this was "the best horror novel of the new century". The movie makes me doubt that very much but who knows. Books are indeed almost always better than their film adaptation. The funny thing is that the screenplay is attributed to the writer of the book, Scott Smith. My main beef here was that the characters, particularly the girls, acted too stupidly. Some of it can be explained away by nerves or growing insanity but still. My other big problem was with the menace of the ruins. I didn't buy it. It felt ridiculous. Perhaps it's less of a problem imagining it while reading the book, perhaps. There were a couple of horrific scenes that worked really well (one medical involving legs) but a few effective scenes do not make for an overall satisfying horror experience. The acting was mundane with the actor playing Jeff being way too stiff and unemotional. This is worth a rental at best when there is nothing better left to see in the horror section.

Rating: 3.5 out of 10

Got Under My Skin

[flyroundee · 8/10 · 19 April 2008]

I wasn't expecting too much going to see this, but knowing that it was an adaptation from a novel I figured it had to be a decent story at least. I was pleasantly surprised. It definitely wasn't your average 'horror' film, if you want recycled bullshit go see the travesty that is Prom Night. This is different. It literally got under my skin at a few parts and made me squirm, and that pretty tough to do to me. The story resembled a Stephen King-esquire short story. It was grim, unpleasant, and gory. It didn't use conventional scare tactics (which are so overdone these days) but used a tone of dread and hopelessness to get to the viewer. Check it out if your looking for that type of film, cheers

This is why I hate gardening.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 12 September 2023]

A group of young friends travelling in Mexico, are convinced by a young German man named Mathias, to accompany them to an archaeological dig.

I honestly can't believe that this film dates all the way back to 2008, I watched it when it was first released, and have never forgotten a few of the scenes, one in particular.

If you're a fan of films along the same lines as Paradise lost and Green inferno, then I think you may well enjoy this, the horror comes more from gory sequences, rather than jump scares. Some of the visuals are pretty gross.

It's far from perfect, it takes an age to get going, and there are more cliches than you can even count, plus a set of characters that are a little difficult to like.

Despite its many flaws, I still enjoyed it, it's not without originality, and the horror moments still hold up.

Time to invest in some weedkiller.

7/10.

I Am Shocked That People Like This Movie

[Scars_Remain · 1/10 · 5 April 2008]

A 7.3?!?! Really?!?! Did I see the same movie?!?! I absolutely cannot figure out what people saw in this atrocity. I truly am utterly blown away after reading the reviews on this site and seeing what people on the horror board are saying about it. The consensus in the theater seemed unanimous since everyone was laughing at how absurd the premise and everything was. I truly don't get it. I feel like the script could have been written by someone in junior high, and probably was.

Where do I start? The acting was nothing but terribly sad, there's nothing more or less I can say about it. The story was idiotic and the dialog was even worse. The characters were so unbelievable that it seems like no effort was put into them at all. I would honestly love to see the Mystery Science Theater 3000 guys tackle this one because the jokes about it could go on and on, much like they did in the theater I was in. Usually it bugs the hell out of me when people are talking in the theater but it didn't tonight because I didn't care about paying attention to this travesty. And lastly, this movie had pretty much no suspense. Isn't that what a horror movie is supposed to be based on? I guess the producers didn't know that, along with a lot of other things.

Don't make the mistake I did, just say no to this movie. Don't ever see it. Not now, not when it comes out on video, not when your local library has it, not illegally online, not ever. You'll be happy that you didn't waste an hour and half of your life.

Pretty cool.....I guess.....

[Lando_Hass · 7/10 · 3 April 2008]

I just screened The Ruins and didn't think much of it beforehand. I thought it looked cool, but didn't really expect anything bad or good. All in all, it was better than most movies of it's kind, and could've easily been worse, but could've been just a little bit better too.

Of course, it's about a group of young people that, by chance, find their way into the old ruins of some old Mayan pyramid thing. When they get there, they're ambushed by the (Mayan?) locals, and pretty much held at the pyramid/ruins against their will. The locals won't let them leave, and stakeout the outside of the ruins with guns and arrows and all that cool stuff. So, really, what's one to do in such a freaky, crazy situation? There's not much to do other than survive, which is what these people struggle to do throughout the movie. Not only do they have to worry about surviving from hunger or dehydration (five people have only ONE bottle of water to ration, plus a a tiny bit of food), but they also have to worry about not only the crazy ass killer vines/foliage that inhabit these ruins, but they also have to worry about staying sane.

Everything that can go wrong pretty much does. The worst things happen to these people. Really. I was watching and every few minutes, I just said, "Wow, that's a bitch. That sucks." Not only do they have to worry about freaky killer vines, they also have to worry about themselves, because one of them starts to go insane and one of them is seriously injured.

I know what you're thinking. The whole notion of killer plants/vines sounds completely stupid. I thought so, too. How was this going to be scary or even kind of freaky? Personally, I thought they handled it pretty damn well. What could've ended up being ridiculous and stupid ended up being kind of freaky. It's not really the vines/plants themselves that are scary, it's just the idea of what they are and what they do to these people that's kind of scary. The scenes inside the pyramid, where it's just wall to wall of this scary crap, was a little creepy because they were everywhere and it was overwhelming and claustrophobic at the same time. The scenes inside the actual pyramid are scary because it's so dark and it's such a confined space that these vines actually were kind of freaky because they were pretty much wall-to-wall. It was an abyss filled with these plants, that mimicked the noises around them, making them that much more creepy.

Of course, the movie's filled with blood. Lots of it. The violence is great because most of it didn't come from the vines like you'd expect; most of the crazy crap was a result of the characters; the presence of the vines just made things worse and nastier. None of the gore is there to really shock you, it's just there, it just makes you cringe instead of yell in excitement, like most movies of it's kind. There's a really nasty scene involving a guy, legs, a hunting knife, a rock, and a hot pan...and it's nasty....

The only thing I was missing from the movie was that it didn't really pack much of a punch. It was just there, there wasn't that much to it. A lot of what happens is sad and effective, especially how a lot of these characters get screwed over, but I would've preferred if there was just more to it. I thought it would've been better if the movie was just an all-out downer, even though nothing really positive ever happens. The characters act like you'd expect, too. They go through every decision rationally and logically, and opt not to do things that they know will get them killed. They react just as you'd expect someone to react in a situation like this.

It's a cool movie because it doesn't take the easy way out like most horror movies do. Bad things happen to characters that you like, even though you kind of hate to see it, because all these characters are pretty likable and interesting. I thought the ending could've packed more punch, because it ended up being too bland for my taste, but that's just me. Even though some unexpected stuff happens, it still could've used some more punch. But eh. Who cares?

This was a pretty cool movie. Could've been a little better, but could've ended up a lot worse, too. Pretty damn entertaining, and some pretty crazy violence.

Score: 8

Good for the scares

[Smells_Like_Cheese · 6/10 · 4 April 2008]

I have to tell you from the minute that I saw The Ruins trailer, I knew I wanted to see this movie, we've been needing a good horror movie, especially for 2008. So I didn't hesitate to see the movie today; I'm actually a little disappointed. Now with the pro's, we've got an awesome plot, it's a little unoriginal with the gore and the shock(ever since Hostel came out, it's hard to get a little more shocked) but the plot works and makes the movie extremely disturbing and makes you move around your seat and uncomfortable. The only problem I had was the characters, they were either very dis-likable or didn't even have any depth, so you didn't care wither they lived or died. It's a typical horror movie mistake, characters are neglected and we are left guessing, but this is still worth the watch for the non-stop scares.

A four friends are on vacation in Mexico, just enjoying the time, getting drunk, dancing, the usual stuff. But when another man, a Greek named Mathias, invites them to explore the famous ruins of the land, he's also looking for his brother who disappeared there, so he wants to see if he's still there. When the group goes there, they are confronted by a tribe who cannot speak English or Spanish, and when one of the guys touches the vines, he is shot and killed, the others are told to get up onto the pyramid that's covered in vines. They have to figure a way out while being trapped there by the armed tribe, but something has gotten "under their skin".

The Ruins is a decent horror movie, the best I've seen? For the year, sadly, yes, which I'm hoping there will be some promising horror movies to come up. I'm just disappointed with the characters and their development, the girls were obnoxious and the guys were stupid. But the effects were cool and creepy, I think we all have that fear of these flesh eating viruses, so this concept worked. I also liked that it wasn't so jumpy and it didn't try so hard to scare. I would recommend it for a watch, but I'm just warning you that it's not what it's all hyped up to be.

6/10

Love the book, the movie is severely lacking

[Nadrizzle · 1/10 · 25 August 2021]

I guess killer vines aren't easy to translate onto the big screen. I have read the book over and over since it came out when I was in high school. I love it so much that I own two copies - a hardcover and a small portable copy. Many others who I have recommended it to really enjoyed it.

That's why it is so frustrating to see what a failure this movie was, which is a shame since the author helped write most of the script. He swapped the characters around in the film and removed most, if not all, of their backstory. I understand a movie cannot fully embody the essence of a book, but while reading, you become familiar and somewhat attached to the characters, which allows you to relate with them in a chilling way that leaves you a bit unsettled when they're being tortured and killed off by this sentient plant. In the movie, I could not bring myself to care about what happens to these people as I have zero emotional investment to them, nor do I even gain any interest in them as they are the most bland characters I've ever seen in a film besides Twilight. They could have discussed the hardships of no food/drink, missing their families, or spoke more about their hopes and dreams for when they get back home; literally anything besides the wasted screen time of just staring at each other while showing limited emotional or realistic reactions to the events around them.

What's worse, they not only stripped the characters of their personalities (and, honestly, the vine of it's personality in the book) but then shuffled them around for no discernible reason. It was done in a very forced way that didn't feel natural, especially when their fates and form of death were also mis-matched. In the book, the Greek is the one who breaks his back. This creates a haunting experience since we don't know what's wrong with him right away, because he can't speak English to tell the others how severely he is hurt. Extra unsettling is the fact that he cannot communicate with any of them to consent to having his legs amputated, creating a very squeamish and gut-wrenching chapter in the book. The film adaptation removes this horrific factor by making Matias the one to fall, they immediately figure out he broke his back, and then Matias begs the others to cut off his legs. That's only one example of many things that went wrong and caused this movie to fall completely flat. I won't even waste my time on explaining how disappointed I was that the vines were laughable at best, rather than the terrifying entity described in the book.

Lastly, the fact that Amy survives is an absolute joke. In the book, there are no survivors- a very chilling ending to a depressing story. The whole "we need a happy ending for the audience" was the final unrealistic bow slapped on top of this flop of a film. If they were going to choose to allow someone to survive, then they should have included the unreleased ending which was MUCH more haunting and realistic, showing how deadly and intrusive these vines are.

Overall, I'm disappointed in Ben Stiller and Scott Smith for failing to create a movie that even suggests a proper attempt of doing the book any justice. Translating a far-fetched idea onto the big screen is something that cannot be skimped on. You had the money to do it and do it right, but this was not it.

more gruesome than scary

[saintnikolas · 6/10 · 4 April 2008]

for a horror movie, "The Ruins" is more of the gross-out variety than the bone-chilling, "what's-around-the-corner" type. there are definitely some disgusting moments in the movie, the kind that you'd want to fast-forward through if you could. does that make the movie scary? not really. the "monster" in the movie is killer vines. not really scary. the movie seems more like a short story. there's really only one significant set--a flat-top pyramid--and not that much action or intrigue. the vines are pretty one-dimensional, and remain unexplained. they are actually not that threatening when the characters keep their distance. the movie takes place in broad daylight, so the atmosphere doesn't add anything to the scare level.

so I was slightly disappointed. if you expect to be truly scared, you'll probably be disappointed as well.

all in all, the movie is put together well, it just doesn't have much in the way of story or mood. it's surprising to me that it's adapted from a full-length novel. they must have left a lot of stuff out.

This movie does not make any sense! VERY Stupid!

[Horrorible_Horror_Films · 1/10 · 11 April 2008]

So, in this movie, (which COULD have been a lot better written and hence a very interesting movie but instead sucks) sets up like this: 4 douchebag whitebread college students go to Mexico. They go visit some Mayan ruins that are all covered with vines. Because they touched the vines that are all over the ruins, the crazy locals will not let them leave and force them to stay at the top of the ruin. The locals fear the vines so much they shoot dead one of their own children when one of the college kids throws a vine at him.

They have ample means to make fire when trapped on top of the ruins, and they do make fires to stay warm. Also, they know how much the locals, who are their captors, fear the vines. So its pretty simple, if you are not a stupid moron, or writer of a really, really stupid movie, you take the vines and THROW THEM AT YOUR ALL OF YOUR CAPTORS JUST LIKE YOU DID WITH THE KID! You DO NOT sit around slowly dying of thirst and breaking your bones after trying to go down into the ruin! Also, you light the vines that cover the entire ruin on fire! Then you escape! That would have worked as a MUCH better distraction rather than what they did in this movie, and everyone would have had a much better chance to survive. OR what about the other freakin side of the ruin? They only were guarding only one side! And during the entire movie we ONLY see one side of the ruin! The movie does not explain simple logical things like this. You do NOT do all the stupid stuff they do in this stupid movie! What the hell was that? I have not read the book and I hope its better than this, but whoever wrote this movie is an idiot. And all you people that liked this movie are idiots, you probably like Titanic and Shia Labouf movies too.

The Worst!

[JoelHorton_1 · 1/10 · 15 April 2008]

God! Where do I begin? From start to finish, I could not help to hate this movie. Vines? Vines that make cell-phone noises?! Oh yeah, I'm so scared - I'm going to rid the weeds of earth! Come on people! The plot went nowhere, When the group discovered the ruin, and the village people (no pun intended) came to warn them and brandished weapons in front of their faces, don't worry, Amy (Jena Malone) was there to take pictures! That whole scene really had me wondering why she didn't take pictures of her beau, Jeff (Johnathon Tucker), sawing off Mathias (Joe Anderson) legs. When the idiots first threw down the rope after Mathias, how the rope was at least ten feet from the ground, but how it eventually was able to be a mere two to four feet from the ground. I cannot begin to cover everything that was wrong about this movie, there is just too much to cover. I will say the graphics as far as the gore were terrific, but it amounted to nothing since the acting and script were so terrifically bad.

Oh, Goody! Let's Watch More Pretty Twenty-Somethings Die...

[cchase · 8/10 · 12 July 2008]

You already know the drill. You've seen what this genre can produce before, and you're pretty sure you've seen the best and the worst of it. From bygone days, JUST BEFORE DAWN. HELL NIGHT. MY BLOODY VALENTINE. LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. THE HILLS HAVE EYES. THE EVIL DEAD. And from the past couple of decades, HOSTEL. TURISTAS. WRONG TURN. JOY RIDE.

And of course, the film to which THE RUINS will probably get the most comparisons, CABIN FEVER. Except instead of being set out in the middle of CHAINSAW territory, now it's an ancient sprawl of Mayan ruins. The fact that Four Beautiful Gen-X'ers are involved is about where the similarities end. Mr. Eli Roth, I'm sorry to inform you that you got served.

Because just when you think that THE RUINS is really nothing more than just another yawn-inducing slasher movie, it takes this turn into THE OUTER LIMITS that you don't ever expect it to. And it's so much the better - and more terrifying - for that.

Jonathan Tucker (HOSTAGE, Showtime's MASTERS OF HORROR), Jena Malone (BASTARD OUT OF CAROLINA), Shawn Ashmore (the X-MEN series) and Laura Ramsey (LORDS OF DOGTOWN) star as two best friends and their respective boyfriends on vacation in Mexico, for a period of beaches, booze and "knockin' da boots" before Tucker's character, Jeff, takes the educational equivalent of the Bataan Death March: attending med school.

The whole nightmare starts pretty simply, as nightmares often do in these things. The two couples meet cute with a German tourist, Mathias (Joe Anderson), whose own girlfriend, an archaeologist, has gone to her latest dig with Mathias's brother. He invites his new friends to come with, and since there's not much more excitement to be had, other than getting fit-to-puke drunk on too much cheap tequila, they take him up on his offer.

Really. Bad. Move.

The Fearless Foursome go to the dig site with Mathias and his friend, Dimitri (Dimitri Baveas) and nothing too alarming or remarkable happens along the way. It's when they get there that the fajitas really hit the fan. Because this set of ruins is no ordinary dig site. And if you have prepared yourself in advance for the ghost of some ticked-off Mayan god ready to rip out the hearts of these intruding Americanos, you are way off-base, my friend. What they find is more insidious, horrific and literally creepy than anything you've seen in a long, LONG time.

Kudos must immediately go to Scott Smith, the author of A SIMPLE PLAN, for adapting his page-turner of a runaway bestseller into something that should make Stephen King green with envy. The core idea is not an original one, but the way Smith uses it and his depictions of how it affects the characters involved is Grade-A 100% pure classic horror. Director Carter Smith, with his major movie debut, is great at ratcheting up the scares and the gore quotient as he wrings some pretty genuine performances from his cast.

But the nasty creepiness and dread are just the black frosting on this rotting cake. Dig underneath and you get some super bonuses: one scene that will forever make the "hobbling" scene from MISERY seem like a Sesame Street cakewalk, and one unbelievably goose-bump raising sequence that will forever have you getting freaked out about your cell phone. I can't tell you why...because the less you know about it, the more terrifying it is.

Yes, the creative forces here make the most of milking the themes of isolation, hopelessness and impending death. But it's the HOW, not the why that sets THE RUINS apart from any other movie of its kind that's been made before or since.

Right now, I would rank this one right up there with Neil Marshall's THE DESCENT as one of the Top Ten Best Horror Films made in this decade.

Gee, in spite of all the remakes still ongoing, maybe there is still some hope for horror after all.

I can promise you this much: THE RUINS is as good a description for what your nerves will be like by the climax, as it is the title of a very good horror thriller.

Graphic and Disturbing

[Arenarocker05 · 7/10 · 10 July 2008]

Could this be the best horror film so far this year? Well when you take a look at some of the horror films we see today like "The Eye", "Prom Night", "Shutter", and "One Missed Call", it damn well could be. Because lets face it; those movies I just listed flat-out sucked and I didn't even have to see them to find out for myself. However, this movie on the other hand delivers a couple of scares and some intensely disturbing images that will make you look the other way.

The film focuses on four college students who are on a vacation in Mexico and then suddenly they meet a stranger who invites them to a place that is not even on the map, (So far there is already a typical horror cliché). Anyway, they go to a sight where an ancient Mayan Temple stands, hopping to find the stranger's brother who was missing somewhere among the ruins. Afterwards bizarre events begin to happen and the only thing left for these unsuspected individuals is to survive.

In my opinion, this film is good for its genre. It does follow some patterns on how to make a successful horror movie. The acting is decent and the characters do a nice job holding it together, rather than just falling apart all at once. Now I don't know how accurate this is to the book because I never read it but I'm sure the book is just as graphic as the movie, maybe worse. So to rap it up, if your looking to avoid a bad remake of an original horror piece or some Japanese film turned upside down, give this film a shot. It's not the best horror film I've seen, but its worth the rent.

The ruins are ruined

[aharmas · 5/10 · 9 April 2008]

Somewhere there must be a director's cut of this, or an alternate version, or an extended version that must make more sense that the disjointed, chopped up, quite tame version of a book that seduces, ensnares, and repels you sometimes simultaneously. It's truly disappointing because the casting was pretty impressive, in particular Malone. There is some very impressive camera work, and a couple of moments where the audience is bound to jump, but the soul of the book is lost because the monster of the film is as scary as a plate full of cilantro.

The beginning of the film is quite promising, and knowing the author adapted his own book, one keeps hoping it will retain its spirit, but when the first character is dismissed, in a very shocking manner, one wonders why the rest of the cast wasn't dispatched pretty much in the next two minutes, saving us some listless sequences.

When reading the book, the scenes in the tunnel are some of the most horrifying and claustrophobic in memory, as we witness tragedy after tragedy, and some very horrifying moments. We've seen how scary scenes in these setting can be. For example, "The Cave" plunges you into hell, as darkness is as scary as anything can be, when well timed suggestive flashes can be. In "The Ruins", it looks like Christmas Trees were used to attack the girls, and let's not even go to the flowers' looks and sound special effects.

I was wondering where this film was made since the humidity of the Yucatan peninsula seemed to have dissipated along with any signals of common sense. Is Hollywood capable of doing something right, even with original material? Or is it easier just to pillage what worked in the cinema before and do a half-hearted remake? On the other hand, if this works, maybe someone will make a sequel and fix everything that didn't work here. Now that sounds like some original thinking.

Horror with some depth

[fertilecelluloid · 7/10 · 17 April 2008]

In "The Ruins", a dumb, selfish, hysterical b*tch (played by Jena Malone) indirectly causes the death of a German tourist, a little boy, and her own boyfriend. What is the inclusion of this character saying about women? Ask director Carter Smith, whose cinematic resume favors films about boys who like boys. Interestingly but not surprisingly, the male protagonists in this movie are strong and reasonably rational. Two American couples and a German follow a secret map to an old pyramid in Mexico. The pyramid, an impressive monument smothered in vines, is unofficially guarded by superstitious locals (Mayans, perhaps?) who don't take kindly to tourists. After Malone's ignorant behavior causes the German to get shot by the locals, the tourists retreat to the top of the pyramid where they face a different type of danger; their efforts to survive in a limited space make up the remainder of the movie. The enemy here is green and tentacle-like. It burrows into gaping wounds and has the ability to mimic sounds once heard. What could have been very silly in some hands is pulled off effectively here. Containing echoes of the Japanese masterpiece "Matango", this studio horror pic preys on our fears of bodily corruption and invasion. There is nowhere for our heroes to go, so we are invited to watch them as one would watch rats in a maze filled with traps. The prosthetic effects are convincing and extreme, and the performances are credible. The Malone character invites no sympathy because she's such a stupid waste of skin and bones; she's even depicted cheating on her boyfriend early in the peace. Why her friends didn't push her off the pyramid or leave her down the well she descends into at one point is anybody's guess. This gripe aside, "The Ruins" is a decent horror flick with some psychological depth.

An OK adaption, and I am a huge fan of the book.

[coreyalexander · 6/10 · 5 April 2008]

I have been anticipating the film version of The Ruins ever since I read the book. I found this to be an incredibly average depiction of the events in the novel. I can say the acting is good and the gory effects are quite chilling. For some reason there just isn't the same level of panic and dread that slowly crept up on me when reading the book. There were some issues with cheesy dialogue and I felt that more could have been done to develop the characters before they end up on the ruins. Definitely a solid horror flick, but not a classic. I saw it with a friend who did not read the book and she said she thought it was better than she would have expected. I would highly recommend reading the book instead of seeing the movie.

Just Terrible

[sajjukcor · 1/10 · 19 April 2008]

This movie was really awful. It was not in the least bit frightening, or even startling. I went to see it with a bunch of friends and by the end of the night we were saying "The Ruins ruined my night."

I would not recommend seeing this movie in theaters, renting it or even watching the movie on television by accident.It is an absolute waste of an hour and a half.

The plot was nearly non-existent, the characters were horribly underdeveloped, and they gave no back story whatsoever for anything that was happening, and then left it completely open at the end as if preparing for a sequel.