Ruinen

Four American tourists agree to a trip into a South American jungle with a German tourist, to look at an ancient Aztec temple. Once they get there, they find themselves trapped on the temple by some locals. However, they begin to realize however, that they are keeping them there for a horrifying reason....

On the surface, this is yet another movie about American tourists getting into trouble in another country. However, unlike for example Paradise Lost, the Hostel movies, Wolf Creek, and such, the threat here is not from a human source, but something else. It's a refreshing change, but that is only one of the plus points in this good horror movie. There are many more.

The script, written by Scott B. Smith based on his own novel, is pretty good. The characters are well written, and the plot as it unfolds takes it's time to play out, which again is refreshing. Most American horror movies seem to want to rush through the opening scenes, to get to the so-called scare moments, but Smith takes time with his plot, as he did with his other script, the brilliant A Simple Plan. This movie isn't as good as that but it is still good. One of the key things is he never explains how or why the temple is doing what it is doing, yet you never really question it. He allows some intelligence in not only the characters but also in the audience watching. Again, a refreshing change.

The performances from the cast are good. The script allows time for the cast to make their characters believable (for a horror movie)and as the horror and terror mounts, they react in different ways.

The direction by Carter Smith is good. He creates a sense of dread as the the events play out. While the movie is not particularly scary, he creates a sense a good sense of dread, right up to the end, and also doesn't try and cop-out at the end, or allow for some awful twist. Again a welcome change.

The movie does have some scenes that are bloody, or graphic and gory, it's not over the top. There is a reason for the violence in the movie, and also the blood and gore. It's not simply there to gross-out the audience (though the scene with the makeshift amputation will have that effect, no doubt!!).

At a time when most of the American horror movies are either remakes or sequels, it's nice to see a horror movie that while not original at least is different. And for that reason alone, it's worth watching.

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

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.

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

The Ruins was an impressive achievement and all out great gory fun, in my honest opinion. While the characters aren't really likable, the movie itself is so entertaining and interesting that it makes up for the obvious solid plot and professional development it lacks. While it's certainly not a masterpiece, The Ruins is just an instantaneous breath of fresh air. It's clever in a sense, creepy to the bone and new with an insane entertainment level that it keeps your attention and doesn't let go.

I found the "creatures" an effective and nice, sinister twist to deal with next to the other conflict of being stranded upon the Mayan ruins away from all civilization except the natives who are hellbent on letting them die up there, and I thought while the characters were stupid, that was the right way to handle the situation considering that most people would lose their wit in situations like that after some time, and I always like it when horrors try to make their characters believable, because that makes up for them not being special. It was so compellingly good just to watch what all happened, and I really enjoyed the scenes and thought that it had excellent suspense and a wonderful atmosphere of claustrophobia and paranoia.

Yes, it gets a little bland around the edges, and like I said, it's not like it ranks among the greatest films of all time, but I truly do think it is a satisfying taste of what effective, legendary horrors could do if they were made with better care, because it has all the right substances, but just falls flat a little with it's slight mediocrity. Regardless, it is nonetheless very amusing and indulging. I praise the creators for coming as far as they did with a poor direction, and for toppling over a lot of horrors that have been made in the past decade. Too bad more people didn't see what I did, because it is quite underrated and under appreciated, I think.