User reviews

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.

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 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.

Jeff (Jonathan Tucker), Amy (Jena Malone), Stacy (Laura Ramsey), and Eric (Shawn Ashmore) are friends on vacation in a Mexican westernized resort. The two couples are befriended by Mathias (Joe Anderson) who leads the group to a Mayan temple ruins with his friend Dimitri. Mathias' brother Henrich is doing an archaeological dig inside the temple. Mathias uncovers a hidden trail. The group is confronted by Mayan locals. Dimitri is killed while the group escapes up the temple. The Mayans are gathering. The phones don't work and the group has no supplies. A phone is ringing inside the temple. Mathias falls down the shaft into the temple. They discover the locals are actually afraid of the vines growing on the temple.

It's a really slow first third. It's a bunch of young people without much tension. The temple is fine but it's not until the moving vines before it gets truly interesting. The Mayans need to be scarier and they need to be trying to kill the group. That would keep the tension higher. It's a bad sign when the plants are the most interesting aspect of a movie but it does lead to some nice body horror scenes.

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 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

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

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.

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" delivers a gut-wrenching story that embeds itself in your psyche. As a group of friends ventures into remote ancient ruins, they encounter an indescribable horror that tests their bonds and sanity. The film's unrelenting tension and claustrophobic atmosphere heighten the sense of dread, leaving an indelible mark. The characters' descent into desperation and their fight for survival become seared into your memory. The haunting narrative explores the depths of fear and human nature, resonating long after the screen fades to black. "The Ruins" stays with you, a haunting reminder of the primal terror that can arise from the unknown, making it a standout in the horror genre.

I was skeptical about seeing this movies. I had heard and read that it was a pretty decent movie, but since they didn't do a big media package with a lot of previews, I was concerned it would leave me asking why I wasted to hours.

That being said, I was pretty impressed. It's a horror movie, not much is to be expected from the genre. This movies had some balls though. They had the balls to put out an R rated title. Most horror movies now fall under the PG-13 column so they can make more money. There was also some very gruesome scenes that left me shaken at some points.

All in all, not a bad movies, it had balls and to any horror film wanting to go to the movies this weekend, I would bet the farm this kicks the crap out of the Prom Night slasher film.