hampersnow-41369

I saw The Ruins when it first came out and while most of what I see fades over the years, The Ruins stayed with me, truly a great horror film, especially when compared to the garbage Hollywood churns out as horror in 2025. Too many horror films are played as horror/comedy, with awful cartoonish characters, and ridiculous dialogue filled with wisecracks. There is nothing funny about The Ruins, no character is making jokes and with it's top-notch acting, everyone acts as they would in a horrifying situation. Jena Malone is a standout among many fine actors in this. It's a suspenseful, grueling watch with excellent special effects. I would rate this as a 10 but have to admit the ending and final scenes don't quite live up to the rest of the film, as if the writers ran out of steam or just ideas. Still it's a great horror film.

I watched this because I thought Adam Woodward was the star and while he has a lead role in this poorly done film, he has about as much screen time as bad actresses playing minor roles.

The plot is pretty good, just not well executed, with a poor script and horrible acting from more than half the cast. Voight, Woodward, and a few others are Ok, but some of these actors just look uncomfortable. Sam Symons steals the film in a spectacular fight sequence that is the only good part of the movie. Had the movie concentrated on his character, or just a few characters it might have worked, instead we're forced to listen to really poor "actresses" who have no part in the plot uttering nonsense lines that add nothing to the story. There is so much filler here, including a love story, that doesn't work. All of this filler, bad dialogue, horrendous acting and too little action just drags this film down. It just seems like a movie made by people who have no idea of how to make a good movie.

It's 2025 and why are gay themed films still examining men coming out, in this case, when it appears to be set a few decades back. This story has been done over and over again, for decades, and while this is an excellent film, it would be great if film makers moved on to some other facet of gay life.

What saves this film is that it's fairly well written and the performances are outstanding. Tom Blythe is exceptional in the lead role and the entire film's plot is grounded in reality, even if it's a sad reality.

What brings the movie down is the decision, I assume, to film this as if it were actually filmed decades ago on the worst camcorder ever. The movie looks cheaply made and there are too many ugly video effects added. The editing and many quick cuts don't help. With as many fine actors that there are in this I doubt the decision to film this with horrible cinematography was one of budget , but of choice. It was a bad idea. It takes away from the film and overall the film is very moving and has a real message.