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The Ruins | 
| Director: Carter Smith
Studio: Paramount
This item is no longer available
Rating:  87 reviews
Sales Rank: 4128
Genre: Book Adaptations
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 91 Minutes
ASIN: B001DIAXA0
Release Date: December 1, 2008 (New: This Week)
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| Synopsis:
Based on the terrifying best-seller by Scott Smith, "The Ruins" follows a group of friends who become entangled in a brutal struggle for survival after visiting a remote archaeological dig in the Mexican jungle where they discover something deadly living among the ruins. "The Ruins" stars Jonathan Tucker ("Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "The Black Donnellys"), Jena Malone ("Pride and Prejudice", "Donnie Darko"), Shawn Ashmore ("X-Men: The Last Stand"), Laura Ramsey ("She's the Man") and Joe Anderson ("Across the Universe"). |
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| Customer Reviews: Read 82 more reviews...
The Ruins may not ruin your day, but it won't uplift it either. April 14, 2008
Steven Hedge (Somewhere "East of Eden")
38 out of 42 found this review helpful
This rather bleak film is actually well acted, but not well paced and has an ending that is fairly predictable based upon how the story boxes itself in early.
The story is about two couples who get caught up into checking out some ancient Mayan ruins meet up with some weeds that have incredible abilities. We get enough background on the characters to care about them and it helps that they are all rather appealing even if somewhat flawed. They are refreshing nice young adults who are not the stereotypes we've been seeing in horror films lately. Their interactions with each other are very believable.
They discover an old temple/pyramid and hike into up and into it to discover that the locals will not let them leave it for fear of spreading what lurks in the ruins. This is a clever low-budget way of keeping the action in one or two locations (on top of the ruins and in the ruins), however, it also greatly limits the direction the story can go in and, thus, makes it predictable. There is a generous amount of old fashioned horror bloodshed and very brief nudity that is not gratuitous in any way (for a change). The violence is of the strong R variety and definitely not for the faint of heart. The effects are minimal, but good as is the make up which is quite graphic.
This movie is certainly not all it could have been and borrows heavily from better films like The Descent, The Day of the Triffids, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but it is very nicely acted by young people we do care about and there is enough in the tissue paper thin plot to keep us interested for it's brief 90 minutes. There is adequate suspense, but it is often ruined, pun intended, by the director's focus on the grisly stuff rather than leaving a bit more to our imagination.
I had some fun with this film, my nearly sixteen year old son less so, but it isn't as bad as some think, but it certainly isn't as good as others think as well. It is simply an okay film and with some of its jarring images, it isn't easily forgotten.
 Good thing I'm not into gardening April 4, 2008
Monkdude (Hampton, VA)
21 out of 24 found this review helpful
I never read the novel, but The Ruins is a worthy horror film for those with a strong stomach. There are two really disturbing scenes that put Hostel to shame and the camera doesn't shy away. I can't imagine what they cut out for the Unrated DVD (which you know is coming), but it probably isn't much. The cast is good overall (especially Laura Ramsey in a chilling performance) and there were only a couple of times when I sat shaking my head at the stupid things they said or did. A couple of times is not bad when compared to most horror films, besides it comes with the territory.
My only gripe is that the "creature" isn't shown enough (much like Cloverfield) which can add to the suspense, but by the end of the film I was hoping to see or learn just a little more about it.
All in all, The Ruins is one of the most shocking horror films I have seen in quite some time and worth a trip to the theater.
Where's the Weed-B-Gone?? April 6, 2008
Allen Chapman (STAFFORD SPRINGS, CT USA)
12 out of 15 found this review helpful
I went into "The Ruins" not really having any idea what it was about. It just looked interesting from the previews. The basic premise is a group of American twenty-somethings are on vacation in Mexico and on their last day decide to go see these ancient ruins that are not part of the normal tourist attractions. Once they get there things start going wrong, then they get worse. The suspence is held thruout the movie. There is a major element of the story that you just have to accept and once you do you're all set to enjoy the movie.
My fear was that "The Ruins" would be like "Touristas" or "The Cave", it is like neither of these. It's more like "Hostel" in that the people don't really do anything overly stupid to get them into the situation they are in.
Those who have read the book have complained about the ending. I didn't think it was a bad ending at all. I haven't read the book, but the end shown makes sense and leaves the viewer basically knowing what is going to happen next without it being shown.
If the movie teaches you nothing, it teaches you that if you go on vacation bring along some Weed-B-Gone, you never know when it will come in handy!!!
I loved the book but the new ending ruins "The Ruins" for me April 4, 2008
Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota)
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
My wife and I both read Scott Smith's "The Ruins)" two summers back when it came out, which is why she did not go to the theater this afternoon to see the movie version. Previously she has left me sitting alone in the movie theater during showings of "Snakes on a Plane" and "Planet Terror," and I am pretty sure that there is some sort of third strike rule here that I need to stay clear of (for the record, she walked out of parts of "The Passion of the Christ" too, but she went with her mother and I was the chauffer and therefore not on a date). So I returned from seeing the opening showing of "The Ruins" this afternoon, and reported to her that yes, indeed, the scenes that she did not want to see and in the movie, so we was wise to stay eating popcorn in bed and watching episode after episode of "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," because she would have fled the theater. Then she asked how the movie was, and I told her in one concise sentence was happens at the end. She frowned and said, "So they ruined it."
Down in Mexico on Yucatan peninsula a pair of American couples are nearing the end of their vacation. We have Jeff (Jonathan Tucker) and Amy (Jena Malone), along with Eric (Shawn Ashmore) and Stacy (Laura Ramsey). They meet up Mathias (Joe Anderson) and his friend Dimitri (Dimitri Baveas). Mathias is trying to track down his brother, who is working on an archeological dig in the area. The idea of seeing an ancient Mayan ruin that is not some sort of tourist trap is intriguing so they find a local taxi pickup truck and head out into the jungle. Once there they find the path to the ruin, but as soon as they touch the bottom step a group of Mayans show up brandishing guns and other weapons, demanding that the visitors keep going the direction they are going and not return. Once atop the ruins, the group is trapped. Then things get worse.
Reading the novel will tell you most of what happens in this movie, but in adapting his screenplay to the screen, Smith has decided to switch who things happen to in this version of the tale. Maybe this is just to surprise his readers, and maybe it is because some of these people look better in their underwear than others. I cannot say that these changes hurt the story, because they do not. Trying to cut out pieces of an insidious vine invading your body or doing major surgery with a rock and a knife is always going to make me cringe, and I have to think many people will feel the same way. The problem with most of the film is that why all of the choice parts of the novel remain, albeit somewhat recast, most of the connecting tissue has had to be excised to get this film in at 91 minutes. That means that one of the key aspects of the novel, the fact that these people are trapped for several days in the hot sun with next to nothing for food and water, is fast forwarded through in the movie. One of the things that made the novel effective was that you had a real sense for how these people were spending hours not doing anything but living in fear. Then every time they actually tried doing something, it only tended to make things worse. All of that is essentially lost in this movie, which is where we lose the first star.
It is the ending that costs "The Ruins" a second star. Yes, Smith wrote the screenplay, so it would seem that the finger of blame should be pointed in his direction, but I have seen way too many alternative endings (and multiple alternative endings), so I am well aware that directors and studios do not care about how good a book or a script is, they only care about what the test results tell them to think. Because this is the sort of ending that a test audience might like, but only because they did not read the book and they have no appreciation for what makes a great ending in a horror film. What allows hyperbolic copywriters to claim that "The Ruins" is the greatest horror novel of the 21st century (good to know that it is all downhill for the next 92 years) is that the ending of the book drives home the final nail in the coffin. When this movie gets to what is essentially the same final scene as the book, the context is all different because of one massively monumental and stupid change. That final shot is now rendered superfluous.
 Read the book and leave this lackluster thriller alone April 5, 2008
K. Hinton (Atlanta, GA)
8 out of 12 found this review helpful
When a group of friends get together for a vacation in Mexico, the last thing they think is that they'll wind up dead. Jeff and Amy are a couple who may be on the verge of collapse. Jeff is in med school 2,000 miles away from his sweetheart, and the distance manifests itself with Amy making out with anyone and everyone who is willing. Amy's best friend Stacy is also on the trip with her boyfriend Eric. The foursome are partying at their Mexico resort when a German named Matthias mentions that he has directions to some Mayan ruins that are a little off the beaten path. Determined to get in a little culture with their tequila, Jeff convinces the others that it will be a good idea. It's not.
The moment they find the ruins, a group of Mayan natives come bearing shotguns and bows and arrows (how cliche) and force the group deeper into the ruins. Pretty soon after their arrival, Matthias and Stacy are injured trying to find a missing cell phone at the bottom of a well. Jeff realizes that the locals have no plans on letting them leave. And the group realizes that the ivy surrounding their location just might be alive--and out for blood.
I read The Ruins (Vintage) (Vintage) when it first came out and I was scared stiff. I slept with the lights on and felt things crawling on me when I went to sleep. The movie was a disappointment after that. First of all, the ending is different, and not in a good way. It's pretty evident that we're being left open for a sequel and who really wants to see two movies about a man-eating plant? Not me. Secondly, the action came and went pretty quickly with no real direction. There was no buildup. No tense moments while you wondered what would happen. Nope. I pretty much knew they were going to die. And it's a shame. The book left the road open for a lot of opportunity, and none of it was taken with this movie. If you're in the mood for a lackluster thriller with a predictable and trite ending, go ahead and see The Ruins film. But if you want to be scared and wonder about the banality of human cruelty, go ahead and read the book.
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